Home Insurance Discussion

andymudge

No not business use,

I have 5k outbuildings cover, £500 on cycles and potentially £7k on personal possessions out of the home

My general contents cover is high £48k.


Thanks

dacouch

andymudge wrote: »

No not business use,

I have 5k outbuildings cover, £500 on cycles and potentially £7k on personal possessions out of the home

My general contents cover is high £48k.


Thanks

Some things you need to bear in mind.

Sheilas Wheels are not a great Insurer.

When you put the claim in with SW they normally ask their Loss Asjuster to get you to complete a form listing the total amount of your contents. The purpose of this is to find out whether you are under insured as due to the way they quote a high percentage of their customers are. If they find you are under insured they will either decline the claim and void the policy or apply under insurance clause which basically reduces all claims payments by the percentage you're under Insured.

Here's their policy wording https://www.sheilaswheels.com/wcm/groups/public/documents/webcontent/sw_home_policy_booklet_jan14.pdf

They seem to have shot themselves in the foot as the policy refers to "Home" but they appear to not have a definition of "Home" (See page 3). They only seem to define "House" which is thus.

"House
The house, self contained flat or other structure You live in at the address shown in your Schedule. This does not
include the fixtures and fittings, outbuildings, garages and greenhouses, swimming pools, hard tennis courts,
terraces, patios, driveways, footpaths, walls, gates, hedges and fences or any other part of your Home.
Unless described differently by Endorsement the House must be built of brick, stone or concrete, and roofed with
slate, tile, asphalt or concrete"

This may be to your advantage as Personal Possesions state
"Please read your latest Schedule to see if your Personal Possessions are covered whilst away from the Home"

With no definition of "Home" but with their defintion of "House" excluding your garage and shed it might be possible to argue they were in fact away from the home.

There are some claims experts on here such as TSX who may be able to interpret their policy and whether the bad wording will help.

Out of Interest how much are you looking to claim for?

andymudge

firstly, the garage in snot attached to the house it is in a block to the rear of my house, so there can be no confusion that items were in the home irrespective of definition.

My total based on average retail prices where possible and my purchase price made the claim circa £11k , altho after the 'specialists' taking details and new for old etc it is nearer 15k by there own definition.

I would be more than happy to settle at my figure as this replaces the items removed.

dacouch

andymudge wrote: »

firstly, the garage in snot attached to the house it is in a block to the rear of my house, so there can be no confusion that items were in the home irrespective of definition.

My total based on average retail prices where possible and my purchase price made the claim circa £11k , altho after the 'specialists' taking details and new for old etc it is nearer 15k by there own definition.

I would be more than happy to settle at my figure as this replaces the items removed.

Based on your figure of £15k would your total contents sum insured be enough to replace your entire contents at their new price?

Is the garage actually on your property eg at the bottom of your garden or is it in a separate communal block?

andymudge

11k is my estimate to replace new for old. 15k is theirs but looking at what you have said they have used 2 high value items and superseded them with items over my single item limit.....

the garage is in a communal block.

dacouch

andymudge wrote: »

11k is my estimate to replace new for old. 15k is theirs but looking at what you have said they have used 2 high value items and superseded them with items over my single item limit.....

the garage is in a communal block.

I meant how much is the entire contents of your home actually worth? (Don't post the amount on here as SW may view it) just be aware that there's a very good chance they will be looking to check if you're under insured. If you are they tend to deny the claim and void the policy which is a big problem

Are you aware that a normal home insurance policy would often not cover your contents in a communal block of garages. This is because policies normally define the "Home" as being the House and it's outbuildings within the property boundary.

The ambiguous wording of "House" and lack of definition of "Home" in the SW Policy may work to your advantage on that.

andymudge

i think our total value insured seems about right, as they do nit cover everything that i own.

i must stress Sheilas haven't said in nit covered yet i just got suspicious when something I valued at approx 2k turned into a 4100 item by the loss adjuster

dacouch

andymudge wrote: »

i think our total value insured seems about right, as they do nit cover everything that i own.

i must stress Sheilas haven't said in nit covered yet i just got suspicious when something I valued at approx 2k turned into a 4100 item by the loss adjuster

What do you mean "As they do not cover everything I own" ?

Quentin

If you keep business stock at home, then your insurer will be interested!

fizzhill

Wondered if anyone had any advice on home insurance, we are moving in two weeks to a property that is less than 150 metres away from a river, but the river is one house away and the bank of the river has a 15 metre drop to the river, its pretty impossible for flooding and there is no historical flooding ever in the village. When i've been filling in insurance quotes online I've had to tick the less than 150 metres box which is pushing up my quote, do i omit this info? or would insurers ever take this into account? any help would be really appreciated