Help- insurers not transparent

cooper88

Part of my ceiling collapsed due to water damage.
My ceiling is over 100 years old and has a lot of moulding and cornic on it.
The insurance company sent a surveyer and I also had a quote from my bulder.
The insurance company quote came in nearly £4000.00 cheaper. Such a large difference worried me.
The insurance company told me that my builder was to expensive. I think they are trying to do the work on the cheap.
I asked to see the shedule of works so I could compare the quote, but the insurance company refuse to send me any prices apart from the total cost. I am told this is confidential.
Should they not be transparent, or are insurers excempt.
Do I have a right to see the pricing?

mattymoo

Who are you dealing with - the insurer directly or their loss adjuster? Have you raised your concerns with them?
I suspect they do not want you to see the hourly rates they have obtained from their contractor. You are entitled to see the schedule of works though - to ensure that all aspects are covered. Ask to see this minus the costings / rates.

mikey72

A lot depends on whether it's £1000 to £5000, or £100,0000 to £104,000 as well.

dacouch

Which Insurer are you with ?

cooper88

I am with Endsleigh.

I have raised my concerns with the loss adjuster, but he seems indifferent.

I have seen the shedule minus prices. Is this correct. Why can I not see the prices?

It is between £4000.00 and £8000.00

Quentin

It is the schedules you should be more interested in!

How do they compare - these are the areas to discuss with the assessor (though certainly get reassurance on the standard you can expect)

(Also see what your builder says about the price differential, and maybe get another quote for your own peace of mind)

FlameCloud

cooper88 wrote: »

I am with Endsleigh.

I have raised my concerns with the loss adjuster, but he seems indifferent.

I have seen the shedule minus prices. Is this correct. Why can I not see the prices?

It is between £4000.00 and £8000.00

Alot of the data is sensitive. For example, one building contractor network we use has different rates for different insurers- there will be no way they would allow other insurers to see these, and releasing them would give an idea.

The other thing is that for contractors who work for insurers it is all about give and take. By this I mean for some items they get below market rates- normally painting and plastering, whereas for other rates they get way above what you would normally charge- drains and electrical works normally. If the work you need doing is from the areas where they do not charge enough to make a profit- usually to win the account- then any other estimate will simply not match it.

mikey72

I don't know how it works but every insurance job I've worked on, the insurance appointed contractors have always been about halfway through, run out of time, and had to get the loss adjuster back to authorise more time.
Doesn't work for me with them, unless there's more work found, I only get paid what I quote.

bingbong1978

Very little insurance work that i price is based on time spent, its all worked out by area (painting, plastering, brickwork) etc and fixed prices for the rest such as fitting kitchens, taking out bathroom suites.

There is some work that isn't covered by insurers rates but that only makes up about 10%

theJudge

Firstly, I'd get a couple more quotes from builders just to establish what the going rate for the work in your area is.
If, after that, you are sure that the insurer is trying to rip you off then check that the insurer-appointed builder has all of the accreditations to carry out the work. From my experience, insurers try to cut corners by employing the cheapest "builders" out there. Most of these guys won't stack up. You're entitled to have a decent builder do the work not some cowbody, so the insurer will then have to accept the lowest of the quotes that you've received. The law basically says that you have to mitigate your losses i.e. keep your losses to a minimum. You should be able to charge for everything that's required to re-instate your property, however, including the time that you've taken doing the job that the insurer should have done on your behalf e.g. creating a spec of works, appointing a builder, managing a builder etc. This can take a long time.

FlameCloud

Policies will specifically exlclude costs to prepare a claim.

As I said, it is not a case of the insurers building cutting corners it will the majority of the time be as a result that their rates are lower than normal rates because they wanted a contract.