6 small claims and I've been blacklisted, anyone else?

JPS29

borrisspassky wrote: »

Hi. I am new to this excellent site but have a serious problem with my House and Contents Insurance, in short no one will insure me. I made 6 claims in 4 years totalling £2,803. What to do? Thanks all suggestions welcome.

What I would suggest is that you take the renewal offer (it may be the only offer you get) and dont claim for anyththing and everything in the next few years. If there is a genuine claim that you cannot manage to get through yourself, eg roof collapse, flood, burglary then fine claim.

But if you spill paint on a rug whilst decorating, or scald a table with a hot plate then put your hand in your own pocket. This way you will build up some NCB and eventually get back to normal.

Astaroth

borrisspassky wrote: »

but I believe its fraudsters that are responsible for that....not small claims and not legitimate claims. Simply, get the insurance companies to put a small table in their policy documents that says....you are insured for this, you pay this, if you make X claims in Y time amounting to Z this is how much your premium and excess will rise. Simple algebra could do that now with my history. The reason there is no such calculation is consumers would be put off. If I'm paying for this criteria but going to be hammered for claiming it - why am I paying this. Btw Mattymoo "A 32% premium load is not too steep and the increased excess will deter small claims" if they want to deter small claims EXCLUDE THEM and reduce my preiums, if your bank savings had risen 32% this year would you describe it as "not too steep"? If your pension had declined by 32% this year how would you describe it? 1/3 is steep by anyones measure.

There is simple algebra that calculates it.... rating engines are really not as complicated (probably read advanced) as many people think.... start with a basic premium of £200, if someone has made no claims give 10% discount, if they have made 1 claim a 0% discount, if 2 claims then 10% loading, if 3 claims then 30% loading if 4 claims then decline.

The concept of Excess is to exclude small claims, hence why you get fairly substancial discounts for taking a £500 excess. Obviously you are entitled to make the claims just as they are entitled to adjust your premiums the following year. Ultimately most people realise that whilst they CAN claim for small things that economically it doesnt make sense to claim because of the increases in premiums going forward and therefore see insurance for substantial and catastrophic losses and not just the minor "d'oh" incidents we all have every few months.

dunstonh

"A 32% premium load is not too steep and the increased excess will deter small claims" if they want to deter small claims EXCLUDE THEM and reduce my preiums, if your bank savings had risen 32% this year would you describe it as "not too steep"? If your pension had declined by 32% this year how would you describe it? 1/3 is steep by anyones measure.

Typical £300 premium with a 33% loading is £99. Given your awful claims history, it doesnt seem very much at all.

To be honest, your claims history is actually bad enough to really be considering 50-100% loading.

How on earth have you managed to have so many claims?

mattymoo

borrisspassky wrote: »

if they want to deter small claims EXCLUDE THEM and reduce my preiums.

They have effectively excluded them by increasing your excess.

There are trade offs to be had between excess and premium. Higher excess, lower premium or higher premium, lower excess. The premium loading at 32% is modest for 6 claims, as others have said, it can be much higher.

Try doing this calculation as well.

Claims paid / premium paid (over the 4 year period) then multiply by 100. This will give you your loss ratio as a percentage.
Anything over 75%-80% generally means the insurer makes a loss. Ther other 20-25% is lost in commision, overheads and general admin costs.
Anything over 100% generally puts you in to high risk territory.

Do the same calculation next year (assuming claims free) and you should see an improvement in the ratio and more insurers will quote for you.

dacouch

I agree with Dunstohn, the premium increase is a lot less than I would have expected, they have underwritten it by increasing the excess to disuade the small claims.

Out of interest Borrispasky give us a guide of what your claims have been for and their costs (I'm guessing they are a mix of accidental damage, burst pipes and roof claims)

Simulacraton

borrisspassky wrote: »

but I believe its fraudsters that are responsible for that....not small claims and not legitimate claims. Simply, get the insurance companies to put a small table in their policy documents that says....you are insured for this, you pay this, if you make X claims in Y time amounting to Z this is how much your premium and excess will rise. Simple algebra could do that now with my history. The reason there is no such calculation is consumers would be put off. If I'm paying for this criteria but going to be hammered for claiming it - why am I paying this. Btw Mattymoo "A 32% premium load is not too steep and the increased excess will deter small claims" if they want to deter small claims EXCLUDE THEM and reduce my preiums, if your bank savings had risen 32% this year would you describe it as "not too steep"? If your pension had declined by 32% this year how would you describe it? 1/3 is steep by anyones measure.

Anyone who makes a claim is going to have a financial impact on an insurer, and thus their customers, non-claimant or not, pick up the tab.

As for specifying rates and mathematical data on premiums in with all the other info you get sent...why bother when you can just type it all in on some on-line quotation system. Also, there are changes to rates on an ongoing basis, which would mean any data written down would soon be out of date, leading to more confusion for the poor consumer.

Just take the 32% loading and start repairing your history.

gordikin

A simple 10% per year discount for not claiming sounds fair to me...as does a 10% increase in premium for each claim. OP as a matter of interest what were the 6 claims for? You do sound more than a little unlucky/careless...perhaps you should consider getting a rabbits foot...not PC I know!

borrisspassky

justify what I originally said, insurance companies make too much money. My concern is not the increase in premiums, whilst I think they are exorbitant, hiding behind actuarial balderdash is how they get away with it. Simply, I can assure you despite my £2,803 in claims over 4 years (2 X wind damage to greenhouse, trampoline, tar on carpet from dog, water destroyed PC, smashed camera on holiday, paint on new suit, ) the insurance company made a substantial profit on me as a policy holder. Premiums paid-admin costs-claims paid out. Never mind all the exaggerated internal costs to justify passing on exponential increases to policy holders. We, and I am are digressing. The real issue I have is not the increase in premiums etc., they are entitled to charge me what they want, BUT, how come no one else will quote? Is it a case of "if you don't take our policy we'll make sure no one else does" as I suspect. In the end kowtowing to to the insurance companies simply lets them get away with it. If they have the power to say to others "don't touch him". I just don't believe the coincidence of it all. And arithmetically there is no logic or real truth behind penalizing a 6 claims £2,803 customer more than a 1 claim £20,000 customer.

dunstonh

justify what I originally said, insurance companies make too much money.

They make very little on household insurance. In fact, UK insurance is as a whole is not very profitable and many companies have withdrawn and there are very few left still open to business compared to just 5 or 10 years ago.

My concern is not the increase in premiums, whilst I think they are exorbitant, hiding behind actuarial balderdash is how they get away with it.

Hold on. Your claims rate is exorbitant.

BUT, how come no one else will quote?

You are too high risk. Your claims rate is totally against the average for a typical household. You have loss making written all over you. In effect, any insurer taking you on is pricing would be knowing that you are almost certainly going to be claiming in that 12 month period.

Is it a case of "if you don't take our policy we'll make sure no one else does" as I suspect.

You suspect wrong. Insurance companies dont tell other insurance companies what they can and cannot do.

And arithmetically there is no logic or real truth behind penalizing a 6 claims £2,803 customer more than a 1 claim £20,000 customer.

There is logic in what they are doing. You are higher risk with 6 claims than someone with 1. That person with 1 claim probably only has 1 claim in 20 years. You are trending 30 claims in 20 years.

raskazz

borrisspassky wrote: »

justify what I originally said, insurance companies make too much money.

Where is your evidence that insurers 'make too much money', specifically on home buildings + contents insurace?

borrisspassky wrote: »

My concern is not the increase in premiums, whilst I think they are exorbitant, hiding behind actuarial balderdash is how they get away with it.

You don't need to 'hide behind actuarial balderdash' to realise that your recent claims frequency is statistically very abnormal. Hence why insurers don't want your business. No wonder when you have claimed for things like a camera and a suit, which unless they are a high-end SLR and a bespoke suit are odd things to claim for given your previous claim history (and the impact that claiming for them would have on your future premiums).

borrisspassky wrote: »

Simply, I can assure you despite my £2,803 in claims over 4 years (2 X wind damage to greenhouse, trampoline, tar on carpet from dog, water destroyed PC, smashed camera on holiday, paint on new suit, ) the insurance company made a substantial profit on me as a policy holder. Premiums paid-admin costs-claims paid out.

Could you quantify this by advising how much your premiums have been in the last 4 years?

borrisspassky wrote: »

Never mind all the exaggerated internal costs to justify passing on exponential increases to policy holders. We, and I am are digressing. The real issue I have is not the increase in premiums etc., they are entitled to charge me what they want, BUT, how come no one else will quote? Is it a case of "if you don't take our policy we'll make sure no one else does" as I suspect.

No, it's not. You have not been 'blacklisted' as long as there is no fraud involved. Insurers do not want your business because your claims history indicates that if they do quote it will end up costing them money. Businesses in general don't do business that they are almost certain will lead to a loss, not just insurers.

borrisspassky wrote: »

In the end kowtowing to to the insurance companies simply lets them get away with it. If they have the power to say to others "don't touch him". I just don't believe the coincidence of it all. And arithmetically there is no logic or real truth behind penalizing a 6 claims £2,803 customer more than a 1 claim £20,000 customer.

Both claims frequency and claims severity make up the claim experience. Your 6 claims are far more of a statistical abnormality than 1 £20k claim. Hence why an insurer will treat it differently.

Your current insurer's offer is fair given your history. You should be thankful that they are inviting renewal at all.