Can I claim on my house insurance for rings being cut off at hospital?

Claire.cuthbert

Hi everyone,

I had an accident a couple of days ago where I broke my finger, unfortunately it was my wedding finger and I was wearing my wedding ring, engagement ring and eternity ring (all diamond and platinum).

Because of the swelling, I had to get my rings cut off at the hospital. Does anyone know if I would be able to claim on my house insurance to get them repaired?

Thanks!

csgohan4

on what basis in your T+C's can they be claimed back? Were they accidentally damaged?

forgotmyname

Would it be worth it? Not expensive to get them fixed, even taking into account adding in a little if needed.

McKneff

The repair cost would probably not come anywhere your excess.

Take them to an independant jeweller, probably a fiver each..

BooJewels

McKneff wrote: »

The repair cost would probably not come anywhere your excess.

Take them to an independant jeweller, probably a fiver each..

I take it that you've never seen a wedding ring that's been cut off in an emergency then?

My husband had his cut off in ICU a few years ago and it was mangled by the time they'd cut through it and then got it off a badly swollen finger. It needed to be totally re-modelled and might even have been cheaper to buy a new one, if not for sentimental reasons.

ACG

Would it not be 3 separate claims?
You might be covered, it probably depends on whether you have gone for a cheap and cheerful policy or a proper policy (thats not a dig btw). It will also depend on whether or not you included the appropriate addons or not.

jackieblack

BooJewels wrote: »

I take it that you've never seen a wedding ring that's been cut off in an emergency then?

My husband had his cut off in ICU a few years ago and it was mangled by the time they'd cut through it and then got it off a badly swollen finger. It needed to be totally re-modelled and might even have been cheaper to buy a new one, if not for sentimental reasons.

That's a shame, but maybe you were just unlucky? And while that was your experience it's not necessarily true of everyone's.

When my husband's wedding ring was cut off in A&E it was done very neatly and cost us £12 to have repaired.

BooJewels

jackieblack wrote: »

That's a shame, but maybe you were just unlucky? And while that was your experience it's not necessarily true of everyone's.

When my husband's wedding ring was cut off in A&E it was done very neatly and cost us £12 to have repaired.

Maybe we were unlucky and your staff had better tools than ours. The poor nurse that cut his off was in tears when she gave it me back, she felt totally terrible about the state of it. I certainly didn't hold it against her, she was trying to save his finger; the ring would be repaired much more easily than his finger would, but it certainly couldn't have been done for a fiver.

Even with three rings, if they could be done for around 12 quid each, it would be way below the excess on my own contents.

jackieblack

BooJewels wrote: »

Maybe we were unlucky and your staff had better tools than ours. The poor nurse that cut his off was in tears when she gave it me back, she felt totally terrible about the state of it. I certainly didn't hold it against her, she was trying to save his finger; the ring would be repaired much more easily than his finger would, but it certainly couldn't have been done for a fiver.

Even with three rings, if they could be done for around 12 quid each, it would be way below the excess on my own contents.

I know what you mean, they do what they have to do and I'm sure they all do their best to minimise the damage as much as possible- maybe we were lucky.

I hope your husband is ok now.
My husband's thumb couldn't be reattached, they were able to do a partial reconstruction but he will always have limted/restricted function. (His ring had to be cut off quickly because his hand was swelling so fast.)
Having to get his ring repaired was a minor inconvenience in comparison.

Blibble

ACG wrote: »

Would it not be 3 separate claims?

One incident, therefore one claim as far as I see it.

As to whether the incident would be covered, it'd depend on the exact wording of accidental damage exclusions under the policy. My gut says no, however; whilst the act of the finger swelling is accidental, the cause of the claim (i.e., nurse cutting rings off) certainly isn't.

Depending on the state of the rings, perhaps see if somebody local & independent can help before contacting your insurer? Once you contact them, your premiums will be loaded in the future even if you withdraw from the claim.

Aretnap

Blibble wrote: »

As to whether the incident would be covered, it'd depend on the exact wording of accidental damage exclusions under the policy. My gut says no, however; whilst the act of the finger swelling is accidental, the cause of the claim (i.e., nurse cutting rings off) certainly isn't.

Personally I'd suggest that as a matter of fairness to the customer, it ought to be seen as accidental damage if it's an inevitable consequence of the accident. It's not as if the OP had much choice about having the rings cut off, after all.



As an analogous scenario, what happens if if you're injured in a car accident and the emergency services have to cut the car open to get you out safely? Is that covered by your insurance, assuming you have comprehensive cover? It must be a scenario which comes up reasonably often.