Mobile phone / PDA stolen - insurance help required

bitsnbytes

Whilst on holiday I had my expensive mobile phone pda (O2 XDA stellar) stolen from my waist pouch in a bus. Cheeky guys, I didn't even feel them open my waist pouch

Anyway, I had travel insurance with fortis (A&L current account). However, they said that mobile phones are not covered. Although, having read through the fortis T&C (Section 5, page 20). I think I could have argued that the XDA Stellar is more than a mobile phone since it is also a personal computer. Anyway, they say that the max claim amount is only £300 (minus the wear and tear and £35 excess) and the pda is definitely more than that.

Luckily for me my home insurance (with groupama taken out through post office) does cover my mobile phone. However they only issue a cheque (minus the £100 excess) toward the value of the phone. I had a couple of questions regarding this:

1. Can I claim for loss of replacing sim cards and accessories on the mobile phone? It cost me £15 to replace my sim card and almost £100 for other bits and bobs on the phone (for eg. 16gb micro sd card etc). Can I claim for these? In hindsight I should have asked them this when I had made the claim, however I just want to be informed

2. From my findings, it seems the xda stellar which is only available via O2 is not available sim-free and only on a contract. In such a case how do they decide a settlement figure? Any ideas? Would they take into account the cost of a 18month contract?

3. Will this claim on my contents insurance affect my no-claims discount?

4. Can someone claim for a lost/stolen item on 2 different insurance policies? Is this legal? I know for sure that my life insurance policies do payout irrespecive of another payout in the event of death. But these could be different

Any help will be greatly appreciated

dacouch

1) The best thing is to speak to your Insurer and ask them
2) When replacing mobile phones on contract the normal procedure is for you to ask the service provider for the cost of a replacement handset for people in your position, get this in writing and submit it to your Insurer. Most Insurers pay the amount the service provider advise assuming it is reasonable.
3) Normally if you make a claim on your home insurance your loss part of your no claims discount, speak to your Insurer to ask roughly how much difference it will make.
4) You cannot claim for the same item twice on two seperate policies (Excluding life insurance) as you would make a financial gain. In some cases the Insurers split the difference between them for instance if you have cover for the same item under your home insurance and travel insurance.

bitsnbytes

Thanks for that :T

dacouch wrote: »

1) The best thing is to speak to your Insurer and ask them

I just spoke to the insurer and they have taken the accessories that were part of the phone on the claim. So hopefully they should replace those as well.

dacouch wrote: »

2) When replacing mobile phones on contract the normal procedure is for you to ask the service provider for the cost of a replacement handset for people in your position, get this in writing and submit it to your Insurer. Most Insurers pay the amount the service provider advise assuming it is reasonable.

They are doing that at the moment. They said they would come back with a settlement figure today. If they do come back with a ridiculous figure then I might investigate more. I remember the phone was around £600 when I got it in august last year

dacouch wrote: »

3) Normally if you make a claim on your home insurance your loss part of your no claims discount, speak to your Insurer to ask roughly how much difference it will make.

I haven't asked them this, considering the price of the phone, I have to make a claim. Surely the premium price should not increase by more than £100 which is only 1/4th (max) of the settlement I hope to receive. Out of interest, if the settlement figure doesn't seem to be any good, can I cancel the claim and will this still affect my premium and NCB?

dacouch wrote: »

4) You cannot claim for the same item twice on two seperate policies (Excluding life insurance) as you would make a financial gain. In some cases the Insurers split the difference between them for instance if you have cover for the same item under your home insurance and travel insurance.

You're right, after I posted this I went through the fortis T&C again and the general conditions (page 32) do state what you have said. Was not looking to claim twice anyway, but its good to know the rules

Thanks for your help again.

dacouch

With most Insurers a premium of say £220 would increase after a normaly claim by about £20 the first renewal, this would reduce to about £12 second renewal and either nothing of about £6 the third renewal. This can vary between insurers and if you had other claims would not apply