sat nav not covered on house insurance ?

denibabe

:mad:hi all, axa house insurance company have said today that they are not replacing the sat nav i had stolen from my house ,they said sat navs are not covered under house insurance as it a travel item ,i am gutted as it was over £150 ,is there anything i can do or should i just cut my losses.

lisyloo

Well you can check whether they are right by chceking your policy and asking them to refer you to which sections of the policy support their views.

Did you take the "personal possesions" option?

denibabe

hi,it doesn't mention anywhere in the policy book about satnavs not being covered,and also personal possessions are covered upto £5000 so i'm still at a loss i have phoned twice now and get the same reply satnav is not covered on house insurance as it a travel item, his example was if i left the front off my car stereo in my house that also wouldn't be covered.unsure now what the next step should be.

Quentin

Is it just your satnav that was stolen? If so, is it cost effective to make a claim, instead of just getting a new one, bearing in mind they are cheaper now, and you would have to pay your excess and expect higher premiums for the next few years if you make a (successful) claim.

FlameCloud

Are they talking about it being a motoring accessory?

olly300

denibabe wrote: »

hi,it doesn't mention anywhere in the policy book about satnavs not being covered,and also personal possessions are covered upto £5000 so i'm still at a loss i have phoned twice now and get the same reply satnav is not covered on house insurance as it a travel item, his example was if i left the front off my car stereo in my house that also wouldn't be covered.unsure now what the next step should be.

I'm confused. Is he saying categorically that it's not covered because it is a car item? As anything can be a "travel" item for example a GPS system for a bike, walker or runner are also "travel" items.

If it is cost effective to claim for the Sat Nav on your insurance policy the next thing you need to do is put in a formal complaint to the company. Send the letter by recorded delivery, put the title "Formal Complaint" on your letter, briefly put describe who you have contacted and what they have said and the fact nothing in the policy document excludes Sat Navs.

denibabe

thanks olly300 i will put a formal complaint in the post recorded delivery ,they are replacing everything else what was stolen but i can't understand why sat nav is not covered , i have double checked my policy nothing in the whats not covered section mentions sat nav and when i mentioned this they said there wouldn't be as it a car item.

lisyloo

hmm........sounds like they are saying it's a car accessory.
Personally I think they are wrong on two grounds.

Firstly I use my sat sav on a motorbike so they are not purely car accesories in my view. The can also be used for walking, or even cycling etc.

Secondly I would bring mine inside for re-charging, downloading s/w and also safe storage. I don't leave valuables in a car.

I think you should raise a formal complaint through the formal complaints procedure.
It's important you write to the correct dept and follow their procedure.
It also might be worth spending 75p on recorded delivery to make sure your complaint is not lost.
Ask them in writing to point out which section of the policy that excludes your "mult-activity" sat nav, which is stored in the house for safe keeping.
Sounds like they won't be able to point to that section

Sometimes you do have to argue your case unfortunately.

Thing is , if you tried to claim off your car insurance for theft, I bet they'd say you shouldn't have left valuable in your car and should have taken it in the house !!

olly300

denibabe make sure in your complaint you put the exact term he used.

If it was "car item" then you need to point out there are not "car items" as they can be used on motorbikes.

If was "travel item" then point out other similar items that are "travel items" but would be covered under personal possessions.

dunstonh

If it was "car item" then you need to point out there are not "car items" as they can be used on motorbikes.

They can also be used by ramblers/walkers as they show paths as well as roads.

My instinct is that it would be treated as a personal possession and as long as you have that cover you would be fine. I know some insist on items left in cars being in a lockable area, such as lockable glove compartment or boot. Also, some car insurance policies will cover the sat nav.

However, given the cost of excess and the loss of no claims bonus (implicit of explicit as not all companies document no claims bonus explicitly on home insurance) I would have doubted it was cost effective to claim for a sat nav.

lisyloo

I would have doubted it was cost effective to claim for a sat nav

Don't know if you meant that as general advice.
But this particular claims includes other items, so the addition of the sat nav to the larger claim doesn't have much downside.