In car insurance an event is the happening that gives rise to a claim against insurance. Examples are car accidents, theft, fire, storm or carjacking. Without a specific event there are no grounds for a claim. In car insurance your policy document and/or schedule will specify clearly which events you are covered against. These specified events are referred to as defined events. Any other event, that falls outside the defined events are called exclusions and are not covered by insurance.

One single event such as the attack on the World Trade Centre can have a major impact on the short term insurance industry as a whole.

In car insurance the defined events will depend on the type of cover you take out, for example if you buy only third party insurance, theft, accident or fire will not be covered events in your policy. If you take out comprehensive car insurance there will be a long list of defined events for which you are covered such as: Accident damage to your own car and the property of third parties, damage to other property as a result of the accident, fire damage or destruction, theft, carjacking, storm and hail damage. This is only an indication of defined events; check your own car insurance policy for full details of your cover.