Is home insurance valid straight away?

charlibombarli

Hi!
Well luckily I didn't have to test out if I was covered in spite of weather warnings.
For the sake of however many £'s a month though I'd certainly have given it a try! Plus t's something that I have been meaning to get round doing anyway.

Also I don't know if it would make a difference it wasn't torrential rain with forecast of flooding, it was more a case of hoping that Hulls tidal barrier held the high tide back.

System

I'm sure if you can see the water rising up your garden path, so quickly go online and buy flood insurance, then the insurance company might query it?

Toon-tom

Regardless of if there was weather warnings or if there was a storm ongoing at the time, you are covered and your risk is insured from the moment you confirm the policy. Storm or flood is a peril on the majority of contents policies (definitely Lloyds), the only thing which would cause a problem would be if you have claimed for flood damage before, in which case an endorsement may be added to your policy with an increased excess for flood for instance. Nevertheless if you've been quoted a price they've 'taken on that risk' so you'd have been ok!

System

Toon-tom wrote: »

Regardless of if there was weather warnings or if there was a storm ongoing at the time, you are covered and your risk is insured from the moment you confirm the policy. !

Really? Why wouldn't it be disallowed as a pre-existing condition?

Aretnap

A flood isn't a condition, it's an event. If it hasn't happened at the time of inception, it's covered unless specifically excluded. Weather warnings and rain still just mean you have a risk of a flood flood - you still don't have an actual flood.

System

Aretnap wrote: »

you still don't have an actual flood.

So if your neighbour's bungalow has just been washed away, you still have time to insure your own?

Aretnap

You'd have to be quick!

Added: More seriously, there's probably a debate to be had about exactly when a flood starts - when your neighbour's house floods, when your garden floods or when the water starts coming in under your door? But the flood would have to had started (by whatever definition) at the time the policy began to automatically not be included. A mere warning of potential flooding, or some heavy rain which might or might not lead to flooding, wouldn't be enough.

Or looked at from another angle, if the police come round and warn you that burglars are targeting properties in your street, can you still get insurance? Yes you can.

FlameCloud

This reminds me of when I was at the Cockermouth floods- one insurer had about 5 or 6 policies start on the same street around half an hour after the first rains started in the area. The calls were all recorded and in one of them you could clearly hear the sounds of the water coming in.

In terms of policy cover- others have said it- cover can start immediately but there will almost certainly be an argument about whether the proximate cause of the incident has begun.

I know one insurance group will collate all policies that incepted within 24 hours of a flood/storm type event and ask for the same adjuster to deal with them all.

System

Does health insurance work in the same generous way?
I feel unwell, I go to the doctor, he says take it easy, you may be at risk of a heart attack. You haven't had one yet, but you might like to uprate your insurance.

Aretnap

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Does health insurance work in the same generous way?
I feel unwell, I go to the doctor, he says take it easy, you may be at risk of a heart attack. You haven't had one yet, but you might like to uprate your insurance.

When you take out health insurance you're asked a load of questions about your medical history and you'd have to declare the condition.* Depending on the insurer and the exact nature of the condition they might either refuse to cover it, or agree to cover it but increase your premium. It's quite possible to get insurance to cover pre-existing conditions provided (a) it's not an absolute certainty that you're going to need expensive treatment in the near future and (b) you're willing to pay for it.

In theory there'd be noting to stop a home insurer asking "are there currently any severe weather warnings for your area?" or "is it raining?" when you get a quote and adjusting your cover/premium depending on the answer, but I've never come across one that does.

*Ok, some cheaper off the peg policies don't do this and just have a blanket exclusion on covering treatment related to pre-existing conditions. But that's not the only model.