With so much crime gripping the country, many communities resort to citizen participation in a neighbourhood watch to protect life and limb from criminals! These very worthy initiatives are mostly done on a volunteer basis where the biggest expenses are time and effort. These volunteers use their own cars and contribute to their own petrol to protect their neighbourhoods!
Should there be any concerns from an insurance side, and will their vehicles be insured when they perform these volunteer duties? Is there a cover for personal liability to consider as well? We decided to approach a few of the South African Insurance Companies and would like to share some important insights gained:
The Basics of a Car Insurance Contract/ Policy
- As a starting point, one should always consider the contract between you and your insurer.
- This differs from insurer to insurer with regards to the detail that needs to be considered when the risk is being underwritten.
- When entering an insurance contract, you enter a contract with the utmost faith.
- The insured must inform the insurer of anything that may influence the risk. To use the insured vehicle to patrol the neighbourhood will influence the risk.
- You would need to check your policy wording (preferably speak to your insurer), as some insurers do not cover instances where a vehicle is used for law enforcement, emergency services and/or armed response services.
- The insurer will obtain the necessary information required, to determine acceptance or premiums payable.
Personal Lines or Business Insurance?
- Whether this can be insured under personal lines or business will be determined by the specific underwriting conditions of the insurer.
- There are policies that specifically exclude cover for vehicles used for patrolling or response.
- A domestic motor insurance policy covers vehicles used for private purposes, as well as driving to and from work.
- Under a domestic policy, a vehicle can also be insured as being used for business or professional purposes, which means that a vehicle is used for private purposes, driving to and from work, and occasionally for professional purposes, e.g. driving to see clients.
Which factors will the Insurer consider?
When a private vehicle is used for the purpose of the patrol as part of a neighbourhood watch, several factors will have to be considered:
Is the insured a formal member of the neighbourhood watch?
Whether a person is a volunteer or formally involved in the structures will only be relevant to insurance if it affects their mandate. This specifically relates to a client’s exposure to liability claims. Not only for wrongful arrest but also for injury or even death of a third party or damage to third party property.
Basically, if you’re involved in a CPF, speak to your insurer about your involvement in the CPF, and they will be able to advise you further.
How often is the vehicle used for patrol? (This relates to the frequency of duty and mileage travelled.)
The distance covered during the patrols usually is not relevant, because most domestic insurance policies do not limit mileage. It is important however that policyholders ensure they do not have a limited mileage limitation on their policy if they wish to use their private vehicle for patrols.
What is the mandate of the insured when accosting a perpetrator?
A consideration under a domestic policy is the liability exposure the insured has if the vehicle is used for neighbourhood watch patrol. There is usually some restricted cover under a domestic policy for liability due to unlawful arrest which is a liability this client would be exposed to. It is important to remember that this cover is usually given specifically under Personal liability and not under the Motor section.
Is the vehicle used to chase other vehicles?
The vehicle may be covered if a person is only playing a monitoring and reporting role as part of community service and does not actively perform security or policing acts such as searches, chasing suspects or suspect vehicles.
Domestic policy wordings usually have the following exclusions and/or conditions that can come into operation depending on the answers to the questions above:
- Non-compliance with road traffic ordinances or legislation (excluded)
- Racing (excluded)
Some policy wordings stipulate – “If you use your vehicle for community patrol (neighbourhood watch) activities, it is covered, BUT not for any response or law enforcement activities. You must advise the SAPS or armed response service of an incident and must not put your vehicle purposefully at risk while doing these activities.”
Conclusion
The best advice is always that when it comes to honesty and disclosure – More is better! Be honest and truthful with your insurer to avoid any legal battles later. The Neighbourhood Watch is a much worthy and needed initiative in a time of so much criminality. It reduced the risk for many more than those who actively participate – and so too for all the insurers! It might be an excellent suggestion to the South African Insurance Industry and all the insurers to be accommodating and kind in their insurance premium assessment of those who volunteer to reduce the risk of burglary, vehicle theft and other crimes!
[A word of appreciation to MiWay, Old Mutual, King Price and Discovery for the responses received]