VACC: It Is Often In The Small Print

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA –June 15, 2010: All too often, motorists read the details of their insurance policy after they have been involved in a crash. By then, it is too late to raise any questions.

VACC, the peak Automotive Industry body in Victoria, is urging motorists to read the small print in their insurance documents.

“For many people, small print is boring. However, motorists, in particular, should read it because often that is where important information about the crash repair process is to be found,” VACC Executive Director, David Purchase, said.

“Often it is only in the small print that you will find out if you have the right to choose who repairs your car, in the event of a crash. Choice of repairer is a major factor to be considered and if it is important to motorists, they should know, before they sign any documents, whether they can choose their repairer and under what conditions,” Mr Purchase said.

VACC is campaigning for insurance companies to be up-front and transparent about the issue of choice of repairer and to end the practice of relegating this information to the small print. VACC is concerned that insurance companies take advantage of the small print.

“Insurance companies know most people probably do not read the terms and conditions, as they should. But why make important information hard to find? It would be better if insurers made this information more prominent,” Mr Purchase said.

“One of the reasons people are put off from reading the small print is because it is often in a tiny font size, it is hard to read, ambiguous and littered with technical jargon. This deters consumers from understanding it and detracts from the message. How convenient is that, especially if it means a motorist signs away their right to choice of repairer?” said Mr Purchase.

To assist motorists, VACC has isolated the choice of repairer sections from all the Australian vehicle insurance companies’ Product Disclosure Statements, and compiled a comparison table.

To see if you can figure out what insurance companies say about choice of repairer (and what they really mean), go to vacc.com.au