VAN INSURANCE NEWS ROUNDUP: 7 DAYS ENDING 6 FEB 2015:
In news that will almost certainly make your head spin like a girl possessed by the Devil, one car insurance company threatened a vicar for being Christian.
All right, it’s a tiny bit more complex an issue than that. Honestly though it does kind of boil down to just this: Age UK, who insures Rev Wena Parry’s Vauxhall Zafira, told her that the pro-Jesus stickers she has on her car could be counted as modifications – and that not informing the insurer that these ‘modifications’ were made could lead to her insurance cover being invalidated.
All right, so let’s address this, shall we? The whole idea behind telling your car or van insurance company that you’ve made modifications to your vehicle is to make sure that your policy reflects the condition of your car. Boy racers installing spoilers and turbochargers on their cars are obviously going to be engaging in risky behaviours that need to be reflected in a higher insurance premium, and having anti-theft systems like immobilisers fitted to your vehicle change likewise change your vehicle’s value to an insurer as well. All of these reasons are absolutely valid ones.
Having two pro-Jesus stickers on your car, however, do not do the same thing as increasing your vehicle’s performance or make it harder to steal or break into. I simply fail to see how having stickers that read “Christ for me” and “Christ must be Saviour” are out of place on the car of a vicar. Rev Parry make it to Heaven quicker in her sticker-adorned car? Will the stickers make it harder for demons and devils to possess her engine block? I don’t understand, and I don’t think I ever will.
Rev Parry thinks its discrimination against Christians. That could be the case, there’s no denying that. However, I think the more likely culprit is that there are pillocks working at Age UK that wouldn’t know their arse from a hole in the ground. Corporate stupidity certainly transcends all faiths and religions – you certainly don’t have to be an idiot to work for one of those companies, but based on this instance it looks like it certainly can’t hurt.
