We recently commented that, for young drivers looking for cheap van insurance, one of the considerations when starting out was to go for a second hand motor, rather than buy one hot off the production line. There are, however, exceptions to every rule; to back that up, the US has given us a story that runs along very different lines.
With any commercial vehicle, there are ancillary products that you can add on to the basic policy so that your van insurance cover reflects the nature of your business. That is one area in which van insurance providers are flexible; however, it would have to be one heck of a lenient policy that you were able to add on the component that Charles Preston, from San José, found in the Chrysler he picked up to feed the poor in his home town.
Having paid £10,000 for the van second hand, the psychologist proceeded to ride around in the vehicle performing the good deeds he subsidised from his own pocket, paying little attention to the window that wouldn’t roll down the whole way. For his money, he’d got power steering, air-conditioning and boss tinted windows, so he wasn’t going to jeopardise his no claims bonus on his van insurance policy for the sake of this slight inconvenience.
After twelve months of relatively trouble-free driving otherwise, the van developed an issue with the brakes; the window he could live with, but for a critical component like stopping the vehicle, he was taking no chances, so went to the garage to get the problem checked out. If it was minor, he would pay for it; if it was a major issue, he had the option of taking it back to the sales outfit he bought it from, to help protect his cheap van insurance policy.
claim on van insurance policy a wind up?
With the car under inspection, Preston nonchalantly mentioned the window problem to the mechanic whilst he was checking out the brakes. The mechanic’s first assumption was that the insulation packaging had come out of alignment, beyond the panel in the door. In order to correct the issue without damaging the interior upholstery, the correction necessitated stripping the panel from the door, which he proceeded to do.
What they found beyond got them on to the police immediately; after further investigation, they found fourteen ‘insulation’ packs behind the panel in total – full of cocaine! In addition, there were five further packs behind the wheel configuration. It’s no wonder the car didn’t want to stop – it’s a wonder it wasn’t flying!
The value of the haul was estimated at half-a-million pound, perhaps a little more than your common-or-garden van insurance policy is likely to cover you for. Needless to say, with that much raw coke unclaimed, Mr Preston swiftly returned the van from whence it came, before he had a crack at being The Good Samaritan, again.
