I’d be fairly confident that you would have heard of at least one case of insurance companies getting out of paying for a claim in the case of an accident. Realistically, this happens a lot more than people realize. Insurance for your four wheel drive comes under the policy that you sign, which happens to include a number of things in the fine print that can be a problem. For example, if you have modifications done to your vehicle that are not legal (regardless of whether you know about them or not), the insurance company can refuse to pay out your claim. Of course, they usually have to prove that the modification contributed to the accident, but it’s the sort of problem I am sure most people would want to do without.
A lot of 4×4 insurance companies will only insure you for certain driving. I have heard of some companies not covering your vehicle if you are driving on the beach, or on tracks that are not on the map. With these restrictions, is your four wheel drive really insured? I know that if my insurance didn’t cover every single type of off road four wheel driving I certainly wouldn’t be paying them over a thousand dollars a year! Four wheel drive insurance can be a very complicated game, even for a cheap 4×4!
From there, you can then look at agreed vs. market value policies. A market value policy allows the value of your car to drop from year to year, as the vehicle depreciates. This means if you have an accident what you are covered for may be several thousand dollars less than what you had thought. Agreed value stays the same from year to year. If you haven’t included your modifications in your policy and listed the costs then you probably aren’t covered for them either! When you consider that many four wheel drives have several thousand dollars of modifications on them it’s a serious thought!
At the end of the day, insurance companies are businesses. They are run for one reason – to make a profit. If they can’t do this, then they wouldn’t exist. It makes sense that they do what ever they can to legitimately get out of claims. You need to be smarter than them, and ensure that everything you want covered is covered, that your modifications are legal and that you are full aware of the terms and conditions that are offered. Sure; fine print isn’t much fun to read but it is very beneficial!