"Matching Items Cover" & tiles

house_mum

Several years ago we had a leak in our bathroom, which ruined part of the wall behind the shower over the bath. Our insurance company at the time told us that their liability was only for the 1metre square patch of tiles, if we could not source matching tiles (we couldn't) they would replace with plain tiles. Apparently, each tile is considered individually, so replacing the whole wall (not even the whole bathroom, just tiling one wall in a coordinating colour) would not be covered in the same way that damaging one armchair wouldn't mean you'd get the whole suite replaced.

Now, I can understand the bit about suites/sets but in my mind a tile or roll of wallpaper is part of a continuous stretch of wall (I asked if the same were true for wallpaper, would they cut out a metre square piece and stick it on the wall but was told "that's different"). The only way it would be covered is by taking optional "matching items cover".

Phoning a few companies based on the quotations I have obtained online, no other company offers "matching items cover". Does anyone here have any experience of tiles being damaged, and is it possible to have insurance that covers the whole wall? Hopefully we never have that situation again but it took us a long time to save up to have the bathroom fully tiled to match the patch that the insurance company repaired and I'd hate to tempt fate!

hugoshavez

house_mum wrote: »

Phoning a few companies based on the quotations I have obtained online, no other company offers "matching items cover". Does anyone here have any experience of tiles being damaged, and is it possible to have insurance that covers the whole wall? Hopefully we never have that situation again but it took us a long time to save up to have the bathroom fully tiled to match the patch that the insurance company repaired and I'd hate to tempt fate!

In most cases, the FOS now require that insurers offer to pay for the damaged portion, plus up to 50% of the undamaged.

There are a lot of policies out there which don't exclude undamaged matching items. They're usually branded as quality or premium, and you pay a bit more.

Sally_A

This reply is not going to help you in this instance, but always recommend an extra box or 2 of tiles is purchased at the time you do the initial decorating, tiles can be broken, access may be needed behind them, not always insured for the loss etc etc.

An extra £40 or so may seem unnecessary at the time, but can be a major relief should any get damaged. We store ours under the bath, behind the panel, so they are out of the way.

Similarly with say kitchen floor tiles, buy a few extras, and store them behind a plinth of a kitchen unit.

PS. I am not organised in the slightest, just been caught out like you have in the past

house_mum

We do for jobs we've done ourselves, mostly because we always seem to need about 3 more floor tiles/laminate planks/tiles than a boxful! - but the bathroom tiles were there from previous owners - I wonder if the same rule applies to floor tiles?

hugoshavez

house_mum wrote: »

We do for jobs we've done ourselves, mostly because we always seem to need about 3 more floor tiles/laminate planks/tiles than a boxful! - but the bathroom tiles were there from previous owners - I wonder if the same rule applies to floor tiles?

In theory, yeah. But it's usually less of an issue simply because of the smaller area, and more often than not the whole lot need to come up.

inoutnotsure

It looks like you are unfortunate that the claims handler is following strictly in accordance with the policy details. Insurance policies are to cover the area of damage. The more generous claims handlers would allow you to replace the whole wall (and floor, particularly in the event of a floor claim).

All I can suggest if you can demonstrate that because of the leak, the walls are saturated and most areas are loose. It is also worth asking how the wall is supposed to dry out if the tiles are not removed off the wall. Otherwise, you could try a sach settlement for the area of damage and use this amount to cover the cost to replace the whole wall with different tiles.

TSx

inoutnotsure wrote: »

It looks like you are unfortunate that the claims handler is following strictly in accordance with the policy details. Insurance policies are to cover the area of damage. The more generous claims handlers would allow you to replace the whole wall (and floor, particularly in the event of a floor claim).

All I can suggest if you can demonstrate that because of the leak, the walls are saturated and most areas are loose. It is also worth asking how the wall is supposed to dry out if the tiles are not removed off the wall. Otherwise, you could try a sach settlement for the area of damage and use this amount to cover the cost to replace the whole wall with different tiles.

It's unlikely the handler has the authority to allow for the whole wall, they are most likely just following their own internal guidance. You'll probably find most insurance staff are expected to follow the policy 'by the book' making exceptions only when it's clear there's likely to be a complaint.

InsideInsurance

house_mum wrote: »

Phoning a few companies based on the quotations I have obtained online, no other company offers "matching items cover". Does anyone here have any experience of tiles being damaged, and is it possible to have insurance that covers the whole wall? Hopefully we never have that situation again but it took us a long time to save up to have the bathroom fully tiled to match the patch that the insurance company repaired and I'd hate to tempt fate!

How are you selecting these companies to call?

Providing matching set cover is exceptionally expensive for insurers and therefore you will expect to be paying higher premiums. For example, with a previous client a customer managed to damage a kitchen cupboard door (non standard sizes and construction). For reasons I don't know it was irrepairable and nor could the commission a single custom made door(s) and so basically the whole kitchen was replaced at a cost of circa £15,000. A budget insurer would probably have offered £75 and the excess would be deducted from that.

If you want full fat cover then look at those aimed at MNW individuals which are normally via brokers but you can also see NFU, Hiscox 505, Direct Line Select as the couple that immediately spring to mind