Travel insurance versus home insurance for holiday robbery losses

poet123

This question has been prompted by reading another thread,and is something I had not considered.

Baldly, and leaving the emotion out of it:o we were in Barcelona:mad: ,en route to the airport for our flight home,and our 3 sons wanted to visit the Nou Camp stadium.

We left our hire car on a boulevard at 12 noon,in the city centre,all luggage locked away in the boot,nothing on show.....we returned inside an hour and a half to find a window shattered,and all our cases rifled through,and every piece of hand luggage had been taken. Laptop,camcorder,mobiles,jewellry,psp and games,clothes,ipod,UK currency, specs etc etc. When we reported to the police station there were droves in the same boat..........

Around £3,000 in total.

Eldest son has seperate travel policy and the laptop and watch were his.....so it seems as if he shgould claim on that policy. We obviously have travel insurance, and I am compiling a claim,but is it better to claim on that or home insurance ? I would never have thought about it but for another thread,losses on holiday equated to a claim on travel insurance.

If I did claim on the house insurance would they not query why I had not claimed on a travel policy?

Would my son(who lives at home)be better claiming on the travel policy or would we both be better claiming on house insurance?

Any help appreciated

TIA

MarkyMarkD

If you have both home (all risks) and travel insurance covering the same risk, you should inform both insurers of the loss and let them sort it out between themselves.

Typically, the value of cover on your home insurance will be higher, so if you have incurred a huge loss that's where you'll get a better recovery. But equally well, the excesses are often higher on home insurance.

Anyway, like I say, you should tell both as they are possibly both liable to pay out in a proportionate way.

poet123

How do I do that? surely they will say decide who you want to claim from? I have already notified the travel insurer and they have issued a claim form.

greco_2

If you have contents insurance that covers personal belongings outside the UK claim on that policy first as it is a 'more specific' cover and takes priority. It will also be a better cover as it will have a higher single article limit and is likely to be new for old. After that, let the insurers sort it out between them.

Matter of interest, I take out travel cover without baggage cover as it's cheaper. My home contents policy will pay any claims for personal belongings.

FlameCloud

poet123 wrote: »

How do I do that? surely they will say decide who you want to claim from? I have already notified the travel insurer and they have issued a claim form.

No, either insurer can take a contribution from the other insurer. What should happen is one insurer pays their relative amount and passes you over to the other insurer for the rest.

MarkyMarkD

greco wrote: »

If you have contents insurance that covers personal belongings outside the UK claim on that policy first as it is a 'more specific' cover and takes priority. It will also be a better cover as it will have a higher single article limit and is likely to be new for old. After that, let the insurers sort it out between them.

Matter of interest, I take out travel cover without baggage cover as it's cheaper. My home contents policy will pay any claims for personal belongings.

Where do you get this "takes priority" stuff from?

As far as I am aware, where dual insurance exists, the insurers are both jointly liable. The concept of "more specific" doesn't mean anything to me. A travel insurance policy covers stuff whilst you are travelling; an all risks policy does as well. Neither is "more specific" IMHO. So I would suggest that you should notify both insurers of the claim, and then (as I already said) let them sort it out between themselves.

I agree with you about taking out travel cover without baggage cover, as there is no point dual insuring.

FlameCloud

The part of a 'more specific' insurance (part of the ABI travel agreement) doesnt mean having travel insurance and not claiming on household- it means for example having an item specified on a household policy and normal travel insuance, in which case the travel insurer can (rightly) refuse to deal with it. See the Queen/Kings Granarys case law for more info.

poet123

So i should notify both,claim off both,and notify them of what i am doing and they will liase with each other?.......presumably this will take a lot longer to resolve? I am happy to wait but my son will want a swift resolution, and the money to buy a new laptop!!

MarkyMarkD

Thanks, FlameCloud. I shall read up on that in due course.

Poet - it shouldn't take (much) longer to resolve. One insurer needs to take the lead in dealing with the claim and recover its proportionate losses from the other, if appropriate.

FlameCloud

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Thanks, FlameCloud. I shall read up on that in due course.

Poet - it shouldn't take (much) longer to resolve. One insurer needs to take the lead in dealing with the claim and recover its proportionate losses from the other, if appropriate.

Whilst I agree that is the quickest and easiest way to sort the claim out from a policy holders point of view, it would depend on the insurers past experiences of contributions.

What happens is that you essentially give the 2nd insurer a interest free loan for the period of the outstanding contribution. In addition, there is there is the real risk for the first insurer to refuse to contribute on the basis of case law, quoting Legal & General vs Drake Insurance.

What hapened in this case is that both insurers covered the same car- as such a 50/50 split on claims costs. Legal & General did what insurers had always done- they dealt with the entire claim, paid it all out and wrote a letter to Drake asking for a 50% contribution as per their policy. Drake refused, and L&G took them to court. Drake argued that L&G knew there was a 2nd insurer and knew they wouldnt have to pay more than 50%, yet did any way and that this was therefore a ex gratia payment (which you cannot seek a contribution on). The judge agreed.

This doesnt normally happen but as I said, it would depend on how much this had happened to the insurer in the past.

poet123

Thanks for the info. I just contacted my home insurer(who by chance is part of the same company as the travel insurer although this was unknown to me). They have said we are covered and to claim via the travel policy and they will liase. We are lucky that we can afford if necessaary to replace the items lost whilst witing for them to sort the claim.

Thanks for your help.