Is there an average a premium goes up if you make a claim?

Grolsch30

Hi,

Would anyone know if there is some average or calculation used by insurance companies if you have made a claim and seeking to renew you house buldings/contents insurance?

I am thinking of claiming on my contents insurance for my laptop which my dear little one decided to chuck a glass of water over, but worried what my new premium for next year would end up being!

Then again whats the point of insurance if you don't claim when needed!!!

Also would I get back the full value of my laptop as it was worth £1200 when I bought it 4/5 years ago, or would it be a percentage, I did Insure it extra to the value of £1200.

Any insight would be great, thanks

dacouch

Assuming you have a new for old policy and it includes Accidental Damage to lap tops they would replace it on a new for old basis. On a 4 year old lap top they will probably be able to replace it with a lap top with the same or more likely better specifications for between £300 and £450.

There is not a set formula for how much a claim increases your premium, you could contact your Insurers underwriting department (Not the claims dept) and ask them to give you a rough guesstimate

Grolsch30

dacouch wrote: »

Assuming you have a new for old policy and it includes Accidental Damage to lap tops they would replace it on a new for old basis. On a 4 year old lap top they will probably be able to replace it with a lap top with the same or more likely better specifications for between £300 and £450.

There is not a set formula for how much a claim increases your premium, you could contact your Insurers underwriting department (Not the claims dept) and ask them to give you a rough guesstimate

Many thanks, I think I will do that.
When i filled in my insurance application it asked for any high value specific items you wanted insuring extra like plasma tv, laptops etc, so I put down my laptop and it asked me to what value i wanted it insuring and i put the value of £1200 (what i paid for it).
I would of thought if I made a claim that I would then receive the amount I insured it for hence the £1200 but it looks like maybe as you say i will only get a proportion of that amount due to it's age.

So when filling out these insurance applications and valueing the items you want covered extra it's best to put in a lesser amount in as you would not get the amount paid for the item when new back!

I will have a look at my policy when i get back home from work (writing this from work due to no computer at home!!!)


Thanks again.

dacouch

It's not a question of reducing the value due to it's age, Insurers do replace on a new for old basis, however when it comes to technology such as laptops the power / specifications increase each year but the cost to buy the extra power reduces each year.

Grolsch30

dacouch wrote: »

It's not a question of reducing the value due to it's age, Insurers do replace on a new for old basis, however when it comes to technology such as laptops the power / specifications increase each year but the cost to buy the extra power reduces each year.

So if i buy a new laptop for say £1000 today and my contents insurance comes up for renewal in 8 months time, should i then insure the laptop for say £700 as its likely by that time you can buy the equivelant laptop for around that price due to the technology & cost decreases each year, even though they ask you for the value of the laptop which to me would still be £1000.

Thanks for your help :beer: