found item lost and claimed for 10yrs ago

meerkatsmimm

hi,

i've recently found a piece of jewellery that my mother-in-law lost over 10yrs ago. She claimed on her contents insurance and had a replacement paid for. Can I ask for some advice?

What is standard procedure here - does she hand it back?
How do we find out who she was insured with if we need to?
Can she buy it back from the insurer as it has sentimental value?

Thanks

dacouch

What sort of value is it?

meerkatsmimm

expensive and of sentimental value to her - just under £2k 10yrs ago diamond and 18ct gold
TY

dacouch

Generally the Insurers will not want the item back as arranging transportation costs them money and they then have to sell the item on. If you contact them they will almost certainly offer you the chance to buy the item back from them for what they would be able to sell it for which will be not a lot more than the scrap value.

If the item was worth nearer £500 they would probably just allow you to keep it without charge.

There's a small chance they may still allow you to keep it for no charge as they will be very surprised you have contacted them and they may not still have the paperwork.

Does your mother know who she was insured with at the time?

vaio

obviously it now belongs to the insurance company but if she hasn't got a record of who the insurer was then I doubt there is any other way of finding out.

meerkatsmimm

No. MIL has no idea who she was insured with (she suffers fro PTSD so her mind is less than helpful) and we can't find who she was insured with at the time with only limited and rather strange pieces of paperwork saved from the time, ie, an old credit card application invite but nothing useful like bank statements, bills etc, apparently that makes it easier for 'them' to know what she's doing...slightly paranoid!

dacouch

If you want to find out you can probably find out by writing to C.U.E and paying them £10 for the information they hold, most Insurers record their claims on this database so there's a good chance it will be recorded on there.

http://www.insurancedatabases.co.uk/default.aspx#dataprotection

meerkatsmimm

would it be marked or coded, is there somewhere I can take it that would have a database of records for potential stolen or lost items to turn up? that way i would feel like i've tried, we'd probably feel better handing back the replacement item though as it has no meaning other than it replaced the lost one, and the original was a gift to MIL from her husband 2 wks before he passed away.

vaio

dacouch wrote: »

If you want to find out you can probably find out by writing to C.U.E and paying them £10 for the information they hold, most Insurers record their claims on this database so there's a good chance it will be recorded on there.......

I'd ring and ask them how long they keep records for before paying, I suspect that DPA would mean they cleanse the records after six or seven years

nobbysn*ts

Just me then. SAY NOTHNG. To anyone, ever again.

PasturesNew

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

Just me then. SAY NOTHNG. To anyone, ever again.

After 10 years I'm with this one.....