Claim for accidental damage

leicsmarkyr

My patio door has got some scratches on it at the side. My insurance has accidental damage cover so would assume it would coveri t.

How much (if anything) would the premium increase next year? Not made a claim in 8 years at all and got the insurance covered with protected no claims

Quentin

Don't know if it is accidental? What was the accident that caused the scratches?

Anyway, to find out how it would affect the premium you could do "virtual" quotations now with and without this claim to see how it changes the premiums.

missile

If this is your dog scratching the door, you may find they will reject your claim.

I suggest you phone insurers and ask them.

Steve1981

missile wrote: »

If this is your dog scratching the door, you may find they will reject your claim.

I suggest you phone insurers and ask them.

Do NOT phone your insurers and ask them until you are 100% certain you are going to claim, many insurers will record it as a loss and will rate against it even if you dont actually claim.

Protection on home insurance is a rip off as if you change insurers 90% of the time they only give discount since you made your last claim. protection is only worth looking at on home if you are satisfied you will be staying with the same company for a period of time.

As missle said if its a pet then it will more than likely not be covered.

Accidental Damage claims 'can' make a lot of difference to policies 50% loadings are not uncommon.

I spoke to a customer not so long back who had a £10,000 claim paid out for fire, she missed the renewal so the pol lapsed several months later. We reset the pol up and with the claim it was only £40 dearer than the year before. I phoned the technical team and basically they said that fire claims are so rare that it would be highly unlikely to happen again so we didnt view it as a major risk despite the sum paid out. On the otherhand an accidental damage claim shows that someone is clumsy, and that to an insurance company could mean many claims.

The most claims I have heard of was a single mum who tried to make 9 accidental damage claims in 2 policy years, all for things done by her young son, Drawing on walls, a broken £50 mirror, smashed window in the front door, tv pushed on the floor etc. needless to say she had spoken to I think 8 or 9 companies and no one would give her a price

lisyloo

My patio door has got some scratches on it at the side.

I think you need to give more detail on how these occured.
It it possible that the scratches came from a keyring when turning a key over a long period of time.

If the damage occured over a long period and you've changed insurer then I don't think you can claim.

If it did occur over a period then it might be regarded as "wear and tear" rather than an accident.

So I think you need to say how this occurred because the insurer will want to check it out.

missile

Do NOT phone your insurers and ask them until you are 100% certain you are going to claim, many insurers will record it as a loss

I do not disagree, however, fyi >
I have a flat where the building is covered by communal insurance and contents by me. I phoned my insurers and asked what would happen if I had accidental damage to my wooden flooring would they pay for repairs? They confirmed that risk is covered by my contents policy. I wanted to be absolutely sure as the flooring cost me quite a lot.

leicsmarkyr

Thanks all
I had a patio door installed and it has some stracthes on it which the supplier has knocked £50. They are at the edge so cant be seen as hidden by the curtains.

Was just curious that all

Quentin

If the supplier damaged the door, then take it up with them. This sounds like either "shop soiled" or manufacturing/installation problem, but not an accident.

Did they knock off £50 to get you to accept them? If so, hardly an insurance matter!

mattymoo

Quentin wrote: »

If the supplier damaged the door, then take it up with them. This sounds like either "shop soiled" or manufacturing/installation problem, but not an accident.

Did they knock off £50 to get you to accept them? If so, hardly an insurance matter!

Also one phone call to the installer and the whole thing is unravelled and you stand accused of making a fraudulent insurance claim. If you've accepted the £50 off then you're really just going to have to live with it.

Oscar_The_Grouch

I agree with Matty on this; this is not a matter for insurance and if you made the claim and your insurers invoked the Fraud condition (ie, you were attempting to claim for an event that you knew was as a result of the actions of the installer and not as a result of an insured peril), then this is something you will have to declare to ALL insurers. This includes your motor insurance, home insurance, life assurance, mortgage protection, travel insurer, etc.

Insurers take fraud very seriously, as they are required to do under FSA regulation. This means that most insurers will simply refuse to quote for you and the rest will charge you an arm and a leg. The amount you could potentially make on the door is very much outweighed by the possible premium costs and problems you would have to suffer for the rest of your life.

Here endeth the lesson!!