Landlord Insurance Claim Con

merlinuk

Sometime ago my letting agent wanted to make a claim for me for some storm damage I had so I agreed. My letting agent went ahead and phoned directline landlord insurance and they said they would need to send someone out to look at the damage.

It then turned out that I was not covered for the damage and the claim never went ahead. Well, that is what I thought.

I've just came to renew my landlord insurance only to find that directline are now counting a claim against me and for a value of £160 which they say they had to pay the person coming out to check the damage.

So even if a claim is not successful dircetline still counts it as a claim against you and even if I leave directline they told me I still have to declare this claim and value to any other insurers.

Is this right? It all seems like one big con to me...

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Quentin

Never contact your insurer about an incident unless you are sure you intend making a claim.

Irrespective of whether or not you make a successful claim the reported loss will go on your record and must be disclosed to future insurers.

(Your agent should have known that!!)

Are you happy with the decision to reject the claim?

merlinuk

I was not happy at the time (this was back in February) they rejected the claim, so I just paid the letting agent to do the work. I'm even more unhappy now with them knowing I have got to declare a claim for the next 5 years which I received nothing for. Surely this is a big con for insurance companies to get more money out of us?

FutureGirl

You've had an incident / loss, and you've tried to make a claim - this tells the insurer that you're more likely to make a claim than someone who has never attempted to make a claim. You're therefore more riskier to the insurers (in terms of potential future pay outs) thus increase the premium.

merlinuk

Sounds like it for sure.... well I will never make that mistake again. I just hope others can learn from my mistake. I still think its very wrong and something needs to happen to stop insurance companies doing this.

paddyandstumpy

merlinuk wrote: »

Sounds like it for sure.... well I will never make that mistake again. I just hope others can learn from my mistake. I still think its very wrong and something needs to happen to stop insurance companies doing this.

Why? You've proved to them that you're statistically more likely to claim than the next person, so they are rating for that.

merlinuk

paddyandstumpy wrote: »

Why? You've proved to them that you're statistically more likely to claim than the next person, so they are rating for that.

Why should the insurance company count a claim against you when the claim never went through and no money was paid out to you? If this is how it works then they should tell you this up front, but no because if they did less people would be making claims in the first place and the insurance companies then would lose out charging people more money. This to me is a scam and insurance companies need to be more honest! To most people when asked if they have made a claim they will think a claim is when they have received money. But no a claim to the insurance company is the fact that you have phoned up in the first place. This fact of how insurance companies works need to be told up front to people. If I knew this before then I would never had let my letting agent phone up and try to make a claim in the first place. So once bitten twice shy now. This may be common knowledge to you but I bet to a lot of people this is not know at all of how this works with claims.

FutureGirl

When would you like them to tell you this information?

Insurers can't tell you EVERYTHING at the point of sale, or even at the point of a claim.

Did you ask the insurers whether making a claim would affect the premiums if rejected? Policyholders need to take some responsibility themselves sometimes.

Insurance is based on statistics and risk - by showing that you intended to make a claim, you are telling the insurers that you are more likely to make a claim in the future for some other incident that may occur, therefore, more riskier to them as a customer.

merlinuk

FutureGirl wrote: »

When would you like them to tell you this information?

Insurers can't tell you EVERYTHING at the point of sale, or even at the point of a claim.

Did you ask the insurers whether making a claim would affect the premiums if rejected? Policyholders need to take some responsibility themselves sometimes.

Insurance is based on statistics and risk - by showing that you intended to make a claim, you are telling the insurers that you are more likely to make a claim in the future for some other incident that may occur, therefore, more riskier to them as a customer.

Well if ringing up counts as a claim against you then they should tell you up front about this next to the claim number, so you think twice before ringing! Anyway, I know how there claim scam works now so I want be making this mistake again with any insurances I have.