You've got car insurance, you pay for comprehensive cover, you sleep peacefully. Until the day damage occurs — and the insurer cuts or denies your claim. „That wasn't agreed,“ you hear. Yet you were pretty sure it was. Here are the three most common exclusions that catch clients by surprise.
1. Modifications not listed in the policy
The classic surprise. Standard car insurance sees your car as a factory model. PPF film for 80 000 CZK, wrap for 100 000, aftermarket wheels for 80 000, diffusers, spoilers — the insurer doesn't know about any of it. When damage occurs, you get money only for the original factory parts.
Solution? Have them explicitly added to the policy — with value and invoices/certification. With a good advisor it takes 10 minutes and gives you peace of mind.
Condition: modifications must be legal — approved in the technical certificate, certified parts, homologation. Illegal modifications are never covered, whether in the policy or not.
2. Items in the car — backpacks, electronics, sports gear
Comprehensive cover insures the vehicle, not its contents. If someone steals a laptop from your open boot or your bike disappears from the rack, the insurer gives you nothing. Items in the car are covered by "baggage insurance" — a separate add-on that costs 300–800 CZK per year.
Worth it especially if you regularly carry valuable items: work laptop, sports equipment, child car seats with lots of kids' stuff. Limits are usually 20 000–50 000 CZK, which is normally enough.
3. Damage caused driving under influence / without licence / without MOT
This is the harshest category. If you cause an accident under the influence of alcohol or drugs, even with comprehensive cover the insurer pays the other party (from mandatory third-party cover), but then recovers the money from you. It's called "regres" in Czech law — and can run to hundreds of thousands or millions.
Similarly: driving without a valid licence, with expired MOT, with a known technical defect. All grounds for cutting or denying claims. The only cure is prevention.
Bonus: regularly forgotten exclusions
- Animal collision damage — usually covered only under basic conditions; night deer-strike on highway yes, elsewhere not always.
- Vandalism — in some policies only in the extended package. Standard comprehensive cover may not cover scratches from an anonymous "keyman".
- Driver's own injuries — when you drive a friend and crash, their injuries are covered by your mandatory third-party cover. But your own injuries? Only with crew accident insurance.
What to do about it
Open your current policy and go through the exclusions. Most people never have. If you find something you didn't know about, it's time for a review. Either with your current insurer, or (more often) with a different one.
If you send me your green card and modifications list, within 24 hours I'll return a complete analysis: what you have covered, what you don't, and what you should. Free and no commitment.