If it worth making a small claim on my contents insurance ?

naepace

Hi guys, basically my wee one has dropped an ornament onto the stone hearth of my fireplace, taking a big chunk out of the front of it. To replace it I have been quoted around £100. I have a £50 excess on the policy.
How does a claim on your home insurance effect next years premiun, I have been told that it won't make much difference as the claim would be so small. Any comments on this would be appreciated.
Cheers.

Andy_L

Your premium will (probably) go up. For an idea of how much plug your details into a quote website both with & without the claim.

naepace

Good idea Andy, Cheers.

full-time-mum

I think it is probably not worth claiming for £100 with a £50 excess.

You stand to gain £50 but your premium will go up.

Food for thought....
We have 3 claims in the past 5 years and it has caused all sorts of hassle when trying to change insurers for a better deal. It annoys me as it seem that 3 smallish claims count for more than one very large claim. So, we have claimed for damaged pram (£300ish I think), lost necklace (£150) and damage to lino where DD draw on it in biro (can't remember figure but not excessive) and we have difficulty moving.
Neighbour has dishwasher leak and whole new kitchen but only has one claim so seems to be able to move at will.

Don't know if this is standard practice amongst insurers or whether we just got unlucky but it doesn't seem right/fair to me.

agaveworm

Remember, it's not always about the value of a claim affecting next year's renewal premium.

Ten £100 claims is worse than One £2000 claim.

I personally wouldn't claim.

Severity and frequency - come on you insurance gurus!!:D

naepace

agaveworm wrote: »

Remember, it's not always about the value of a claim affecting next year's renewal premium.

Ten £100 claims is worse than One £2000 claim.

I personally wouldn't claim.

Severity and frequency - come on you insurance gurus!!:D

I'm leaning towards not claiming. I just feel I should having never claimed in 15 years of paying premiums & now that I have a genuine claim for an exact reason why I added accidental damage to my policy I am now going to pay a premium & the replacement cost of the hearth. It seems quite unfair, I almost wish I was claiming for thousands.

Cheers for all the replies.

full-time-mum

naepace wrote: »

It seems quite unfair, I almost wish I was claiming for thousands.

I know the feeling....

Buick_Lewish

After all this being said, is it better than to take a high excess as it is not worth claiming small amounts? Or with other words, only claim when it is going to be expensive?

gazza975526570

Is this your only claim in the last few years? WHo are your insurers?

Ive worked in insurance for over 10 years and personally i would claim.

Home isnt like motor where you build up NCD (there are some insurers who may apply something similar though)

If its just the one claim at most insurers this would have no impact at all on your insurance and you will generally find either lots of claims or one/two high value claims to affect your premium

That isnt to say your insurance wont go up due to natural costs

zzzLazyDaisy

I made a low level claim on my house insurance two years ago (dropped 2 week old swanky mobile phone in cup of coffee and killed it!) I wish I hadn't made the claim, adding accidental damage to my contents policy now pushes the premium through the roof. I'd have been better off just replacing the phone myself.

Also, when shopping around, there's a few insurers won't accept you if you made any claim at all in recent years.

I've stopped accidental damage now, and increased my excess to keep the premium low, on the basis that I'll never make a low level claim again, it just isn't worth it.

From now on I am keeping my premiums as low as possible and will just claim if I have a serious loss

dave_behave

1) The fireplace is a fixture so will come on the Buildings insurance.

2) You should check with the insurer to see if they apply NCD to buildings. Mu insurer only offer it on contents.

3) The problem with making small claims has been highlighted. They tend to happen more often than larger ones, and i know that again with my insurer.... 3 claims in 3 years (no matter the size of the claim) and an endorsement (increased xs) will be added onto the policy.