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Speaker 1: Now a man goes to the bar, has a few drinks,

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Speaker 1: comes out, prings another car, and then tries to claim insurance.

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Speaker 1: He's only had two beers. His insurance claim has declined

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Speaker 1: on the basis that he was under the influence of alcohol. Now,

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Speaker 1: the claim was initially declined because he was under the influence,

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Speaker 1: but was he appeared He says, I just had two beers,

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Speaker 1: was hardly inebriated, and he volunteered this to the insurance company.

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Speaker 1: By the way, went to a dispute and he won.

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Speaker 1: So in the end the insurance did have to pay.

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Speaker 1: But how many people are missing out on unjust claim rejections.

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Speaker 1: Barrister Chris Patterson with US tonight.

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Speaker 2: Hi Chris, Hey, Hi Ryan.

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Speaker 1: First of all, what's the deal with booze and insurance?

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Speaker 2: Okay, so this is all about the wording in the

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Speaker 2: insurance policy. You know, if you're someone who reads the

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Speaker 2: insurance policy, there's good. If you're someone who doesn't, then

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Speaker 2: you take a little bit of a risk. The insurance

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Speaker 2: policy says no booze, and you've been drinking booze, you're

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Speaker 2: avoiding your policy and they can decline cover if your

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Speaker 2: policy says that you can't be impaired. Then the owner

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Speaker 2: sits on the insurance company. They've got to prove if

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Speaker 2: they're going to decline a claim that a couple of

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Speaker 2: bears made you an impaired driver. Easy if they've got

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Speaker 2: a breath test because you've been pulled over and you're

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Speaker 2: over the limit. Not so easy if you just say

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Speaker 2: you've had a couple of bears during the course of

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Speaker 2: an afternoon and your tolerance levels pretty high.

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Speaker 1: Can they make you do a breath test or some

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Speaker 1: kind of test. I guess it wouldn't depend on when

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Speaker 1: you report the accident, wouldn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, they can't make you do the test, And

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Speaker 2: you're right, it's going to depend on when you report

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Speaker 2: the excitent I mean, if you're reporting it several days later,

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Speaker 2: it's probably not going to be particularly relevant. But they

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Speaker 2: can't make you do a test. But usually it's all circumstances.

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Speaker 2: So in the case that the story is about, they

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Speaker 2: managed to get the insurance bank account details and saw

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Speaker 2: how many beers he was buying at the bar, and

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Speaker 2: there was a dispute about how many bears he actually drank.

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Speaker 1: Hey, what about the general rules here or lesson here?

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Speaker 1: For the rest of us. Should we Should you always

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Speaker 1: fight if you get rejected from an insurance them? Should

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Speaker 1: you always fight? I mean, how often do people actually

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Speaker 1: win this stuff?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, look, I think the starting point is, you know,

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Speaker 2: do you feel like you've been wronged? If you've been wronged,

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Speaker 2: then yeah, it's worth taking insurance company on if you

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Speaker 2: know that the insurance companies on good grounds, because the

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Speaker 2: grounds they gave you a fear and you accept them,

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Speaker 2: Probably not always taking them on over it. So each case,

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Speaker 2: dear why cats by cass all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Chris, Well, I just basically won't drink and drive.

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Speaker 1: That's that's the moral of the story, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Look that's the easy one. The other moral of the

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Speaker 2: story is, know what the exclusions are in your insurance policy.

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Speaker 2: If I drinking any boozeres it will exclude liability, don't

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Speaker 2: drink anything at all.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: If it's an impairment then yeah, you are taking a risk.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, appreciate your time, Chris, Thanks so much. Chris Patterson,

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Speaker 1: barrister working in insurance disputes. For more from Heather Duplessy

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Speaker 1: Allen Drive, listen live to News Talks dB from four

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Speaker 1: pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio