Home insurance cancelled wrongly

Quentin

shellsuit wrote: »

I didn't know this either, so good job I stumbled across this thread.

I rang my insurance up a couples of months ago as I dropped my laptop and it was as dead as a dodo. I got a call from someone else who told me it was going to be collected and in the meantime I had to pay my £100 excess there and then over the phone.

I didn't have the £100 there and then, so I said I would call them back, but a couple of days later, my husband looked at the lappy and got it fired up again, so I left it, not ringing the company back up.

So, according to what's on this thread, that would still be classed as a claim, even though I didn't claim anything from my insurance company?

It wasn't a "claim".

It was an incident (that could have resulted in a claim), it will be recorded as such and you do need to disclose it to future insurers you approach.

rs65

Spilling water on the floor is hardly a home emergency. It’s potentially an accidental damage claim.

Droplets of water in a bedroom ! Did that really justify a call to insurers and getting 6 builders to look at it – to find nothing.

If I was you I would pay £10 following the link below so you can accurately disclose everything in the future.

http://www.insurancedatabases.co.uk/default.aspx

shellsuit

Quentin wrote: »

It wasn't a "claim".

It was an incident (that could have resulted in a claim), it will be recorded as such and you do need to disclose it to future insurers you approach.

Thanks!

So if I get asked, have you claimed, I say No, and if I get asked about any incidents, I mention it?

I wouldn't have thought to have told them if I was asked either of those questions, so at least now I know

Quentin

shellsuit wrote: »

Thanks!

So if I get asked, have you claimed, I say No, and if I get asked about any incidents, I mention it?

I wouldn't have thought to have told them if I was asked either of those questions, so at least now I know

When doing online quotes you often see them use the word "claim" then define that by using a "?" box to click on.

shellsuit

Quentin wrote: »

When doing online quotes you often see them use the word "claim" then define that by using a "?" box to click on.

I'll bear that in mind, cheers Quentin

oscarward

Out of curiosity I went on to compare the market and got a house quote for a dummy address. What it asked was

Anyone at the property had any claims in the last 5 years?

Which if you clicked on the ? button it dropped out

Claims, Losses and Liabilities

This should include any liability claims against any person living in the property.
Motor claims should Not be included.

Trying the same with gocompare it asks

Any accidents or losses, whether there was a claim or not and regardless of blame, in the last 5 years

It doesn't give any further information except in the site T&Cs it says you have to be truthful with the insurers and you should read their docs carefully (but if anything goes wrong it's nothing to do with them)

Going to Allianz direct it asks

How many home insurance claims have you (or anyone living in your home) made in the last 5 years?Please select None 1 2 3 4 or more Need help?

which if you click Need Help? it drops out

If anyone living in your home has made any claims against a buildings or contents policy in the last 5 years, please select how many claims they have made. If no claims have been made, please select 'None'.

The FAQs don't give any more info and you can't get to see the policy docs or T&Cs unless you have already bought.

There seems to be confusion between the aggregator sites and the insurers direct web sites as to what is being asked.

So the question is when does a incident become a claim and would a layman know enough to answer the question truthfully, because going on what I can see on the web sites then ringing for help / information doesn't constitute a claim.

The insurance experts (and I'm not having a go at them) here may claim that insurers incur costs even if no action results therefore it is a claim/loss but if the insurers don't tell customers this at the time of the incident or soon after how are they expected to know as a layman.

Would it be reasonable to expect everyone to get a report from the CUE database every year in case an insurer has recorded something or should you ring your insurer and ask the same?

e.g. My dog is ill (why I'm typing at 3:45) if I ring up to see if he's covered on the pet insurance does this constitute a claim and will the insurers tell me something has been recorded even if they say no he's not covered for that, thank you for contacting us?

As I said it seems tilted against the layman and for them to cancel your insurance seems draconian.

Personally if I have a question if I am covered then I don't give a policy number or name when I ring up but just tell them I have a policy but declining to identify myself. If they say yes I think you're covered then I proceed otherwise just say thanks for your time and hang up.

dacouch

The OP was with AA/Allianz, the AA often have their own schemes in house that they adminster.

For it to be truely relevant to their case you would need to perform the same quote via the AA

oscarward

dacouch wrote: »

The OP was with AA/Allianz, the AA often have their own schemes in house that they adminster.

For it to be truely relevant to their case you would need to perform the same quote via the AA

Of course you're right, this is what the AA say

Have you or anyone living with you had any home insurance claims, losses or incidents of damage in the last five years?

Which links to

Claim or incident free
Click the Add claims button if you've made any claims, or suffered any loss or damage, whether or not it was subject to an insurance claim in the last five years. We allow a maximum of three claims in the last five years. If you have claimed more than three times in the past five years, we're unable to provide you with cover.

Which is pretty self explanatory, but it does seem there are discrepancies between various insurers as to what they ask or regard as a claim/incident.

It's a minefield as the OP discovered.

magpiecottage

Quentin wrote: »

When doing online quotes you often see them use the word "claim" then define that by using a "?" box to click on.

You can say you reported it as broken but in fact it wasn't! It could be something as simple as the battery becoming disconnected.

How an insurer assessed that would be up to them, though.

oscarward

magpiecottage wrote: »

How an insurer assessed that would be up to them, though.

And that is the crux of the issue, you don't know unless you are told.

So in the case of the laptop you ring up to say I think It's broke but discover it isn't and ring back to say it's working ok.

Is that then recorded as an incident/ loss/ damge or claim? Or all 4? And if your existing insurer ignores it will the new one?