Household insurance
Making a claim
If you have reason to make a claim, you should notify the
insurance company as soon as possible. There will usually
be a clause in the policy document which requires you to
do this as soon as is practically possible. If you have
been burgled, obviously you will need to notify the police
ahead of your insurance company.
For any major claim (different companies have their own
internal guidelines but it tends to be around the £1000
mark), the insurance company will send a loss adjuster round
to assess whether you are in compliance with the terms of
your policy. They will check that all the details you providenot
done anything that puts you in breach of the terms of your
policy. This applies d when you took out the policy are
accurate and make sure that you have to both buildings and
contents insurance.
One of the reasons that the insurance industry has had
bad press over the years is because of grievances over occasions
when they have not paid out. Many people live, apparently
safe in the knowledge that their home is insured against
all manner of catastrophe, only to find that they are left
with next to nothing when disaster strikes.
There are two lesson to be learned from this:
Contained within the detailed policy document is an array
of exclusions - special circumstances or events where you
insurance cover will not be of use to you. Some of the more
common ones are listed below, but you should always check
the individual policy details:
- Failure to provide accurate information. Aside from anything
else, you run the risk of being prosecuted for fraud if
it is found that you deliberately falsified your claim details.
- Failure to install or correctly use the door and window
locks, burglar alarm, or other security system.
- Any repair work that is caused by lack of maintenance
or negligence will almost certainly not be covered. If you
let your home go to rack and ruin - never service the plumbing
and boiler, forget to ever clean out the gutters, or neglect
to replace roof tiles lost in a storm - then the insurance
company is unlikely to foot the bill for any major work
that arises as a result of your lack of action.
- If your home suffers further damage as a result of you
failing to carry out proper repair work on the original
problem, then you will find it difficult to convince the
insurance company of their obligation to pay for the work.
- Buildings insurance does not usually cover damage to fences,
walls, gates, or hedges for damage caused by storms or inclement
weather. You may possibly be able to claim if someone comes
and steals all your fences, but you almost never be covered
if they are blown away in a hurricane.
- Similarly, your garden furniture may be covered if it
is stored in a shed that is secured with an approved lock,
but you are unlikely to get a payout if it is left on the
patio.
- Finally, bear in mind that sometimes it is not worth replacing
possessions or doing repair work using the insurance. If
it will cost less than or not too much higher than the excess
then the loss of no-claims discounts may make it worthwhile
paying for some things out of your own pocket.
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