The Great 'How do insurers decide whether to pay out?' Hunt

mattymoo

tmboxster wrote: »

A tile recently slid off my roof and onto the bonnet of my car causing a five inch stratch and small dent - household insurance - Norwich Union are not interested and told me to claim from my car insurance for which I have a £600 excess. This doesn't seem right considering that NU will have to pay the car insurance they are just trying to save £600. As it was a part of the house that caused the damage I think that I should be able to claim under this policy. I have never made a claim before and will now move my insurance elsewhere!

It is quite correct.
Household insurance does not pay out for damage to vehicles. That is the job of motor insurance.
It is possible to pursue claims where the negligence of a homeowner has resulted in damage to your car - for instance, if a wall fell on your car because it was structurally unsafe. However, to succeed you do need to prove negligence and if the tile slipped in high winds (like mid Jan 07) then the homeowner would not necessarily have been negligent.
Secondly, you cannot sue yourself. English law will not permit John Smith v John Smith. That is the english legal system, not an insurance get out btw.

movilogo

From the postings here few points can be concluded

1. If you can afford not taking insurance, then don't take.
2. For where you must take insurance (car etc.) go for the cheapest premium one - as in many cases you'll discover that they will pay much less what you expected.

kingstongold

From the postings here few points can be concluded

1. If you can afford not taking insurance, then don't take.
2. For where you must take insurance (car etc.) go for the cheapest premium one - as in many cases you'll discover that they will pay much less what you expected.

Also add to this- take either buildings or contents insurance and potentially more important always go for insurance with low excesses- ie M&S- their pet insurance is a perfect example of this- most claims can be small but not worth making if they levy a 50 excess on it.

Insurance sucks!

dunstonh

twins_2_Be wrote: »

My TV died and it will be £215 to fix it (I have to pay the first £100) so I will get £115 from Royal & Sun Alliance (via Tesco).

Am I silly for claiming for £115 as it might make my premiums go up? I have not claimed for over 5 years and then it was about a £300 claim.

House insurance wont cover you for mechanical failure. That isnt what it is for.

2. For where you must take insurance (car etc.) go for the cheapest premium one - as in many cases you'll discover that they will pay much less what you expected.

Perhaps the alternative view is that if you pay cheap, you get cheap. Some of the plans that have cheap premiums have so many features or options removed or more exclusions added that it is barely worth paying for it at all. Pay a little more for a decent plan and you get much better value you in the long run.

Money saving is about value for money. Not about paying as little as possible for rubbish.

221b

Colleagues of mine are Loss Adjusters for Norwich Union.

Regarding home insurance, specifically paint spilled on 'carpet/telly/fill in the blank', while decorating (a popular claim, I understand!).

They let the genuine, modest ones through but strike out instantly the ones which say "...and then my cat/dog stepped in the paint and managed to transfer the paint to the stairs, landing, 3 bedrooms, front garden" etc.

This would hardly ever happen in actuality yet the number of people who claim it has, is legion apparantly!

bouncydog1

hoathfarm wrote: »

MSE_Martin wrote: »

When you make an insurance claim, whether it's home, travel, health, illness or anything else, someone at the insurance company decides whether to pay it or not. Is it done on charts? Are there targets? How's it decided?

If you've worked in the industry why not dish the details to help MoneySavers?

Please post below to share your knowledge.

I RECENTLY MADE A CLAIM ON MY HORSE INSURANCE AS MY HORSE SHATERED 2 BONES IN HER KNEE AFTER BEING KICKED BY ANOTHER HORSE GETTING INTO MY FIELD. SOMEONE PLAYING GOD AT NFU DECIDED THAT SHE DID NOT QUALIFY FOR BEING PUT DOWN ON HUMANE GROUNDS, SO I HAVE LOST £3000. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM?

bouncydog1

V interested in your post as just about to effect renewal and considering NFU.

Looking at their policy conditions for loss of animal, it is covered if animal is put down on humane grounds without NFU's written consent provided vet certifies that the injury, illness or disease is incurable and the suffering so excessive that...to delay would be an act of cruelty.

Putting down on humane grounds is also covered with NFU's prior written consent, which does not have to be carried out immediately.

What does your vet say?

If your vet certified that she should be put down then I should appeal to NFU or following that the financial ombudsman.

If you took the decision to have her put down without vet certification then I guess they are declining the claim because you did not follow policy conditions.

The_artful_dodger_2

tmboxster wrote: »

A tile recently slid off my roof and onto the bonnet of my car causing a five inch stratch and small dent - household insurance - Norwich Union are not interested and told me to claim from my car insurance for which I have a £600 excess. This doesn't seem right considering that NU will have to pay the car insurance they are just trying to save £600. As it was a part of the house that caused the damage I think that I should be able to claim under this policy. I have never made a claim before and will now move my insurance elsewhere!

I worked for a large domestic insurer in claims for all of their main policy lines for 5 years and now work for a large commercial insurer. I think that perhaps the claims person should have taken more time to explain this to you.
Simply put, you can not hold yourself liable for damage to your own property. Your car is the item damaged, so if you want to claim for it, then you need to claim under the car policy. Your house insurance would cover you if your roof tile had caused damage to someone elses property. That policy covers you for your liability, in much the same way that your motor insurance does if you had hit another persons car with yours but your car was fine. The important thing here is that you own both the damaged item and the cause of this damage. The only time that you can claim under your house policy for damage caused by a part of your house to something that is not a part of that house, is when you are liable for another person's damage.
I hope that this is starting to make a little more sense.
Unfortunately, no insurer will allow you to make a claim against yourself.

mattymoo

olly300 wrote: »

Due to the number of complaints about not being treated fairly.
Can any of you who have worked in insurance give posters information of the steps to complain with approximate timelines?

It will be clearly laid out in your policy booklet, normally on the first page or last page. It will have an internal address for your complaint to go to and an explanation of what will happen. If you are unhappy with the insurers decision following complaint, you can then take it to the Financial Services Ombudsman. Again, the address should be provided.

mattymoo

The_artful_dodger wrote: »

Unfortunately, no insurer will allow you to make a claim against yourself.

Thanks for the post but I do feel it is necessary to stress this is the English (and Scottish) legal system that stipulates this. It is not some weasely get out used by insurers.