How badly does a claim affect your premium? House insurance

lelole

Hi,

My partner has accidentally damaged our living room carpet :mad:

and we don't know whether we should claim on our insurance for it.

What we don't want to do is get the carpet on the insurance but end up paying morein increased premiums over the next few years. We have our buildings and contents insured jointly and have 6 years no claims (not protected)...

Thanks for any advice!!

huckster

With the excess and increase in premium over several years it may not be worth it. Depends on the value of the carpet. Can't say what the increase in premium would be, but as a guess if you based it on say 20% extra over 3 years, it would give you a rough idea. You could get a few quotes online with a claim to see how premiums are affected.

The Insurers won't just replace. They will probably ask for it to be inspected and only replace if they had to. If you found out, it could be cleaned, you might be wasting time. If it is a spillage, get some advice from a professional carpet cleaner.

lelole

Hi,

No it is a burn!! Right in the middle!

Thanks for the advice...

Barneysmom

I was going to claim for mine several years ago. I'd been ironing on the floor with a towel and put the iron straight down on the carpet, straight away it burnt an iron shape. The insurance man said we couldn't claim as it wasn't an actual fire.

huckster

Barneysmom wrote: »

I was going to claim for mine several years ago. I'd been ironing on the floor with a towel and put the iron straight down on the carpet, straight away it burnt an iron shape. The insurance man said we couldn't claim as it wasn't an actual fire.

Yes for a burn, if there was no flame, you would need to have accidental damage to be able to claim.

lelole

Hi,

Luckily we have accidental damage cover too - so hopefully it will be covered, just whether it is worthwhile to do so...

Thanks

lelole

Though it was caused by hot ash, so perhaps classed as fire??

Caused by partner being a complete numpty so maybe not!!

*Scarlett

As advised, try a a couple of on-line quotes with and without the claim You don't have to put in your real contact details but make sure the property details/ postcode etc are correct. Estimate how much your carpet would cost to replace.

Take into account the excess you would pay and you should be able to see if it's worth claiming.

If you are paying extra for accidental damage and the excess does not swallow up too much of the claim value, I would claim for it. That's what you're paying your insurance for.

If it's the only time you have claimed in 6 years, a small claim like this may not affect your premium as much as you'd think, although different companies will vary on this.

Although you would need to be aware that if you have to make more than 1 more claim within the next 3 years you may have trouble getting new companies to quote for you. Generally they don't like 3 or more claims within 3 years - and this will probably increase your premium.