Great 'How to ensure your insurer pays claims' Hunt: How to assure a payout

raskazz

KatP wrote: »

The first things to ensure are:
1. That you claim is honest and genuine, insurers are really tightening up on dishonest or exaggerated claims. Many people think that insurance companies are "fair game" and that a bit of artistic licence when submitting the claim is in someway justified. It isn't and if insurers get wind that you have been less than honest in any part of your dealings with them then they can make your claim very difficult. They could even bring a criminal prosecution.
2. Make sure that you have cover for the right things and at the right level, many problems arise because people haven't read and understood the policy at the outset. Check whether you are covered for loss or just theft for example.
3. Before you claim make sure your claim is covered, there is no point putting in a claim for something you are not insured against.
4. Be aware of all the conditions with your policy, if you do not follow them all your cliam may be rejected, for example for failure to notify your insurers promptly.
5. Be honest when you take out your policy, what could be seen as a little white lie to get a cheaper policy could invalidate your cover down the line.
6. Submit your claim promptly, honestly and include as much evidence as possible. Keep copies of everything you send just in case there is a problem in future. Include, photographs, receipts and a full and clear account in legible handwriting.

Hope that helps a few people!

This is the best advice on the thread - I would add that you should consider quality as well as price when purchasing a policy - and if you are at all unsure, why not deal with a broker who knows which insurers offer the best cover and service through personal experience, and will assist with claims, rather than buying direct and then moaning after the event that the policy did not perform as you had incorrectly assumed it would.

bloomerang72

I recently crashed my car and have to wait upto 4 weeks for the underwriters to make a decision on my claim. Why? Because I was unaware when i bought the car that it had previously been written off (category C), and my insurance company do not insure cars that have been previously written off! So how to avoid this:
1. Ask the vendor before you buy the car - they do not have to volunteer the information but do have a duty to answer you honestly
2. complete an HPI check (£3.95 online - money well spent!!!! or sometimes some sites will offer them for free) which will show any outstanding finance or previous write offs:rotfl:
3. Notify your insurance co. if you find this out. Some will still insure you - but be advised a previous write off does devalue the car (by upto 50% I read somewhere)
4. Check your V5 - 'significant damage/accident repair' in my case meant written off (yes I know my fault for not checking it our before!):mad:

dacouch

Not you bloomerang, we can't get rid of you...

You may find this guidance note from the Ombudsman for your claim

"
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Finally, we see cases where the firm’s enquiries after an accident reveal that a car is not quite what its owner believed it to be – and that it consequently has a lower value than the owner expected. It might, for example, be a ‘grey import’ (a vehicle bought from an importer who was not authorised by the manufacturer) or it may have been ‘clocked’. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Where it becomes clear that the customer was aware of the car’s true origins, the firm may be justified in rejecting the claim in[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] its entirety. But in many cases, the customer is likely to have been the innocent victim of a fraud. We generally consider that customers should receive the vehicle’s true market value, not the value of the car they thought they had bought. However, we may ignore problems that came to light only after the incident that gave rise to the claim (such as a hidden rust problem) if the owner was unaware of the problems and they would not have been apparent at re-sale."[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Please read the whole of his guidance here
[/FONT]
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/22/issue-22-motorinsurance.htm

juneville

having been off sick since October last year with multiple muscle pains ?fibromyagia, i tried to claim off the waiver period for my critical illness policy. Apparently i filled the forms out incorrectly when we applied and ommitted that i had had some antidepressant some three years before the policy was taken out. To this day i do not remember taking them - i was apparently allergic to them as well!! i would advise you see your gp prior to filling out these forms or make a note of every pill you take for upto five years prior to filling out the forms. Also any diagnostic tests especially if they show nothing wrong.

LadyIndecisive

Droop wrote: »

Thereby proving the insurance companies dishonest practices. They have access to your previous claims and can if they so chose remind you of them before they accept you as a customer.

This is incorrect, I don't know of any insurers that do front-line claims database checks at inception (start of the policy) but they will check at claims stage - as you found out.

LadyIndecisive

Dacouch - I didn't know that re Chaucer, that is surprising.

Droop - why don't you choose to pay for the information available on you on CUE, instead of expecting your new insurer to do it?

£10.

Katie-Kat-Kins

juneville wrote: »

having been off sick since October last year with multiple muscle pains ?fibromyagia, i tried to claim off the waiver period for my critical illness policy. Apparently i filled the forms out incorrectly when we applied and ommitted that i had had some antidepressant some three years before the policy was taken out. To this day i do not remember taking them - i was apparently allergic to them as well!! i would advise you see your gp prior to filling out these forms or make a note of every pill you take for upto five years prior to filling out the forms. Also any diagnostic tests especially if they show nothing wrong.

Again this is a failure to disclose, and entitles your insurer to avoid your claim. It may be unintentional but they don't know that. Demonstrates that complete honesty and accurate records are important.

However in your case, if this information was obtained from your GP records and you don't believe that you ever had that medication it could be due to an error in your records. In my job I regularly read medical records and have found entries in records which relate to completely different people. Errors do happen, you can request a copy of your GP records so you can see what was written it will cost you about £50 for a full set. This may assist you in determining whether this entry is correct or not.

pedro123456

juneville,

The IC were never entitled to a copy of your full medical records, they were only entitled to relevant information, as set down in ABI-BMA guidelines.

http://www.bma.org.uk/images/MedicalInfoInsurance_tcm41-173470.pdf

The IC shouldnt ask for your Full Medical History, and your GP shouldn't send your Full Medical History.

Report the GP to the BMA

cogito

The IC were never entitled to a copy of your full medical records

Who says they got them?

npw32jnw

Dacouch has the best advice. I am betting that most people on this site spend hours trawling through all the comparison sites to get the cheapest quote at renewal time, but do not actually check the cover they are getting, or the insurer they are using. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! Dont go for the cheapest every time, the cover will be more limited and claims service will be lacking.

In relation to loss adjusters, they do not get a percentage of what they save, they are on fixed fees depending on the type of case, and so there is no incentive for them to try and diddle a customer.

Loss assessors (who work for the policyholder not the insurer) can be a good idea in more complex cases, but are simply not necessary for domestic insurers - one poster may have had this for free because of a link up with a builder, but I am willing to bet that there was a commercial agreement in place there, and the policyholder may have got better/quicker service from an insurer's panel builder.

Yes, sometimes claims staff get it wrong, and you should challenge them if this is the case - know your policy is best advice here. However it appears that there are some on this discussion who are completely prejudiced against insurance companies. At the end of the day, without insurance, you would not be able to get a mortgage for a home, industry would come to a grinding halt and the economy would stop overnight.

Generally insurers profits do not tend to come from preventing claims payouts, but from the investment income they make from taking your premiums and investing them before they have to pay out on a claim. So, some savings will come from claims decisions, but this is by no means the primary place.