Insurance claimafter a burglary

2terriers

My home was broken into on 12/01/2011 and after an initial battle with the insurers they have agreed to honour my insurance. I have taken out a combined buildings & contents insurance and the policy states £100 excess on buildings & £100 excess on contents. I am now totally confused by the little information my insurers have provided & would greatly appreciate some help & advice. Today the company assigned by the insurers came out & replaced my back door, this is where the burglars came in. They told me I had to pay them the £200 excess. I had no idea that I was supposed to do this as my insurance company hadn't told me. I explained that I wasn't aware of this and seeing as each of the companies the loss adjuster had commissioned to value & replace my items were also stating that they would be deducting the excess how come I needed to pay them it too, at this rate I'll have had the excess deducted several times over. Does anyone know if this is all correct? Also why do I have to pay the excess for both parts of my insurance? I appreciate the door comes under buildings but surely as this was a breakin shouldn't just one part of the insurance come into play. Please help as I am getting nowhere with either the loss adjuster, my insurance company or any of the companies appointed to value my stolen goods.

wannabie

Maybe they just want to get the excess over and done with?

2terriers

wannabie wrote: »

Maybe they just want to get the excess over and done with?

I can understand that but if I need to pay both the excess on the buildings & the contents surely only the building part excess should be paid to the part belonging to the building work? Also if each of the suppliers/valuers who have been appointed to quote/replace my items, deducts the full £200 as they have all stated I will have paid £1000 excess!!!!!!!!!

The other point I am trying to get more clarification on is why I have to pay both parts of the excess ie buildings & contents. I have been told that as this is burglary it should all fall under the contents only section. This was by a couple of the police officers who attended the scene & they were both up in arms when I was on the phone to the insurers at 9.30pm trying to get them to come out & secure my door & the insurers told me they had to wait until they got confirmation from the underwriters that I was covered for that!!!!! Apparantly it is a legal requirement of the insurance. I was left for 48 hours with an unsecured door because the insurers would not secure until they received confirmation and told me I could not do anything until they recieved clarification

vusys1

2terriers wrote: »

The other point I am trying to get more clarification on is why I have to pay both parts of the excess ie buildings & contents. I have been told that as this is burglary it should all fall under the contents only section.

the damage to the door falls under buildings, the theft of items contents.

Orrin

You will only have to pay each excess once. So if you have £100 excess on buildings you'll pay the first £100 towards the repair of the door, and likewise the first £100 for the replacement goods. If replacements are being arranged through multiple companies you don't have to pay the excess to each one. If they are telling you different then you need to get on to your insurance company to sort it out.

Tygermoth

There is no legal requirement for an insurer to make your property safe. That’s down to you to do. You as the homeowner have a duty to get essential works completed to ensure the integrity of your home.

You chose to wait until cover had been confirmed rather than do what needed to be done and claim retrospectively.

You are making one claim on your buildings = one excess.... and one claim on your contents = another excess.

'Burglary it should all fall under the contents only section. This was by (told to me) a couple of the police officers' they don’t administer your policy so they have no idea of cover.

2terriers

Tygermoth wrote: »

There is no legal requirement for an insurer to make your property safe. That’s down to you to do. You as the homeowner have a duty to get essential works completed to ensure the integrity of your home.

You chose to wait until cover had been confirmed rather than do what needed to be done and claim retrospectively.

You are making one claim on your buildings = one excess.... and one claim on your contents = another excess.

'Burglary it should all fall under the contents only section. This was by (told to me) a couple of the police officers' they don’t administer your policy so they have no idea of cover.

Hi, I appreciate your comments but I did not chooseto wait until cover had been confirmed. I have paid insurance for over 30 years & have never made a claim before. I was under the impression, naively now I know, that insurers were there to help & guide during a claim. I acted on the insurers instruction that I was not allowed to touch anything until they had confirmed & a loss adjuster had been appointed. Stupidly as it may seem this was in reference to my question to them about what am I supposed to do with the door which now has no lower panel. If they had said I was allowed to go ahead whilst they confirmed this I would have been straight onto someone to make the door secure.

geri1965_2

The excess is applied per claim, so should only be £100. Who have the insurance company asked you to pay it to?

Catherine12

If your insurance for buildings and contents is with one company there will be one excess. If it is seperate buildings and seperate contents with two different insurers then each policy will cover an excess.
As previous posters say the door falls under Buildings insurance as it is fixed and forming part of your home, and physical good you remove with you when you leave fall under your contents insurance.

Again like other posts say, it is your duty to make sure your home is safe and secure, even though you have been paying insurance for 30 years it is not a savings policy, an insurance policy is one which indemnifies you, and yes insurance companies are there to help and advise, but at 9.30, there will not be full staffing on phones, perhaps only emeregncy cover to board up doors?

Anyway worth getting in touch with your insurance company to see who you are paying the excess to