Taken policy today and now need to claim ALREADY!!!

stephbond89

Hi, I have JUST taken out a home contents insurance policy with Kwikfit as I was unhappy with my old contents cover- it was costing the same without accidental damage cover and freezer cover as this new policy is costing me with it!

Anyways, I literally took out the policy 2 hours ago...I go into the kitchen, am washing dishes and drop a mug on the floor which shatters thrwoing pieces everywhere, ok no hueg loss, a mug is broken I carry on doing the dishes and then turn riound to see that a piece of the mug must have hit the front of my oven and smashed the outer safety glass which has just gone completely into little squares of glass. I looked at how much a replacement would be and its over £100 just for the glass and then fitting it would be even more...I realised a new cooker would be a better option, so looked into thios too, but need £400.

Then I remembered I had clicked yes to accidental damage cover on this new policy....BUT, I dont want to phone them cause its going to seem like I have done it on purpose to make a claim, or that the oven was broken before and i had no insurance cover!!! What do i do!? Wait a week before phoning them!? I am worried they will think I am commiting fraud and bang me in prison or something!!!

Has anyone ever made a claim the DAY they took out the policy!?

Quentin

It happens.

Just make the claim if you think it's worth it (bearing in mind the excess) - (they wouldn't buy you a new one), as it could be a DIY job to replace the glass.

stephbond89

i ahve a £0 excess on my insurance as it was only £21 a month, didnt htink it was worth having a £500 excess to bring it down to £15 a month which I wouldnt be able to afford in a circumstance like this. I dont mind only getting the repair job done, a new oven probably wouldnt be as good as the one we have now, its a £700 oven and is a great oven to use- so just repairing would be perfect for me. Its still usable for now as its just the front glass so its just hard ot close it and it keeps falling off haha, but Im worried about thgem thinking its a fraudulent claim, I know what some people are like abnd they do this sort of thing a lot, insurance companies must get pee'd off with it!!!

Would they not be suspicious!?

Quentin

They are always suspicious!

If you are telling the truth you have nothing to fear.

stephbond89

lol this is true in my experience they try to get out of paying out anyway no matter how or when you claim! Im a HUGE worrier though, and worry fi they think we're commiting fraud I'll be banged up or something! :S

huckster

Suggest that you look into getting the repair sorted out yourself. See how much it would cost to get a local contractor out to fit the new glass.

Sometimes when you have claimed, you can end up with higher premiums over a period, which can be more than the value of the claim.

It is possible that the Insurers could argue about the circumtances of the claim i.e. how likely is it that a fragment of a china mug could have broken the glass. There was a feature on a consumer programme about glass oven doors that were breaking and it was found that there was a maufacturing fault. Could this be the problem? Perhaps the glass was already stressed and the mug fragment hitting it, caused it to go. If the cooker is under a warranty, you could check with the manufacturers.

MrRedundant

They are quite rightly going to be highly suspicous. The fact is you upgrade your policy to cover this then 2 hours later have an accident that wont be able to be time allocated.

I'd expect them to query everything they can, payout if they have too then hammer your premiums or even cancel the cover.

dacouch

Is the oven built into the kitchen or free standing ?

stephbond89

it is free standing so covered by contents as far as I am aware

It could have been the glass was already under strain, though I doubt it, it isnt a new oven, its actually quite an old model, we inherited it from my sister last yr when she was getting an integrated one. its not under warrenty, its about 7 years old lol. I am pretty certain that it was the mug which did it, my sink is right next to the cooker and the mug dropped at some force, it was all over the kitchen floor, and completely shattered, in fact after clearing up, I have just found even more in the basket of my pram which was right across the other side of the kitchen lol, so it must have smacked into the floor atr some speed, it has also put a HUGE dent in my wooden floor which Im not impressed with lol, the dent is right infront of the oven too, which suggests thats where most of the force went.

I know what you mean though about the claim, this is why I asked, I dont want them to think I have done something to the cooker myself as I wanted a new one (certainly not the case, i love my cooker!!!!), the case of the premiums going up, is something I'd have to deal with, I have insurance to cover accidents like this, i got the accidental damage cover for this kind of thing, not much point having cover if im not going to use it when something breaks. Just a HUGE annoyance that it couldnt have happened in 2 weeks time rather than today!!!!

Thanks for the advice, I will have to have a think about what to do, weigh up the cost of repair and also how much my premiums could go up by, adding the fact that they are going to be very suspicious about the fact it happened so close to getting my insurance cover with them!!!!

Though at the end of the day accidents happen every couple of minutes, they could well say if it had happened in 4 months time that it had happened before I got the cover as it isnt something which can be proved time wise.

Thanks for the advice everyone