A business will not receive a payout after its director’s son slammed a company-insured car into two other vehicles at high speed.

The company said the driver was travelling within the 50km/h speed limit when he lost control after hitting a speed bump.  

But insurer IAG’s crash expert said diagnostic data showed the car was moving up to 107km/h just before reaching the bump.  

The driver hit the brakes less than three seconds before the crash, they added.

The investigator concluded the driver’s “extremely aggressive manner of driving ... entirely contributed to the loss, irrespective of any other claim”.

The insurer declined the claim on the basis the insured provided false information and the car was being driven recklessly and dangerously.

The policyholder engaged its own expert, who suggested the insurer’s investigator did not disclose that the accuracy of the crash data was “questionable”.  

It also noted the insurer’s refusal to release an unredacted copy of its investigator’s report, and that police did not charge the driver.  

The claimant argued the driver had not seen the speed bump and the accident was, at worst, a negligent mistake.

In a dispute decision, an Australian Financial Complaints Authority ombudsman says they considered the claimant’s challenges to the investigator’s report but accepts it “considered all relevant information ... to provide a comprehensive and compelling opinion on the circumstances of the collision.

“While I acknowledge the police have not pressed charges against [the driver], I do not think this is enough to show he was not driving recklessly ... It is common knowledge excessive speed causes collisions. [He] was driving more than twice the speed limit.  

“I am accordingly satisfied [he] was driving recklessly, and this caused the collision.”  

See the ruling here.