Advice Needed - Under-insured contents insurance

Deepdiver1

Hi All,

Been lurking for years but finally joined.
Please can you provide your thoughts and opinions on my situation.

- I have contents insurance that I purchased through a price comparison site.
- I was badly burgled a few months a go and lost jewellery, electronics, almost everything,
- The insurance company has wrote to me saying that the total loss is over 100K.
- My insurance policy says I am covered up to 150K.
- However, the insurance company say I ticked a box on the price comparison site stating that my contents are worth 50K and they want an explanation for this "misrepresentation" and then state they have the right to cancel the policy.
- They also state that I did not declare items worth over 1K, individually.

I do not recall ticking any box, but I should have checked the policy documents as supposedly they have these written in them. I cannot find my documents to confirm this.

I have until Friday to respond. I'm worried sick that they are trying to get out of paying out.

Appreciate any advice. Thanks

BoGoF

Most policies make you inform them of any 'high value' items (usually over £1000) on an individual basis.

If you failed to do this then they are not trying to 'get out of paying', it is you that failed to insure the items.

lisyloo

It sounds to me that like a lot of people you were simply not diligent enough rather than deliberately lying.

So why did you say £50k when you have > £100k?
Was it just a bad estimate and lack of diligence?

Why did you not list items over £1k?
Did you not read the documents adequately?

I would probably say something like the £50k was a poor overall estimate but you thought you’d be ok as you have £150k cover.
You also did not notice the £1k limit.

You need to get this into the category of inadvertent non-disclosure I.e mistake rather than deliberate i.e. lying to get a lower price.

In the first case I don’t think they can just not pay out although they could reduce what they pay. In the latter case they could reject you claim and record you as a liar which is really serious for any future insurance.

So you need to firmly put this into the “mistake” bucket and explain why you got it wrong. Where is the £1k limit mentioned? If it’s on small print on page 266 then this might be something you could mention.

Lots of people do a poor job DIY, but starting being honest with yourself about why you made these mistakes would help you to put together an convincing explanation.
Again it’s crucial you get this recorded as inadvertent and not lying as that will give you massive problems getting car or house insurance in future.

As you’ve made serious errors I don’t think you should castigate the insurance company for asking these valid questions.
It’s not fair for honest policyholders to subsidise those who don’t check their documents or get their estimates correct so they are doing the right thing for this business and other policyholders.

If you want to DIY your insurance rather then you have to take responsisbilith for due dilligence (this isn’t to beat you up but to make it clear to others reading).

sal_III

Ouch, keeping 100k worth of valuables in your home. Must have plenty of £1k+ items why didn't you list them? It doesn't cost extra (in most cases). This one they can definitely use against you.

As for the 50k figure used on the comparison sites, you can tell them that at point of looking for quotes that's how much your possessions were valued. Since you paid them fro a policy covering £150k at the end you didn't have to inform them that in the meantime you moved some other valuables in your home and the worth increased to £100k, still well under the insured amount.

Weighty1

sal_III wrote: »

Ouch, keeping 100k worth of valuables in your home. Must have plenty of £1k+ items why didn't you list them? It doesn't cost extra (in most cases). This one they can definitely use against you.

As for the 50k figure used on the comparison sites, you can tell them that at point of looking for quotes that's how much your possessions were valued. Since you paid them fro a policy covering £150k at the end you didn't have to inform them that in the meantime you moved some other valuables in your home and the worth increased to £100k, still well under the insured amount.

So you're suggesting the OP lies and says they accrued £50k's worth of contents in a less than 12-month period?

Dangermac

Deepdiver1 wrote: »

Hi All,

Been lurking for years but finally joined.
Please can you provide your thoughts and opinions on my situation.

- I have contents insurance that I purchased through a price comparison site.
- I was badly burgled a few months a go and lost jewellery, electronics, almost everything,
- The insurance company has wrote to me saying that the total loss is over 100K.
- My insurance policy says I am covered up to 150K.
- However, the insurance company say I ticked a box on the price comparison site stating that my contents are worth 50K and they want an explanation for this "misrepresentation" and then state they have the right to cancel the policy.
- They also state that I did not declare items worth over 1K, individually.

I do not recall ticking any box, but I should have checked the policy documents as supposedly they have these written in them. I cannot find my documents to confirm this.

I have until Friday to respond. I'm worried sick that they are trying to get out of paying out.

Appreciate any advice. Thanks

This is not straight forward by any means, and the potential consequences are serious (claim not paid, policy avoided). Could affect ALL future purchase of insurance.

You need to research CIDRA regulations which outline the insurer's rights and the customer's obligations.

Much will depend on whether you made an innocent or careless or reckless/deliberate mistake, and this may depend on how the question re value was worded.

I would suggest that you also do a dummy quote (use different name & address) with the correct details and see if the insurer will quote. This is very much relevant re CIDRA.

Also, please check if your policy has an average clause (insurer's ability to reduce claim in the event of under insurance).

One way or another, it's likely you are going to have some problems with this claim. And possibly with future insurance purchases.

You may need to obtain some specialist advice.

Good luck

DM