Contents insurance terminology.

inneedofadvice_3

I am confused by my contents insurance.

I have taken extended contents cover for individual items - but reading thorugh the policy documents it talks about 'accidental loss' and 'deliberate loss' - i can't find any explanation as to what either of these terms means.
Does any one know?

Dangermac

I guess it depends on how technical that you want to get. It also depends on the context that these words are used.

For example:

Accidental Damage: This is an insured peril, covering accidental damage (i.e spilling paint on the carpet, putting foot through ceiling), or

It could be referring to damage which is caused deliberately (i.e setting fire to your house on purpose), as opposed to damage which caused by accident (i.e accidently setting your house on fire*)
* Please note that Accidental Damage cover is not required for fire to be insured. Fire is insured in its own right.

Dont know if this helps. If it doesnt, please expand on the context.

Dangermac

McKneff

I would also think that leaving windows/doors to your house open, like leaving your keys in the car when you go to pay for yur petrol would come under deliberate loss,

Or leaving your camera on the restaurant table while you go pay your bill.
In other words, stupidity, but we've all been there at least once.

inneedofadvice_3

What if i were to accidentally leave my laptop on a bus?

rudekid48

Then you'd be a !!!!!! head.;)

McKneff

rudekid48 wrote: »

Then you'd be a !!!!!! head.;)

:rotfl::rotfl:

not really sure on that one, lesson to be leaned from thinking ahead,
always think ahead, dont put your laptop anywhere but on your lap.

MarkyMarkD

Unless you are asking the question because you'd already "lost" :rolleyes: your laptop before taking out the insurance, surely you are worrying about an imaginary problem?

Most insurance will not cover you for simply leaving your laptop conveniently on a bus when it's stopped working/stopped being an up-to-date model. Accidental damage insurance will normally cover accidental damage to it - like dropping it and it breaking.

inneedofadvice_3

Hi,
No we already have insurance and we don't need a replacement laptop, I am just not sure what cover we actually have.

We did not go for the cheapest insurance presuming that would mean we were safe to take our valuables out of the house. Nobody is perfect and mistakes happen which is why we have insurance, but upon receiving the policy documents there appears to be so many loopholes that I am not sure what we are covered for.

The small print is so vague that I suspect we are not really covered for anything. I just want insurance documents to be transparent, unfortunately they are not, so I wondered if anyone out there could help, but it doesn't appear anyone is able to. In the past I have contacted insurance companies to ask them to explain their wording and they have increased my premiums as they have become suspicious. What is so wrong with trying to understand the cover you are paying for?

MarkyMarkD

Perhaps the same reason that I sounded suspicious? People who buy policies and then ask lots of questions about the "small print" tend to have ulterior purposes.

Most insurers "all risks" cover is still restricted in some ways. Most insurers will exclude "leaving my laptop on the bus" because it's too easy for customers to do it deliberately for the reasons I've already alluded to. So, it's sensible to be insured for taking your laptop out and being mugged - say - and having it stolen, or to be insured for dropping it or spilling something on it so that it no longer works, but rather less sensible to be insured for simply leaving it somewhere which (a) cannot be proved and (b) can easily be done deliberately.

OK, I know that it might be hard to prove that you've been mugged - but you'll have to report it to the police to get a crime reference number, and most people are not THAT dishonest - or to prove that spilling a pint of beer on your laptop was an accident, but you get my point don't you?

It is silly to say that you are not really covered for anything. Most domestic insurance policies cover you for fire, theft, flood, storm. Which account for almost all of the losses which occur. Add on accidental damage (normally an optional extra) and you cover another maybe 10% of losses. That leaves a rather small percentage of cases which happen out of doors, and even fewer (genuine) claims which are "I left my laptop on the bus". Hence why such claims are normally excluded.

Yorkie1

I have contents insurance, and have taken the personal belongings cover extension to deal with losses etc which occur outside the house. Perhaps that's what you need to look for?