Water pipe coverage

Insco

Pau_l wrote: »

Actually the cover under a standard insurance policy with a reputable company is pretty wide ranging. It won't pay out for delaminated pitch fibre drains but other than that and assuming that you haven't just taken out the policy, the policy pays for most repairs under the Accidental Damage to Underground Services section of the policy. Accidental Damage is essentially anything that hasn't been done on purpose because wear and tear to drains is hard to prove. Certainly any damage caused by the escape of water is covered under the escape of water section of the policy. The Homeserve policy only covers repairs, ie patch repairs and the odds are that if a water supply main has failed through wear and tear it needs replacing in the near term rather than repairing. The policy only pays out for emergency repairs and they will probably seek a contribution from your household insurer so you will probably end up with a claim on that policy as well. In my view it is poor value for money particularly as most, if not all water suppliers will attend to one burst water main free of charge.

Quite a number of Insurers do pay for accidental damage to pitch fibre pipe - it depends on the policy wording and the actions of the Insurer at renewal / inception.

mrpipe

These policies are not worth the paper they are written on, most policy holders never use the service and pay for it every year, they would be better off cancelling the policies and puting the money into a savings account and sourcing a reputable local company to assist with any repairs.

These insurers prey on and fuel the fears of householders by telling them that the country is overwhelmed with cowboy contractors who are not qualified to do the job. In reality, most of the "Tradesmen" deployed by insurance companies are not qualified, and don't be fooled, most insurers use claims management companies such as Homeserve to complete their repairs. You only have to search GOOGLE to see what a shoddy lot they are.

Its all profit, the customer comes right at the bottom of the list.

jap200

We live in a South East water area and had a burst pipe just inside our boundary recently. We had it repaired free under the one-off free repair thing, but only because the work could be completed in less than an hour. Fortunately we were told that the leak was under (or close to) the lawn/flower bed and not in the tarmac drive. We had already removed some big shrubs and started digging the hole ourselves to save time/money, but in actual fact the contractors were at our property about 1 1/2 hours. I think the cups of tea I provided them with helped them to log the job as completed within the hour. Any extra time would have been billed at just under £100 per hour.

Our house was built in the late 1960s and our ground is very flinty, which is apparently a big risk factor for water leaks (the pipe vibrates as water runs though and rubs against flints which causes splits in the plastic over time). We were very lucky that previous owners of the house had not claimed the free repair because the one-off repair applies to the house not the owner (I think someone above said this too).

I discovered that our home insurance policy excludes repairs to the fresh water supply pipe (but does cover sewage pipes). I have just received a letter through the post from our water company offering the insurance for around the amounts that the person above quoted and I will take it up this time as I would rather have the peace of mind than the worry about how much another repair might cost if it was under our tarmac driveway for example.

nmckay15

Just as a side point for anyone considering taking out this insurance from Homerseve- you get £40 cashback from Quidco for taking out a policy - and the water pipe one is only 99p a month.....

aloiseb

I have just been reading this week's Sunday Telegraph "Life" section, all about Homeserve.
(thanks to father in law for the free vouchers........)

The builder who writes the Q and A column (Jeff Howell) thinks it's disreputable behaviour on the part of the water companies, not to mention that you can have a one-off free repair, as part of their original agreement when they were privatised.

(I reckon if he read some of the horror stories on this thread, he'd say they were worse than disreputable :eek:)

He didn't mention that the once-only claim thing applied to the house, not the owners - I live in an 80 year old house, so goodness knows what the pipes are made of, or how many claims have been made already.

I will be looking into the situation re our buildings insurance cover ASAP, after reading this thread, and then if it doesn't seem to cover external pipes, I'll be considering our many cheap deal offers from Homeserve....especially at Quidco prices.....;)
Thanks all!

deanos

It is mentioned on water company websites and leaflets, not sure what else they can do ?

http://www.anglianwater.co.uk/household/promise/watertight/
http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/9759.htm
http://www.yorkshirewater.com/medialibrary/PDF%20files/If_there_is_a_leak_leakage.pdf

aloiseb

Well, I would like to be told about it, as the invitation to spend £28 a year for insurance arrives....just a flyer in the envelope from the water company "reminding" me, maybe?!

Unfortunately I am not the kind of person who reads through all the literature supplied with every bill - so I wasn't aware that you get one call-out (per house) free of charge.

Hope the water co are as sharp at dealing with the leaks........

deanos

If you read the invitaition about the insurance it does say you may be entitled to a free repair

cb101

Hi

I recently had a leaking lead pipe in my driveway that I had to get repaired myself. Didn't flood anything, just bubbled away.
I keep being sent this offer from Homeserve for 99p a month to cover the water pipes and keep thinking about it. However would it actually cover anything for example if I had a similar leak?
I have looked at the terms and conditions which say
Emergency/ies: sudden and unforeseen damage to the
underground water supply pipe which immediately:
a) exposes you to a risk to your health; or
b) creates a risk of loss of or damage to the property or
c) makes the buildings uninhabitable.

Surely a leak in your supply pipe outside your propert, in your garden or driveway is not very likely to do any of these things. Presumably a burst lead pipe will always be the owners responsibility and be down to wear and tear??
Any advice? will I just be wasting £12 ?
C

Insco

cb101 wrote: »

Hi

I recently had a leaking lead pipe in my driveway that I had to get repaired myself. Didn't flood anything, just bubbled away.
I keep being sent this offer from Homeserve for 99p a month to cover the water pipes and keep thinking about it. However would it actually cover anything for example if I had a similar leak?
I have looked at the terms and conditions which say
Emergency/ies: sudden and unforeseen damage to the
underground water supply pipe which immediately:
a) exposes you to a risk to your health; or
b) creates a risk of loss of or damage to the property or
c) makes the buildings uninhabitable.

Surely a leak in your supply pipe outside your propert, in your garden or driveway is not very likely to do any of these things. Presumably a burst lead pipe will always be the owners responsibility and be down to wear and tear??
Any advice? will I just be wasting £12 ?
C

Your leaking lead pipe in your driveway that you had to get repaired yourself should have been covered under the standard accidental damage to underground services cover on your home buildings insurance policy. Did you submit a claim to your Insurer?? I have seen hundreds of such claims accepted by Insurers and those that were rejected by Insurers were upheld on complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nlxjv/Inside_Out_South_26_10_2009/


The Homeserve cover is effectively for an emergency repair / emergency response. £12 for peace of mind is not unreasonable.