Crash driver was up the creek without a policy
A driver who crashed his car into a creek has lost a claim dispute because he bought his insurance policy after the accident.
The man bought the policy with Suncorp on November 10 about 4.43pm, before lodging a claim a few days later.
He said the crash happened about 8pm on the 10th when he was driving to NSW and “lost control of the car ... and ended up in creek”.
The man provided photos of the partially submerged car to support his claim.
But Suncorp said analysis of one photo’s metadata showed it was taken at 3.57pm, 46 minutes before the policy was bought. The insurer denied the claim.
The claimant argued his phone had been set to WA time when the photo was taken.
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But Suncorp’s external investigator confirmed the photo’s time setting was +11 hours, which is AEDT.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority accepts the crash “most likely occurred before the policy was purchased”.
It acknowledges the driver suggested he did not buy the policy at 4.43pm, but says he has provided no information showing otherwise.
AFCA also considered the policyholder’s request for the claim to be considered withdrawn and removed from his records if the decision went against him.
The ombudsman finds no reason for the insurer to do this.
See the ruling here.