Claiming on travel insurance and asked for details of home insurance

handsleytaylor

Hi. I am currently making a claim on my HSBC travel insurance, and they are insisting I provide details (including policy numbers) of other insurance policies, such as my household contents policy. Does anyone know why they do this, and should I be worried about providing such details? Thanks.

poet123

They do it because you are also covered for possessions away from home on your contents insurance. In fact, usually the best cover is on the home insurance policy, as it is new for old cover, which travel policies dont provide. You can opt to claim on either, but not both, so it is wise to work out which is the most beneficial one for you to use.

Quentin

handsleytaylor wrote: »

should I be worried about providing such details? Thanks.

No need to worry, this is routine.

Tell them what they want to know, delaying doing this will just delay them paying out your claim, and you will have agreed to complete their claim forms in the ts + cs you accepted when taking out the policy.

Quote

poet123 wrote: »

You can opt to claim on either, but not both, so it is wise to work out which is the most beneficial one for you to use.

I believe I'm right in saying that the insurer decides how a claim is settled.

OP, look up subrogation and contribution.

FH_Brit

Looks like your insurers are trying to get out of paying your claim. They are seeing if another policy you hold covers your loss. Tell them you don't have contents insurance and therefore that is the reason you are claiming off the travel policy.

Although I agree somwhat with poet - yes you cannot claim on both policies - but you can if the cost of the loss is only partially covered by one policy (i.e. if your loss totals £1,000.00 and the contens insurance has a £700.00 limit then after they have paid, you can then claim the uncovered £300.00 on the other policy but you cannot claim the £700.00 and then claim another £1,000.00).

If you read the T&C's of your travel policy it probably says something like they will only pay out in the event of no other insurance covering a particular loss and that you agree to provide the information requested, if you then refuse you have failed to comply with your T&C's and therefore they can just deny any claim on those grounds.

Quentin

FH_Brit wrote: »

Looks like your insurers are trying to get out of paying your claim. They are seeing if another policy you hold covers your loss. Tell them you don't have contents insurance and therefore that is the reason you are claiming off the travel policy.

This is poor advice.

This request is quite normal, and is not a way of "trying to get out of paying"!

As previously posted, there is nothing to worry about in giving the details requested, and you are bound by your policy conditions to complete the forms they send you.

But were you to follow this advice and falsely inform them you have no other insurance then you do have something to worry about should they find out you are lying to them!

poet123

Quote wrote: »

I believe I'm right in saying that the insurer decides how a claim is settled.

OP, look up subrogation and contribution.

From personal, recent experience I can tell you I decided which policy was most beneficial to claim under, not my insurers. After some deliberation I realised my claim was best served under the limits/T&C's of my home insurance, rather than the travel policy, but they did liaise with each other about the issue. As long as you are straight with them you will be fine.

LadySalster

I've been trying to sort out an insurance claim with my travel insurers since September and now they want details on contents insurance at my home address, the problem is that the contents insurance is my mothers and in her name and she's not all together willing for me to give the information to the travel insurance as she doesn't want me to make any claims on her contents insurance. I told the travel insurers this and now they're saying it won't affect my mothers premiums etc. I don't know what to do..... can anyone offer me advice please? Is my mother quite within her rights to not want me to disclose this information etc?

Quentin

Your travel policy conditions which you have agreed to will cover this. Read up your policy, as most have a condition which says something along the lines they are entitled to contact any other insurer if there is another policy covering the same risk. If you don't provide the details requested, they won't pay up!

nicjane113

Insurance policies have a 'contribution' condition which means they are only liable for their rateable proportion of any claims if you have more than one policy in force.

You can still claim on both policies (and you might have to if you want the full payout) but it means you can't claim the full amount twice as that's classed as betterment.

Say you have £1,000 cover on a travel policy and £1,000 cover on a household policy.
If your claim is for £1,000, each insurer is only liable for £500 so if you wanted the full £1,000 back you would have to claim off both policies.

Hope that makes sense

vusys1

is this travel claim for within the UK? dont contents cover only provide cover for items temp removed to a permanent place of work,or residence etc within the UK?