Travel Insurance want details of Home insurance

ossie

I took out Travel Insurance with Personal Cover.
Made a claim because mobile phone was stolen (had a crime reference).
Travel Insurance want details of my home insurance to see if THEY can claim from my home insurance. WHY?
Surely I paid a premium for travel insurance with personal cover. What is the point of personal cover if they claim against my home insurance?

weejonnie

If two or more insurance policies cover the same subject matter for the same eventuality then there is an insurance principle known as 'contribution' which means that they all contribute towards paying a claim.

If your home insurance policy covers the mobile phone then the travel insurance company have the right to ask for them to contribute towards the claim - this will affect any no claims bonus you have with them. (Some travel insurers but not many waive this right)

The good news is that unless you have all-risks insurance on your home policy then the insurers may say that the phone isn't covered due to the location and circumstances of the incident.

I am not sure what happens to the excess - you might have to have the excess deducted from BOTH the travel insurer AND the house insurer.

cattie

You get this with insurance companies, not wanting to pay out if you have a policy elsewhere where you could make a claim.

lisyloo

What is the point of personal cover if they claim against my home insurance?

There is no point and actually it's a bad thing.
Egg used to offer you the option of not covering your possessions on their travel insurance if you had it on home, so that's the best way to go.
The problem is that often you don't get to exclude cover on many policies.

VictorM_2

Your travel insurer claiming for a contribution from your home insurer will not effect you in any way - your NCB is not changed and you will not have to pay 2 excesses.

They will contact your home insurer and you will not have to do anything extra.

A little bedtime reading if you want to know more: http://www.cila.co.uk/files/Personal%20Effects%20Insurance%20Contribution%20Agreement.pdf

Where one of the Policies involved contains a No Claim Discount Clause, the following will apply:

No Claim Discount will not be prejudiced where the only payment made under that policy is a contribution requested by another Insurer.

No Claim Discount will be prejudiced where the policyholder makes a claim directly against the policy providing a No Claim Discount, either at the outset or to "top up" any payment received from another Insurer.

I hope this helps

Quentin

Check and see which policy has the lower excess (and a big enough limit to cover your claim), then decide (taking into account any loss of NCD) which insurer to put in your claim to.

weejonnie

VictorM wrote: »

Your travel insurer claiming for a contribution from your home insurer will not effect you in any way - your NCB is not changed and you will not have to pay 2 excesses.

They will contact your home insurer and you will not have to do anything extra.

A little bedtime reading if you want to know more: http://www.cila.co.uk/files/Personal%20Effects%20Insurance%20Contribution%20Agreement.pdf



I hope this helps

Thanks - nice to have a bit of cpd

ossie

Thanks for all the info and advice.

FlameCloud

Thats changing with affect from 30th April. From memory the more specific travel insurer will not be able to claim from the more general (i.e. household) insurer. Thats the gist that I remember but will try and find the email from cila which detailed it.

VictorM_2

FlameCloud wrote: »

Thats changing with affect from 30th April. From memory the more specific travel insurer will not be able to claim from the more general (i.e. household) insurer. Thats the gist that I remember but will try and find the email from cila which detailed it.

That would be interesting to read, let us know if you find it.

ossie

VictorM wrote: »

That would be interesting to read, let us know if you find it.

http://www.cila.co.uk/news-events/news/abi-contribution-rules