Contents Insurance Claim - Replacement Carpets

PurplePow

So I've owned my own property for about a year and a half now and have just recently had to make my first contents insurance claim. A tap which was somehow running during the day whilst we were out at work, plus a slightly blocked sink, meant the whole of our flat was flooded.

We rang the insurance company (Barclays) and Dry Chem came out, and straight away removed all the carpets and threw them out the balcony window. The concrete flooring was damp so we've had to contact our management company for details of the building's insurance, they're coming out on Thursday, a week after it happened hopefully with some dehumidifiers.

Now, we'd actually been saving up to decorate the living room, we have all the wallpaper and new furniture etc (so glad this did not happen after we had decorated!!) and thanks to Shop and Scan I have hundreds of B&Q vouchers saved up ready to buy laminate flooring, as we'd inherited the carpets from the previous owner.

I've never had an insurance claim before, but Dry Chem are coming back out this week to remove the last bits of carpet from underneath heavy wardrobes and they will write down details of damaged furniture. They said an approved supplier will then come and we will have new carpets fitted through them. This is fine for the bedrooms however we were soon to be replacing the hallway and living room carpets with laminate flooring, so I obviously don't want carpets put down! Can I just ask for a cash settlement from Barclays for the flooring in 2 rooms or would it have to be the lot? Can I even ask for a cash settlement or would I be forced to have carpets put down?

Cheeze83

you should be able to request a cash settlement, if you call them and explain what you want to do - there is a possibility they may instead ask the supplier to put down laminate flooring instead of the carpet - for instance where this would be in the kitchen it's a lower risk of damage than replacing with a carpet.

Quite often Insurers will look for alternatives - for instance, there was a huge rise in guttering theft because of the lead - scrap value is huge - so when it came to claims, instead of replacing with lead piping they used something else - therefore eliminating future risk of the same occurance.

So it's definitely worth getting in touch with them and speaking to their claims department regardless.

VictorM_2

In most policies there would be no problem with a cash settlement in my experience however it is at their discretion.

chanz4

The may also suspect you did it on purpose, to try and get them to replace it for laminate...not saying they will but you never know

hugoshavez

You may not like this, and of course you have the option of not mentioning it to your insurer, but the truth is: if you were about to replace the hallway and living room carpets with laminate anyway, your insurers are not liable to give you anything for them. All you've suffered is damage to a couple of carpets that were going to be pulled up anyway.

Of course any items you weren't planning to replace should form part of your claim...

bouncydog1

Suggest you just ask your insurer if you can have laminate in those two rooms as it will be easier to keep clean. If there is a price differential between the laminate and the carpet you may be asked to pay the difference.

There is no need to mention what your future plans might have been - people are entitled to change their minds about what they put on their floors and having seen the amount of damage water can do to carpet, I think you are very wise!

dacouch

hugoshavez wrote: »

You may not like this, and of course you have the option of not mentioning it to your insurer, but the truth is: if you were about to replace the hallway and living room carpets with laminate anyway, your insurers are not liable to give you anything for them. All you've suffered is damage to a couple of carpets that were going to be pulled up anyway.

Of course any items you weren't planning to replace should form part of your claim...

That's complete rubbish, the OP is saving up to change the flooring in the future. They have sustained a loss that is covered by the Insurance end of.

On your reckoning, if someone was saving up / planning to refusbish their home, most of be it would not be covered if they had a claim...BS

InsideInsurance

Insurers care about the cost of the claim not what youre getting. It can well be that the preferred supplier can do laminate for the same price or you can add the extra to take it up to the cost.

If they cant you are entitled to a cash settlement but that settlement will be based on the preferred supplier rates the insurer would have gotten rather than the high street price.

PurplePow

Thanks for all your help everyone. An inspector is coming on Monday, I'm told with samples but we don't have to accept those.

hugoshavez

dacouch wrote: »

That's complete rubbish, the OP is saving up to change the flooring in the future. They have sustained a loss that is covered by the Insurance end of.

On your reckoning, if someone was saving up / planning to refusbish their home, most of be it would not be covered if they had a claim...BS

That's a bit strong.

What the OP said was: "B&Q vouchers saved up ready to buy laminate flooring" which suggests to me an imminent purchase. Very different to some vaguish plans.

Damage to an item that would've been heading to the dump around the same time anyway represents a loss of £0.

dacouch

hugoshavez wrote: »

That's a bit strong.

What the OP said was: "B&Q vouchers saved up ready to buy laminate flooring" which suggests to me an imminent purchase. Very different to some vaguish plans.

Damage to an item that would've been heading to the dump around the same time anyway represents a loss of £0.

If it has not been taken up and is well maintained etc then they still have a valid claim for replacement.