settlement for bathroom nowhere near real cost - what to do?

honory

Hi all and thanks to all who read and offer any advice!
Two weeks ago my husband fell off a ladder whilst putting up a blind over our bath. He slipped and came crashing down causing damage to various bits of the bathroom. He also severely hurt himself with two cracked ribs.
The loss adjuster (imperial consultants) advised that it was in his opinion damage due to accidental damage and we were covered for that. However the settlement figure seems far too low for the work to be carried out.
We have been advised by the accident consultants that to retile and replace loo, sink, vanity unit, shower enclosure and bath it would cost £1662.70 to supply and fit. The sanitaryware is all duravit in our bathroom so quite good quality and the tiles are no longer made (neither the floor tiles nor the wall tiles). We cannot use the loo as it was shoved so hard it has come away from the pipe and at the time of the accident we had to call out an emergency plumber which cost £150 and the loss adjusters have not included this in their settlement fee.
I phoned my insurance company who recommended I get a few quotes and send them to Imperial Consultants. I have sent the cheapest one to them which was provided by the local plumber who fitted our washing machine. He said to remove and replace with similar quality would cost £6,000 and that was the cheapest! Is it normal for insurance companies to send out a very low settlement figure at first? will we be able to get anywhere near the price it is going to cost us? Our excess is £400 so it will only be £1200 when we get the cheque. What advice would any of you give? We have never claimed on our house insurance before and have held it for 15 years.
Meanwhile with two small children (one who is being potty trained at the moment!) we are finding it almost intolerable not to have a working loo upstairs. Any help gratefully received!

InsideInsurance

Insurers are obviously out to make a profit which requires them to spend as little as possible but that more tends to result in them being optimistic rather than out and out unrealistic.

The question that doesnt seem to have been answered is if your insurance provides cover for matching sets or not. If it doesnt then if your plumber's quote has taken into account they are only to replace the parts that have broken and not all the other tiles/ fittings that havent been? Most budget insurance does not cover matching sets.

bouncydog1

As InsideInsurance has stated, we need to know what was damaged apart from the loo. If all of the fixtures were damaged - bath, shower, sink etc. then they should all be covered. However if it was only the loo then that is what will be replaced.

Insurers will sometimes make a contribution towards matching other items but it really depends on which insurer it is and what policy cover you have.

Bangton

The accident consultants? Were they appointed by Imperial to supply you with a quote?

honory

hi thanks for your responses, everything was damaged - bath, sink, vanity unit, tiles (both floor and wall) and shower enclosure. Sheila's wheels appointed the consultants to inspect the damage and then they came round and gave us the reinstatement cost. When i phoned sheila's wheels they told me to send the plumber's quote to imperial. my plumber said that if they can do the job for that amount then they should be left to try it! however i do want to have similar quality to what was in there in the first place. Should i employ someone independent to assess the damage? All help gratefully received!

InsideInsurance

You should submit 2 quotes to them for the work to be done within the terms of the policy. You'll need to check the policy to see where it stands on matching items as I suspect given who the insurer is that it doesnt cover matching and therefore the quotes can only cost replacing the tiles that were actually broken and not all of them.

I'd then get second quotes from the same people to replace the remainder of the tiles, as you say the originals cannot be matched, and ask them to make a contribution towards the additional work.