Changes to Ageas Private Car Insurance

From the 1^st of October 2024, several changes will come in to force for Ageas Private Car policy wording.

We're making changes to our Ageas Private Car policy wording. This is part of our ongoing commitment to you, our brokers. These small but vital tweaks will improve the quality of our products which take effect on 1 October 2024 for new business policies and renewals due 1 October 2024 onwards. 

A full list of changes will go out in a Notice to Policyholders (NTP). Here's a summary:  

KEY CHANGES TO AGEAS PRIVATE CAR FROM 1 OCTOBER 2024 

• All Private Car claims can be reported here online, 24/7. Customers can still contact us by phone if they prefer, but we encourage you to still give them the choice to report and manage their claims online.
• Our Private Car policy wording will be even easier to understand. It's vital that customers understand what their policies do or don't cover, so we've made our terms and definitions even clearer.  
  As an example, our wording currently reads, "The agreement is based on the information that you provided when you applied for the policy, so it’s important that this is correct.’ We're changing that. From October 1st, it will state: ‘The agreement is based on the information that you provided when you applied for the policy, so it’s important that you read through your documents and check these are correct.’ It's the small changes like this one that show we're committed to making continuous improvements - leading the way in Personal Lines.  
• We're making changes that reflect updates in car technology. The definition of ‘Your Car’ will be changed as we've added wording to make it clear that cover for electric batteries and charging cables is included.
• We're also making changes that reflect the fact newer cars have more software, and the threat of a Cyber act is growing. There will be new obligations for Policyholders - they must ensure their cars' software is kept up to date by installing any safety critical and/ or security updates made available by the car manufacturer. There'll also be a new exclusion that comes into force if a Policyholder fails to accept, install or refuse OTA, Advance driver-assistance (ADAS) or security updates from the car manufacturer.  
• We're updating our wording to reflect the fact that, sometimes, there are supply issues with courtesy cars. Our new wording will state: ‘…we’ll aim to get you a courtesy car on the next working day after we’ve agreed to repair your car…’ 
  We'll also be making it clearer that we can't always guarantee a loan car will be a direct equivalent for the damaged vehicle. It may not be an adapted or modified car, for example, or an electric vehicle.  
• Policies will exclude cover if the car's keys were nearby when it was stolen. Before, our Private Car policy stated: 'We won’t pay claims if your car is stolen or damaged because you didn’t take care of your car keys or any other device used to unlock your car, such as leaving the keys in your car.' We're clarifying that. From October 1st, it will read: 'We won’t pay claims if your car is stolen or damaged because you didn’t take care of your car keys or any other device used to unlock your car, such as leaving the keys in or nearby your car. 
• We're also improving the clarity around Driving Other Cars. We're changing wording of Private Car to better explain which types of vehicles a Policyholder may drive under the Driving Other Cars section.   
• And we're adding and updating several exclusions, too. For example, our exclusion to damage caused by reckless driving will be amended to clarify that it also applies to purposely driving through flood water.  

There are other changes that will make it easier for customers to understand our policies. For example, we're changing the position of the 'Things you need to tell us about section' in the policy documents - but all of these changes will be highlighted in a new Notice to Policyholders that will go out before 1 October 2024.  

Please take a moment to review the changes. Of course, if you have any questions, then the team's always happy to help. Contact us the usual way, either through broker@ageas.co.uk, or by contacting your account manager.