By | John Preston
The insurance sector is a legal framework in which it is difficult to find situations that have not already occurred. As consumers, peculiar questions may arise, such as whether you can be a car insurance policyholder without a driver’s license, for example. Or it is also possible that we wonder if a person can have two health insurances.
Good. For all this, there are specialized insurance laws and regulations that resolve these and many other issues that are out of the ordinary. Everything is already invented (and solved), so next we are going to see a summary of some of them.
What is insurance concurrency?
Insurance concurrence is the term applied to a situation in which two different insurers cover the same risk on a good or a person. For example, if you take out two home insurance policies on the same house, this concurrence would occur.
There is another phenomenon similar to insurance competition, which is coinsurance, but this is different. Coinsurance also implies that two (or more) insurance companies cover the same risk, but in this case the risk is shared under a certain percentage. It can be a 50/50 or any other distribution. This is used when covering very high-cost goods, such as an amusement park or a huge cruise ship.
Can two insurances be charged for the same accident?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: (keep reading…)
There is a rule called the Insurance Contract Law that says very clearly that no one can obtain unjust enrichment through insurance. In other words: insurance is there to compensate for the economic damage caused by an accident, not to earn money. And trying to do so is a crime.
Therefore, in the event of damage to an asset, you can receive at most an economic amount equal to the value of said asset, but never more. This means that it does not matter if you have two insurances (or twenty-seven) that cover the same thing.
What would happen in this case is that the financial effort to pay the compensation would be shared among the insurers. And they are happy that it is so, of course. So, no, you are not going to charge twice for the same claim.
For example, you may want to claim insurance because your television has been broken due to a blow. If they had two identical homeowners policies (assuming the TV was covered), they’re not going to pay you for two TVs. In the best of cases they would pay you halfway between them and that’s it.
Can you have two home insurance?
Although it is a bit strange, if you have ever considered having two home insurance on the same home, you can actually do it. Another thing is that it makes sense.
When hiring them, no one is going to put any impediment to you, nor is any insurer going to check any type of record to see if it is duplicated or not. Actually, according to the law, it is you who is obliged to inform the insurance companies that you have another policy covering the same home.
Not doing the latter is considered fraud. Also, I assure you that in the event of an accident, they will catch you… because there they are going to bother to consult the insurance records, and you are on file. In such a case, not only are you going to be left without compensation (which will be the least of it), but you can even have a prison sentence depending on the level of fraud.
Despite all this, if done correctly, you can have two home insurance policies at the same time. For example, you could cover different risks with each of them (civil liability with one and theft with another, for example). Normally it does not compensate for the cost of paying two premiums, but to be able, it is possible.
Can you have two car insurance at the same time?
This case is quite similar to that of home insurance. Legally, you can have two auto insurance at the same time. Again, the problem is that it’s absurd.
Here too, the rule that obliges you to inform the companies that you hire that there is a second policy prevails. In the event of a claim or accident, you will not be paid for two cars, get it out of your head. That would be a full-blown scam and you know what happens.
I have two car insurance by mistake
This situation happens more than we think. In fact, many people, especially in cases of second-hand sales, end up having a car insured by two different companies: theirs and that of the previous owner. Normally, this is caused by carelessness or forgetfulness… and nothing happens, even if it has not been reported.
As long as at the time of giving a report it is not intended to claim both companies, you should not have problems of any kind.
Can you have two health insurance?
Having private health insurance is something that never hurts. If you have ever been a victim of the shameful waiting lists that are managed in the public service, you will know what I am talking about. Of course, to collect taxes they do not expect… what things.
What you have to know in this case is that being affiliated with Social Security and having private insurance at the same time does not produce any type of conflict. Since public health will never pay you for anything (they only treat you), there is no problem.
Another possibility is to have 2 health insurance, but there are no legal impediments to doing so, since you can attend both services at will. You could do it by expanding the available medical list or by having access to different treatments that some cover and others do not.
Of course, it is usually not profitable at all to do so, since it will be very expensive for you to maintain two health insurance policies, and the possible advantages are few. It is better to choose a policy that covers everything we need, even if it is somewhat more expensive than a normal one.
Can you have two life insurance?
This is the exception to the rule of everything we have known before. If you have ever wondered if you can have two life insurance policies, the answer is yes. In addition (and here comes the big difference with the rest of the insurance), you can also collect the full amount of all the policies contracted.
This is because no one can assess the cost of a life, so you have the right to collect any insured amount, even if it is from different companies. Thus, as long as we can afford the price of more than one policy, there is no problem in having two or more life insurance at the same time.
What if I have more than one life insurance?
Within life insurance, the usual thing is that there is an insured amount for the beneficiaries in the event of death. However, it is also common for there to be total or partial disability (or disability) coverage.
If we take out two life insurance policies and any of these unfortunate circumstances occur, the beneficiaries would be entitled to receive full compensation from both policies. In addition, there will be no limitation of any kind. In fact, sometimes it is cheaper to have two life insurance policies with compensation of €100,000 each than one of €200,000.
Therefore, in the event that we would like to have two life insurance policies at the same time, it is best to study the market and see which is the most interesting combination.
In short, we have already reviewed most of the possible cases as to whether you can have two insurances at the same time. And we have also seen that, in general, you cannot take advantage of that possibility other than when it comes to having two life insurance policies.
