The Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman has upheld an insurer’s decision to impose two excesses for a motor vehicle claim.

The insured made a claim for scratching on both the back and front of their vehicle.  The insurer imposed an excess for the damage to the front and an excess for the damage to the back, because it believed that the scratching would not have occurred at the same time.

The insured was unable to say when the scratching occurred or to provide any evidence that it all occurred at the same time. The Ombudsman therefore held the insurer was entitled to apply two excesses, because the onus is on the insured to prove they have a claim.

Alan Knowsley

Insurance Lawyer
Wellington