Car Maintenance Insurance Claim

Q: My car broke down and I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Can I make an insurance claim if the problem is car maintenance issue?

A: It used to be that my answer to these types of questions was a flat no. Didn’t even have to think about it or look up the policy, just no.

Car insurance was created to help you if you had an accident. Something that was out of your control and you couldn’t predict would happen. It was not intended to cover day-to-day issues that happen with vehicles or things that can go wrong with cars if there is a lack of maintenance.

Car insurance has never has covered any type of car maintenance……..until recently.

In the last few years, there has been an introduction of car maintenance policies to the market that will cover the cost of work for things that may happen to your car that are not accident related. These types of policies were first introduced by smaller companies already in the field that were offering unique types of policies (like pet and appliance insurance) not usually available through the larger insurance companies. There were also some new companies that started up specifically to offer car maintenance insurance.

Recently, in the quest to stand out from their competitors, larger companies have also started getting into the market of offering car maintenance policies. To find a car maintenance policy, talk to your mechanic or your car insurance agent to see if they can help you in the right direction.