Home Insurance Claim - Help!!

budgie123_2

Hiya,

Was wondering if anyone can help? We have been asked to list the value of things in the house for a loss adjuster.

Do the following come under contents or buildings or something else?
Fitted kitchen?
Electric fires that are fitted into the fireplaces?
Fireplaces?
Tiling on the kitchen and bathroom floors/walls?
Bathroom suites?

Also, for garden equipment and tools that are stored in outbuildings, the adjustors form asks us to fill them in as household goods but they seem to be insured by our provider (Sheilas Wheels) as "contents in outbuildings" rather than household contents, ie, we don't want to include things in our household items if they are covered in a seperate part of our insurance (for reasons of underinsurance etc)? Same question for a bike, is it high risk or is it "outbuildings" as it's kept out there with the tools and mower etc?

Are mobile phones "high risk items" or "personal possessions" or are they "items temporarily removed from the home"? Same question for wedding bands and a laptop? Do I need to list my engagement ring, it is insured separately with it's own value and cover assigned to it?

Thanks in advance, our heads are buzzing trying to calculate the value of the entire house and the call centres (don't even get me started :mad:) don't exactly explain things very well. The problem we're having is that the loss adjustor form has 2 requirements "household" and "high risk", whereas we have many different insured sections (not just two) assigned by Sheilas Wheels as "items kept in outbuildings", personal possesions" etc etc etc, the list goes on and we don't really know stuff in the house what goes where.

dacouch

who are you insured by

budgie123_2

Hi, we are insured by Sheilas Wheels which is owned by Esure.

dacouch

Right you have a few questions so i'll break them down.

a) Your fitted kitchen / fitted bathroom, fitted electric fires, fire places, tiled floors and bathroom suites are all classed as the Building (The free standing kitchen appliances are classed at contents the built in appliances are buildings)

An informal (Its not 100% accurate) way of working out if an item is contents is if you imagined turning the house upside down, if it moves its contents (Carpets are contents and fitted lights are buildings) . Or what you normally take with you when you move is contents.

b) Your policy has cover of £2500 for contents "In the garden" these are only covered for certain things

c) Your Policy has cover of £5000 for contents in an out building eg garage or shed (It advises you have this in the Summary of Cover but not in the policy, if the Insurer tries to deny this cover let me know)

d) High Risk Items are as follows

High risk items
Items that are particularly exposed to the risk of theft, which belong to your
household or which any member of your household is legally responsible for
and are kept in the home, including but not limited to:
• antiques
• articles of gold, silver or other precious metals
• audio equipment
• camping equipment
• compact discs
• computer equipment
• credit, debit, charge, cheque or cash cards
• curios
• digital versatile/video discs
• DVD players/recorders
• furs
• guns and firearms
• high definition DVD/Blu-Ray
• jewellery
• media players
• mobile phones
• money
• pedal cycles
• paintings
• photographic equipment
• portable electronic games
• portable musical instruments
• portable sports equipment
• stamp, coin and medal collections
• televisions
• video and audio equipment
• watches.
High risk items do not include:
• household goods
• any domestic appliance which is part of fitted units
• interior decorations
• living creatures
• motor vehicles, caravans, trailers, boats, canoes, windsurf boards,
sailboards, personal watercraft, hovercraft, aircraft, gliders and any parts
and accessories which are designed to be used with any of these
• property owned or used totally or partly for business purposes or connected
with any employment (but not property defined as office equipment)
• data, information or computer programs which have been created by, or
specifically for members of your household
• property more specifically insured by this or any other policy.

What sort of claim are you making?

The sheilas wheels policy defaults to quite a low contents sum insured when you get a quote.

dacouch

http://www2.sheilaswheels.com/wcm/groups/public/documents/webcontent/swish_000182.pdf Thats the summary of cover

http://www2.sheilaswheels.com/wcm/groups/public/documents/webcontent/swish_000181.pdf thats the policy

http://www2.sheilaswheels.com/home_insurance/swh_fom/swh_limits/policy_limits.html thats the "Policy Limits" it advises you of when you get a quote.

P.S Its the "Policy Limits" that mentions the £5000 out buildings cover

budgie123_2

Hi Dacouch,

Thanks for being so thorough. We are making a claim as the washing machine in our utility room has leaked, causing the laminate floor to swell and be distorted. What we thought was a simple replacement of flooring has become huge. Mainly because a unit which has a worktop attached, plus a floor standing LPG gas boiler are all on top of the floor so they have to be taken out and reinstalled with drying time inbetween. Plus they don't know what damage has been done by the water underneath the laminate flooring.

It has turned into a massive pain for us in terms of getting quotes for different reasons, ie, trying to find one person/company who can lay a floor, deal with possible dampness under the floor and be qualified to reinstall an LPG boiler. Then the workmen we are having out to do the quotes are not sure what to quote on because we don't know the extent of the damage. Sheilas Wheels are about as much help as an ash tray on a motorbike and the loss adjustors seem to be talking to us with an air of suspicion which is very irritating indeed.

We already had a (really helpful) guy out from Servicemaster who said he had to pass it to the loss adjustor because of the possible value of the claim.

We are tired of all the faffing around, all of this cos of a flaming washing machine leak, who would have known it?!?! :mad: The loss adjustor is coming out on Monday, I am hoping he/she can help us a bit more but this darned form has to be filled out before they come out otherwise the claim "won't be paid" acording to Sheilas wheels.

Apologies for this being so long. By the way, already you have been more help than anyone frm the adjustors or the insurance company :T

dacouch

I wondered what sort of claim you had that would need you to list your kitchen / bathroom fittings and contents in shed.

Sounds like Sheilas wheels are being a bit sneaky by getting you to list all of your contents, they are trying to establish whether you are underinsured or not.

Have they asked you to fill out a form giving values for all of your contents

You can use seperate contractors if you need, eg one for the lpg and one for the rest of the building work.

budgie123_2

Yeah, the loss adjusters have sent thru a form that lists all the rooms in the house and all possible items which is divided into household and high risk and we have to put a value next to each thing. I called them and asked about how it was relevant and how it was going to help them to cost our claim and they just said it had to be filled in or the claim would not be paid. I asked what relevance the cost of our tv in the living room had to the cost of replacing the floor in our utility room and he just said it was standard procedure.

I never knew about the 'underinsurance' thing till I read about it on here on other threads tonight. It is the first time we have ever had to claim, hence our ignorance. They said it was standard procedure to have the form completed in the event of any claim.

Makes me mad as we pay them nearly £600 a year in house insurance and we've had insurance for 15 years with no claims!! :mad: I 'think' in worst case scenario it will cost in the region of £1500 to replace the floor and take out the boiler etc. We won't be getting laminate again that's for sure!

Thanks again

dacouch

How much contents cover have you got? Have you got any specified items?

budgie123_2

Yeah, we've got £15k of contents cover which (I think?) is about right. My engagement ring is separate and has a separate £6k cover.

dacouch

£15000 for contents is very low against an average family

What sort of house have you got eg Terrace, how many bedrooms is it and how old are you. How long have you owned / rented a home