Please Help Me With Home Ins Claim!!

chrisand_juanita

I'll try to be as brief as possible:

My wife and I recently purchased our first new home and took out an ABC home insurance policy with AXA(Buildings & Contents).
I fitted a new integrated dishwasher into one of the kitchen cupboards.
My son's friend fell on the open door of the dishwasher(less than one month old), causing damage to the hinge, and now the door won't close.

Contacted AXA to make a claim under our accidental contents but was told that because it's an integrated dishwasher it comes under buildings insurance(which we don't have accidental cover).

Can someone please explain if this is right or are AXA trying to just fob me off????:mad:

Quentin

They are correct.

Buildings insurance also covers contents which are permanently fixed, eg, fitted wardrobes/fitted kitchens/built in appliances.

shelly

I remember what I read on this site once about what's insured as buildings and what's insured as contents.
'If you took the roof off your house, turned it upside down and gave it a good shake, what falls out is contents and what stays put is buildings'

dogbot

I am affraid I would agree. We have just purchased our first place and the vendors said they were taking the integrated dishwasher. We then got a call the week before completion to say that he had been trying for an hour but couldn't get it out so was leaving it!!

TotallyBroke

Can I ask a question about this then please, I live in a council block and pay my buildings insurance through them. If I was in a similar position would I need to claim off them or would I need to purchase my own buildings insurance.

Thanks, oh and I am a leaseholder, I own the home through a mortgage.

geri1965_2

If they own the building, they will insure it and meet any claims under their policy. You can't take out buildings insurance on a building you don't own.

mattymoo

chrisandjuanita - have you tried getting a quote for the repair? If it simply needs a new hinge * it might be relatively cheap. Possibly cheaper than the excess and increased premium you would have faced had your claim been allowed.

* Having said that, I seem to recall that dishwasher hinges are pretty complex things to fit because of a) where they sit in the machine and b) they are sprung or counterweighted to allow the door to lift easily. Possibly not a DIY job.

EDIT - is it definately a complete failure of the hinge or does it just need adjusting? Any help here - http://www.ehow.com/how_5046117_replace-dishwasher-door.html
or here
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/stepbystep-repair--dishwasher-door-hinges

I googled "replacing a dishwasher door hinge" to find those but there were loads of other hits including manufacturer specific ones.

TotallyBroke

geri1965 wrote: »

If they own the building, they will insure it and meet any claims under their policy. You can't take out buildings insurance on a building you don't own.

Thank you for that. I better dig my insurance book out and investigate further as knowing the council there will be a clause in there somewhere.

chrisand_juanita

shelly wrote: »

I remember what I read on this site once about what's insured as buildings and what's insured as contents.
'If you took the roof off your house, turned it upside down and gave it a good shake, what falls out is contents and what stays put is buildings'

Thanks for all the replies ladies and gents
I just don't agree with what they're saying. Correct me if I'm wrong but a dishwasher is an appliance. This appliance wasn't there when the house was recently built, I added it.

With regard to shelly's reply, that's exactly what the claims woman from AXA said to me but a Plasma TV on the wall won't fall off but it's classed as contents?

Mattymoo- I might end up having to have the hinges and door replaced or end up having to buy another new one if too costly:mad:

Quentin

chrisand_juanita wrote: »

I just don't agree with what they're saying. Correct me if I'm wrong but a dishwasher is an appliance. This appliance wasn't there when the house was recently built, I added it.

You are correct - the dishwasher is an appliance.

But your insurer is also correct, as built in appliances are covered by buildings insurance.

Had you added some built in wardrobes, the situation would be the same.

Conversley, a free standing dishwasher, (or free standing wardrobes) would have been covered under contents insurance.

ladybabe

i'm afraid your insurance company is right basically your buildings is classed as anything that if you tipped your house up would stay where it is, so contents is anything that would fall out should you do the same thing. a good example of this is properly fixed laminate flooring this would be buildings but if you had carpet it would be contents etc. hope this helps :-))