For house/car/travel insurance what prior claims/losses do you reveal ?

bigcheese

Given all the press coverage on the impact of not revealing notifiable losses/claims - what is the position on revealing claims / losses between different groups of insurance

eg do you reveal travel insurance claims (say delay, medical, lost items) when renewing house insurance

or car insurance claim for accident or 3rd party, or even theft of items


basically do you reveal ALL losses/claims to all types of insurers, when it happens and when re-newing ?

Quentin

You usually don't have to reveal "all" irrespective.

Just answer the question that is asked regarding your history.

bigcheese

Thanks , but Fraid that leaves far too much wiggle room for insurance co's, and thats how they avoid pay outs due to interpretation

Answering what you think is the question has proven to be wrong so often

Really looking for a yes or no based on technical requirements of insurance co's

System

You need to declare all material facts.

So for a home insurance policy, claims / incidents on a totally unrelated motor policy would not be material facts would they. And vica-versa.

AFAIK - The only time that the waters get muddied is when you have a home insurance policy that also covers you for things like for example : legal expenses, or travel; if you claim under one of these policy extensions, then you do have to declare these when you go for home insurance quotes due to the fact they are extensions to the main policy.

bigcheese

Thx BAA1

car contents theft is still a grey area

others are

1 should a claim on house insurance for windows broken during a break in be revealed to the contents insurer ? I can see why they might like to know , but is it required ?

2 should a holiday travel insurance claim for lost/damaged property be revealed to the contents insurer?


bear in mind the current fuss round exploratory phone calls related to potential losses, which whilst intuitively and technically is correct, is in the category - a surprise from left field and "not a lot of people know that"

I have absolutely no problem telling insurers what I am required to (and do) but I have seen no technical answers on the cross insurance group issue that exists

bigcheese

And there's no way I'm phoning to ask or that will appear on the CUE database no doubt !!!

Quentin

bigcheese wrote: »

Really looking for a yes or no based on technical requirements of insurance co's

There isn't yes or no answer to your question.

You need to answer the question they ask.

And if you find the question ambiguous then get them to explain it to you (in writing) so that there is no ambiguity (or choose another insurer with unambiguous questions).

bigcheese

insurance companies are actuallu quite good now at yes and no

will an exploratory phone call count as a "claim/loss" - oh yes !

Quentin

bigcheese wrote: »

will an exploratory phone call count as a "claim/loss" - oh yes !

You are usually bound by the policy conditions to report (material) incidents that could result in a claim/loss.

But that wasn't your original question!

Most questions asked about previous history are clear to most people.

You won't get a claim/loss/incident "against" you if you find a question to be ambiguous and ask for clarification.

bigcheese

thats what a few people did, and got "done over " eventually by insur co's !!

and yes its buyer beware, and yes its incumbent upon .... all material facts

yada yada yada

InsideInsurance

bigcheese wrote: »

will an exploratory phone call count as a "claim/loss" - oh yes !

An exploratory phone call itself will not count as a claim/loss

If you are calling because you have had a leak and you want to see if its covered then you have had a loss and so its the fact you've had a leak that means you must answer yes not because you called.

If you phoned them to ask a purely hypothetical situation... if I got a sky dish installed and high winds caused it to be blown off and it injured someone would I be covered? it cannot count as a claim/ loss because the event hasnt occurred. Of cause the insurer may be suspicious about it and decide it warrants investigation but that is their prerogative