fire claim

Finefoot

A friend recently had a fire at her house which wasnt her fault. It started at the neighbour. It was classed as accidental.Her house insurance covered the damage, but have put her premiums up by £40 each month. If the fire was not her fault, is it fair for her insurers to increase the premiums by that much?
I thought I read somewhere that if the incident is not your fault the insurance should not increase? Am I correct in thinking that?

jonesMUFCforever

An insurance policy is just that -to insure against something untoward - it seems in this case it worked.
It is not a no fault policy although if you have legal expenses you could try a claim to get your excess back.
You won't get anything because your premiums have increased.

Your last comment IMO is completely wrong.

edwardw

no.
most companies ask now if you have made a claim regardless of fault.
Its down statistics, if you've claimed before, for what ever reason, your more likely to claim again.
Just tough im afraid as harsh as it is!

rev_henry

The real question is whether her insurance company recovered their payout from the neighbour. If so the premium may go up slightly, if not they'll go up a fair bit more.

kingstreet

Redress from the neighbour would only be obtainable if the neighbour's negligence caused, or aggravated the impact of, the fire.

*Scarlett

Your friend can stll shop around for a better deal. An increase by £40 a month sounds huge.

How much was the claim for?

Mainstream companies may have a cut off point for high value recent claims / type of claim.

I you have trouble getting other quotes maybe try

http://www.homeprotect.co.uk/insurance-for-all/claims-history

InsideInsurance

Finefoot wrote: »

If the fire was not her fault, is it fair for her insurers to increase the premiums

"Fault" in the sense that you mean it has nothing to do with anything.

How was it the neighbours fault?

If it was a true accident/ act of god etc then its no body's liability and therefore each party that decides to claim will have a "fault" claim against their policy as the insurer will not be able to recover the money from anyone else.

If the neighbour did something negligent then it is their "fault" and in such a case the insurer can recover their outlay from the neighbour and the impact on premiums will be massively reduced.

Finefoot

Thank you all.
The fire started in their shed, the wind direction blew it onto our house.
They had minimal damage to their house, but the back half of mine had to be rebuilt, hence our very large claim. They only needed a new front door where the firemen kicked it in as they were out. I understand that as they were out it was decided they were not to blame. But I do wonder about the welding equipment he kept in there? The bike fame he had in there melted from the heat.

dacouch

If he had oxy acetylene welding bottles in their, the fire brigade would have evacuated the surrounding area and then very slowly cooled the bottles.