Accidental Damage Insurance

patch3228

Hi,

I am dithering back and forth between choosing Standard Insurance or whether to spend that little bit extra to get the Accidental Damage as well?

Over the 12 month period, it adds an extra £60 ... but say a plumber bursts a pipe and it damages your carpet...am I naive in thinking you would just force the plumber to compensate for negligence or withold payment etc?

Grateful for any advice on whether it's worth it...

dacouch

Technically it should be the plumbers insurance that fixes it, however most people do not have the fore sight to ask the plumber a) if they have insurance b) for details of who they are insured with and the policy number. What normally happens is the plumber either disappears or does not answer the phone.

In this case you can ask your Insurers to pay the claim and most will.

Accidental covers things you do eg spilling paint on your carpet, putting your foot through the loft floor etc. It will also often cover claims that are not covered under the normal parts of the policy.

Personally I always take accidental damage as it gives you peace of mind and covers more eventualities

patch3228

Thanks Dacouch, have you taken out Accidental Damage on Building or just with Contents ... or both?

I was quoted an extra £30 for the whole year to have Accidental for the Contents..but I think Accidental is more worthwhile for the Building?

dacouch

Its best to have it on both, it does not cost that much when you take into account the extra cover eg they normally pay claims on a new for old basis so if say you spilt paint on your sofa they would buy a new one if they could not clean it

lisyloo

This year I decided to go for accidental damage on contents and not buildings.
We have a pretty new house and do hardly any DIY, but anyone can drop a laptop etc and we have some expensive items (like tv, computers).

It's always a trade-off between costs and peace of mind.
Ironically the better off you are, the less you have to pay because you can afford to go without some insurance if you can afford to replace things yourself.

I felt a contents claim was much more likely for us so I was a bit choosy to get the price down.

Futureeconomist

I think the arguments for and against A/D cover are put quite well there, I have sold home insurance in the past and the extensions I sold probably weren't worth more than £20-£30 but other companies may vary. One point on the last post, laptops aren'talways covered under A/D, a lot of insurers exclude them on the sly, so check that one before you take it

patch3228

Yes I was told by many that laptops were not insured (ony desktops).

I have been quoted the following for Standard Cover:

Contents £80
Building £165
Contents & Building £245

Inc Accidental Damage - extra cost will be:

Contents £29
Building £26
Contents & Building £288

Do these quotes seem quite high? I guess it may be due to us being 2 FTB with no previous claims history (tbh we have not taken insurance out before).

Plus also, we are living in London so it will be higher ... but is this quite ordinary then? (just wondering if I may have filled a question incorrectly to arrive at this quite high figure)...I have been told by my OH parents they are paying less than the Standard quoted and they get accidental already included, but they are up North...

dacouch

They are actually good prices for someone living in London with no previous insurance.

You will find the prices will reduce by up to 25%ish over the next three or so years as you earn no claims bonus (Assuming you do not claim).

Have you tried any of the cash back sites?

P.S Which company are you getting the quote with? what does FTB mean?

patch3228

dacouch wrote: »

They are actually good prices for someone living in London with no previous insurance.

You will find the prices will reduce by up to 25%ish over the next three or so years as you earn no claims bonus (Assuming you do not claim).

Have you tried any of the cash back sites?

P.S Which company are you getting the quote with? what does FTB mean?

That's good to hear :beer:

FTB = First Time Buyer

I tried the cashback sites, but there were quite limited offers (perhaps only 2 offers with £30 off but the quotes were quite high).

So I went with Tesco, who are giving a £50 Voucher if you sign up and they confirmed I will get that 6 weeks after the policy goes live :money: (offer ended yesterday too!)

We will probably get the Accidental Building on top of the Standard Cover.


--> Right next goal is to re-evaluate Critical Illness...will do some investigating and if there is any headscratching, please expect another thread :cool:

Thanks all :T

dacouch

The Tesco Policy is underwritten by UK Insurance who are owned by RBS who also own Direct Line and Churchill. Its not to bad a policy

The thing to be aware of with the Tesco Policy is it gives a fairly low contents amount which is well below what is reckoned to be the average amount the average home needs. It may be enough for you to start with as you are a FTB (Thanks for enlighening me). But its definately something you will need to monitor in the long run as its low.

You need to Insure your contents for the full new replacement cost, if you do not cover the full amount it can mean claims of any amount are reduced by the percentage you have under insured by.