Lost Wedding Ring now found.

Vict

We lost a valuable wedding ring about 1.5 months ago. After frantic searching at the place where we thought we had lost and no luck we gave up and claimed on the house contents insurance, who were brilliant and paid for a bespoke copy to be made. Today someone has replied to a "lost ring" advert which has only just been published and they had found it waiting to see what to do with it. The question is what is the legal situation in the UK with regards the Insurance company that paid out? Do we pay the money back?

DevCoder

The ring belongs to the insurance company, ring them and find out what they want to do with it.

nidO

The found ring now belongs to the insurance company, when you contact them to tell them the ring's been found they will probably ask for it to be sent to them.
They may also offer you the option to buy it from them, possibly at a reduced cost.

nobbysn*ts

Yes, you should. However you now have the original ring, and I know which one I would want to keep. The insurer wouldn't want the copy back, and yes, if you pay, the claim back they should let you keep both. So, do the right thing, and possibly lose the original, (again), when it's returned to the insurer, who will probably melt it down for scrap value. (It's very unlikely they're offer it to you for that, as they know you want it). Or not?

InsideInsurance

Legally you need to speak to your insurer and they will typically give you the choice of returning one of the rings (up to you which) or you can reimburse them the monies they paid and keep both.

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

when it's returned to the insurer, who will probably melt it down for scrap value

The places I've been at where I've been in contact with these sorts of areas they would sell the items as was rather than melt them/ sell them as scrap.

Did see a very nice patek philippe watch on one insurers staff board but didnt have anything close to the £10k asking price. A chap did buy a single 2ct diamond stud earring at a very good price and got the stone reset into a ring, evidently the original owner had lost one of them and thankfully had matching set cover though why the claims people didnt commission a single earring to be made I'm not sure.

Parking_Trouble

Does the OP need to ensure they pay the cost price rather than the retail value?
There is a big mark up on jewellery.
The insurer would not have paid full retail value to replace the original.

InsideInsurance

Parking_Trouble wrote: »

Does the OP need to ensure they pay the cost price rather than the retail value?
There is a big mark up on jewellery.
The insurer would not have paid full retail value to replace the original.

If they paid back the claim and kept both rings it would simply be what the insurer paid and not the retail price.

As it was a bespoke made piece I doubt their discount was very good.