Buildings Insurance, Tracing and Accessing Leaks, Who to Choose??

dinsey

Its time to renew my buildings and contents policies. Have been reading on the forums about people having problems with leaks etc, so set out to find a insurer who covers for this.

I have always been with Lloyds TSB who do not cover for this. Can anyone suggest, or companies they are with?

Some state, that they cover for finding leaks within the home. Sorry to sound ignorant, would hot and cold feed pipes under a concrete floor in the kitchen be classed as in the home (do they diferentiate between under floor or around the home in ceilings?

Thanks In Advance

dinsey

late bump

dacouch

Let us know which companies are competitive for you and we can tell you whether they include trace and access and give you our opinion on the insurers.

Failing that everyone will probably recommend Hiscox who are very expensive

dinsey

Thanks dacouch, lloyds dont do it, well cant find it on there site.

Found Legal and General:

http://www.legalandgeneral.com/home-insurance/buildings-insurance.html

Max for tracing is 5K, will this be enough.

Waiting on others to recommend, Thanks

dacouch

I'll explain trace and access to clarify.

A normal Home Policy just covers the consequent damage the escape of water has done, it does not pay to repair the leak or to trace or access the leak.

Some of the newer policies on the market and the existing Insurers who have revised their policies include it but will normally still exclude the cost of actually fixing the leak itself

A trace and access claim is fairly rare in my experience, they tend to be for removing tiles around a shower to locate a leak, remove tiled in bath surrounds or carpets / tiles etc and then remove floor boards. The more expensive trace and accesses can be where you have a concrete floor (With tiles / carpets etc) where they have to hack away the concrete in a few places to locate the leak.

It's generally a plumber who does the trace and access work and obviously they are not cheap, I find their trace and access on the shower, bath and floor boards is generally between £500 and £1000. When they involve multiple hacking in concrete they can be upwards of £1000 eg £1000 to £3000.

In the cases I have seen cover of £5000 would be more than enough and is the amount of cover for that the Insurers who include T&A normally offer.

I like L&G and use them a lot as I find their cover pretty comprehensive and their claims service good. There are others who deal direct and have had hiccups, I'm a broker so if there is a delay I just pick the phone up and it's normally resolved. I think if you are a direct customer and do have a hiccup they can be resolved if you also pick the phone up and speak to the right person in the right way.

I've seen L&G pay claims that they are not obliged to pay as they are not covered by the policy but they have paid as they felt it was the right thing to do.

(You will find people have hiccups with most Insurers).

I would recommend that you keep your policy excess low, L&G offer a discount if one of the household is retired or a housewife/husband. If you have selected a security discount, try taking the door locks out and leave the window locks in as they normally offer the same discount but do not but the door lock warranty on (They will still pay claims if you don't use your window locks providing you act reasonably eg use them when you go away for a few days etc)

dinsey

Many thanks dacouch for taking time to write the comprehensive reply. Sorry didnt reply back sooner, been busy with work etc. It sure answered a lot of the questions.

Been going down the broker route and its down to 2 insurers, Legal and General at £380 (250 excess for Trace) with MMA at £280 (50 excess for Trace), they both seem to offer near enough the same but something tells me to go with a larger company.

Broker also told me MMA have 10K max for trace and access but could only find 5K on website.

Any other insurers you could recommend?

dacouch

I would certainly recommend you avoid MMA.

Is the excess on the L&G policy £250 for the whole policy?

Did you ask the broker about the window lock discount as I mentioned (You can just opt for a window lock discount without opting into a door lock discount and L&G will pay theft claims if you have not used the window locks providing you have been sensible eg they don't mind you leaving a window open if you pop out for the day on a hot day but would expect you to lock them if you go away on holiday)

If I ever use MMA is is for clients who just want the cheapest possible policy, read between the lines.

Personally I currently find any French owned Insurers are best avoided, this would be MMA, Groupama and Axa.

Aviva through a broker are good as any hiccups the broker can normally sort out, however the chances are Aviva will probably be expensive

dinsey

Thanks man you are a star, the £250 excess was for trace n leak, think normal is £100, didnt go via broker when direct to site, will ask broker about locks.

Thanks once again for sound prompt advice, and you not even on commisson, :T

dacouch

As far as I can see the excess with L&G for trace and access claims is the same as the excess for the rest of the policy. Ask you broker to check for you.

P.S I hope your not using Swintons

dinsey

yes was using swintons, know of another others I should be using,

tommie

dacouch wrote: »

A trace and access claim is fairly rare in my experience, they tend to be for removing tiles around a shower to locate a leak, remove tiled in bath surrounds or carpets / tiles etc and then remove floor boards. The more expensive trace and accesses can be where you have a concrete floor (With tiles / carpets etc) where they have to hack away the concrete in a few places to locate the leak.

It's generally a plumber who does the trace and access work and obviously they are not cheap, I find their trace and access on the shower, bath and floor boards is generally between £500 and £1000. When they involve multiple hacking in concrete they can be upwards of £1000 eg £1000 to £3000.

sorry, bumping this as it concerns me at the moment,...
two plumbers have told me i have a mains water leak somewhere between the pavement outside and where it enters my house at the back door, possibly under the pathway leading around the house. Do you think my house insurance (Tescos) will cover for this search? It does say `Track and Access source of Leak - £5000` on the policy??

thanks...