Home Insurance Discussion

dacouch

JPstar what have Sheila wheels said they will do next ?

How much is the replacement (New) cost of your entire contents ?

jpstar

thanks dacouch for your reply

Sheilas wheels don't say anything they have just told us to deal with cunnigham and lindsey...cunnigham and lindsey are
not comming for a second visit next week so i would like to know my rights, if i have any.

all content replacement comes to four thousand and eight hundred pounds, thats accounting for every little thing that went.

Thanks for your time.

dacouch

All Home Insurers require you to insure yourself for the full replacement cost (New prices) * of your ENTIRE contents.

If you do not insure yourself for the correct amount or for an amount that is more, when you have a claim the Insurers will apply "Under Insurance" (Also known a "Averaging"). For example if you insure yourself for £10000 but the Insurers discover the replacement costs of your contents are actually £15000 they will deem you to be under insured by 33% (The percentage difference between what you should have insured yourself for and what you actually insured yourself for).

The percentage you are under insured by is then deducted from your claim, there are instances where if the person is grossly under insured (Often deemed to be 50% or more) then some Insurers (Including Sheilas Wheels) deem the policy as void).

There are currently lots of instances of Sheilas Wheels customers in the same boat as you (Try Googling "Under Insurance + Sheilas Wheels"). This is not helped by their website defaulting to unfeasibly low sums insured when obtaining a quotation which people not familiar with home insurance could assume are correct. As Sheilas Wheels have a substantial proportion of customers who are under insured (Probably due to the way their website quotes) their Loss Adjusters check the sums insured on most of their claims for under insurance.

What you need to do next is go around your house and work out the new replacement cost of every item of contents you have including the items that you are claiming for. Break this down into sub headings eg Living Room, Bedroom 1. Use subheadings of clothing, televisions etc. The Loss Adjusters will present you with a figure that they feel your contents should be insured for so if you have your own calculation it will help deal with them when they do this. (Do not be tempted to fiddle the figures).

A rough guide to what is contents is if you tipped your home upside down, the things that moved would normally be contents. Have a read of this link http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/30/30-ins.htm

* A lot of Insurers replace clothing and linen on an "Indemnity" Basis eg they take into account wear and tear so if your Insurer does this then clothing and linen should be valued taking into account clothing and linen

jpstar

Thanks Dacouch thats helps and as my policy is due for renewal in may i am already doing this, i have now realised its best to grip things in detail. But this error is not on my part as a customer, this is down to sheilas wheels surely they should revise this..?

As a customer where do i now stand if they come back with this arguement that i am under insured?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

dacouch

It's your responsibility as a customer to ensure you are correctly insured, Sheilas wheels assume the low sum insured I assume so that their prices are at the top of the screen (Cheapest). Fortunately most other companies either assume a more realistic sum insured or give a notional sum insured well above the requirements of a normal customer.

I've seen a large number of the same situation with Sheilas Wheels, in my opinion they should respond by addressing the situation as there is clearly a problem. There are a fair few reports of people who have had their policy declared void due to under insurance which causes even more problems than just the claim not being paid.

jpstar

Great! so if its my responsibility to ensure as a customer that i am correctly insured

then its my responsibility to place a value on items and as i know we had nothing when we moved in as we emptied our savings
to buy the house AND my husband was made redundant at the time. So i have a right to value my contents insurance
at £10,00..the valuable we had was our gold which got burgald

Having began making a list there is just about £10,00 worth of contents only NOw as we have accumulated things since december 2011
so i believe a contents insurance of £10,000 is accurate for two people .

Will not let this go..will take it to court if i have to!

dacouch

By buying cover over the internet it is your responsibility to ensure the policy is suitable for your needs, the Insurer provides the relevant documents for you to check before you purchase cover eg summary of cover and policy wording. If you buy through a broker through an advised sale there is an onus on the broker to ensure they recommend a suitable policy.

You have a right to value your contents, however the amount you arrive at most be reasonable eg you value the items at their correct value.

The reason I recommended you to go around the house and work out the value of replacing the entire contents at new costs and to make as detailed a list as reasonably possible is because it will allow you to demonstrate to the Loss Adjuster / Insurer that you were adequately insured or to demonstrate the sum insured that it should be. This hopefully will help get the claim settled with the minimum of fuss.

As a point of interest, the average home is reckoned to have an average of circa £44000 of contents (Obviously this would not apply to most first time buyers) so keep an eye on your sum insured to ensure it stays sufficient to replace your content.

P.S Have you included your carpets in the figure you have worked out

jpstar

Hi dacouch

yes i just calculated my contents insurance as of now using legal and generals online calculator, its good as it goes round the whole house and makes u think and it comes
up to £9,900

i will use this when the loss adjustor visit

Bearing in mind it only comes up to this now beacause we just bought a big tv and Notebook in december/january and two watches

whats the view on recent purchases? i mean how would you include this in the contents insurance when you purchase it when you exchange contract with your solicitor when you buy a house?

dacouch

Recent purchases eg after the claim date do not need to be included in this as you need to demonstrate how much the replacement cost of your contents were immediately prior to the claim.

I would suggest you print the results from the L&G calculator and give a copy to the Loss Adjuster and keep a copy yourself.

I would also suggest you buy a large diary and keep a note of all conversations etc from now on eg a summary of what was said, what was agreed and the date / time. This can be invaluable at a later date should you need to make an official complaint or simply the LA or Insurer deny something was said. (If possible send an email to the LA after each conversation summarising what was said and agreed).

gregd_3

Most policies operate a buffer zone of between 15%-20% before they apply under insurance and it is not always done on an average basis. Sometimes they will apply indemnity which means you lose the new for old benefit and are paid the value of the item at the time of damage.

Example of this would be say the cost of a carpet new is £1000 and its 10 years old with a lifespan of say 20 years you would get paid 50% however with jewellery items deductions are not applied since the value increases over time not depreciates.

I have many claims like this over the years and they are a nightmare to adjust.