One loss, two policies

Voyager2002

Just before Christmas, I lost both my pairs of spectacles while on holiday. The total price for the two of them was about 350 pounds: the loss was covered both by my travel insurance (but with a maximum sum insured of 200 pounds) and by an extension to my home insurance policy (but with an 'excess' of 200 pounds, so providing cover only for the portion of the loss that exceeds 200 pounds). I therefore expected that I would be able to claim against both policies, with each covering part of the loss, and this was confirmed by the travel insurer. However, Tesco (my home insurance provider) stated that I could only claims against one or the other insurer, not both, in respect of the same incident. Is this something that could be challenged?

McKneff

this is why I never take personal items cover on travel insurance.I cant understand why anyone would pay twice for the same cover,
ie home contents and travel insurance.


Specailly if I have lost something worth say £200 and the excess on both policies is £100.

Result - Zero and higher premiums in the future when you declare the loss on future enquiries.

bouncydog1

Generally if there is cover in place with two insurers they will share the cost of the loss. However I am not familiar with the Tesco wording so there may be a condition precluding the claim.

Did you complete a claim form for the Tesco policy or did you just ring them? If you just rang them I would ring again and ask for a claim form, complete it and send it back. There will be a question on there asking if there is any other cover in force and you would be obligated to provide details of your travel insurer.

It is not uncommon for people to purchase policies with high deductible and then purchase an infill policy cheaper elsewhere to provide some cover for the deductible layer - e.g. individuals purchase policies to provide cover for the deductible on car hire.

(For insurance bods using the term "deductible" due to try and explain concept of deductible infill)!!

Voyager2002

bouncydog1 wrote: »

Generally if there is cover in place with two insurers they will share the cost of the loss. However I am not familiar with the Tesco wording so there may be a condition precluding the claim.

Did you complete a claim form for the Tesco policy or did you just ring them? If you just rang them I would ring again and ask for a claim form, complete it and send it back. There will be a question on there asking if there is any other cover in force and you would be obligated to provide details of your travel insurer.

It is not uncommon for people to purchase policies with high deductible and then purchase an infill policy cheaper elsewhere to provide some cover for the deductible layer - e.g. individuals purchase policies to provide cover for the deductible on car hire.

(For insurance bods using the term "deductible" due to try and explain concept of deductible infill)!!

Thanks for this.

One issue is that both insurers wanted original copies of documents like proof of purchase, making it impossible for me to submit two separate claims. Can you suggest a way round this?

Voyager2002

McKneff wrote: »

this is why I never take personal items cover on travel insurance.I cant understand why anyone would pay twice for the same cover,
ie home contents and travel insurance.


Specailly if I have lost something worth say £200 and the excess on both policies is £100.

Result - Zero and higher premiums in the future when you declare the loss on future enquiries.

Fair point. In fairness, Tesco added the personal items cover to my existing home insurance policy without charging any additional premium: since I took my computer (not covered by the travel insurance) this cover was valuable. The main point of travel insurance was medical cover, and the cover for possession added little or nothing to the premium.

McKneff

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Fair point. In fairness, Tesco added the personal items cover to my existing home insurance policy without charging any additional premium: since I took my computer (not covered by the travel insurance) this cover was valuable. The main point of travel insurance was medical cover, and the cover for possession added little or nothing to the premium.

Except more hassle;)

rs65

Voyager2002 wrote: »

However, Tesco (my home insurance provider) stated that I could only claims against one or the other insurer, not both, in respect of the same incident. Is this something that could be challenged?

They are correct. If you had gone through with it, and both insurers subscribe to something like CUE, it would flag up as making two claims for the one loss. That would look like fraud.

It is possible to insure an excess on maybe motor insurance but I haven't seen it for home insurance.

My personal belongings section on my home insurance excludes losses covered by any other policy.

The limits on travel insurance can be low so I find it best to have worldwide personal possessions cover on my home insurance.

You would've been best to reduce your home excess as low as possible. To try what you did just doesn't seem right - making two claims for one loss is wrong.

Home and travel policies used to contribute to a single loss but I think this was stopped.

Voyager2002

rs65 wrote: »

They are correct. If you had gone through with it, and both insurers subscribe to something like CUE, it would flag up as making two claims for the one loss. That would look like fraud.

Not fraud if each claim form gives clear and complete details of the other insurer, which was always my intention.

hugoshavez

rs65 wrote: »

Home and travel policies used to contribute to a single loss but I think this was stopped.

Nah, there was an agreement to stop seeking contributions from motor policies, but contribution between home and travel goes on.

..........................................................................................

The Tesco adviser who said OP couldn't register a claim with them was wrong, but probably did you a favour in the long run.

Taking the £200 from the travel insurer and picking up the rest of the bill yourself is almost certain to be the most economic solution.

rs65

hugoshavez wrote: »

Nah, there was an agreement to stop seeking contributions from motor policies, but contribution between home and travel goes on.

I'm sure someone posted a link to it last year. It was news to me at the time. Was it TSx maybe?

It was a document from CILA or ABI.

rs65

Changed effective from April 2012

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3911209