Claiming for Lost Jewellery

Roy1234

My OH half managed to lose a ring whilst out & about this weekend, worth about £900. It's within our contents policy's single & total valuable item limit, plus we have a valuation.

Retracing our steps and contacting the many various places it could have been lost, we have so far drawn a blank and hope is running out of any lost property areas etc coming back to us. It probably simply fell off her hand at some point, can't be sure when or where. My questions are:

1) Are our contents insurers likely to pay in such a sadly vague and unproven loss situation?

2) Is it worth our while claiming? I ask because my last comparable claim (over 20 years ago) lead to an annual premium hike for years that simply seemed to reclaim the money they'd paid, leaving me feeling like it was a 'loan scheme' not a payout.

Thanks in advance for info received.

FutureGirl

Do you have personal possessions cover on your policy? If not, it's unlikely to be covered.

Where did you buy the item? It's unlikely the insurer will pay out the full £900 in cash to you.

Most insurers have jewellery suppliers these day, you'll either be given a voucher, or they could make the same jewellery - if you choose cash it'd be at the discounted rate (usually 20 - 50% depending on how they would replace the item). They will value your item based on any evidence you have of the item IE valuations etc (but it would depend what exactly it says on the valuation in respect of describing the item).

Also factor in any excess.

The insurer might as you to report the loss to the police, given the type of item.

Roy1234

FutureGirl wrote: »

Do you have personal possessions cover on your policy? If not, it's unlikely to be covered.

Where did you buy the item? It's unlikely the insurer will pay out the full £900 in cash to you.

Most insurers have jewellery suppliers these day, you'll either be given a voucher, or they could make the same jewellery - if you choose cash it'd be at the discounted rate (usually 20 - 50% depending on how they would replace the item). They will value your item based on any evidence you have of the item IE valuations etc (but it would depend what exactly it says on the valuation in respect of describing the item).

Also factor in any excess.

The insurer might as you to report the loss to the police, given the type of item.

Hi Future Girl,

Yes do have personal possessions cover away from the home. Hadn't thought about the means of compensation, but I suppose my OH would want a similar as possible ring, it would not be an off the shelf item (I believe) so would more likely need to be made to order. I do have pics and a valuation.

Have already reported to police, but this seems just a generic web logging process, they don't want such reports any other way, to save time I guess.

But from your reply, are you saying you think they would probably pay without any specific 'incident'? And is this claim likely to cost me hundreds in raised premiums to come?

FutureGirl

Personal possessions covers you for accidental loss - that is what this is, an accidental loss.

If it isn't an off the shelf ring, the insurer will either be able to make a similar one (or offer a discounted cash settlement, usually around 50% where they can make it), or they can offer a voucher for more independent stores (or you can take cash settlement with a discount usually of around 25%).

You will have to pay your excess.

Do quotes with a claim of £900 and see how it changes your premiums.

ciderboy2009

My wife lost a ring worth about £3k a few years back.

We had no idea whatsoever where it was lost but the insurance company (Halifax) were fine - I just had to send off a photo of my wife wearing the ring and a copy of a valuation (which was about 10 years old) to prove that we had actually owned the ring.

The insurance company used the valuation to base their offer on (they increased it to allow for increase in value) and offered us three options:

1. Vouchers for the full amount for their jewellers
2. Someone coming around to see us to discuss making a new ring the same as the old one
3. A cash payout for about 20% less than the full amount

The following year we were amazed when our premium only increased by just over £10 for the year.