Home insurance premium doubled! Warning if you claim for loss of freezer food!

nev015

We havent claimed on Our home insurance in the last 20 years with Admiral and then In the last 12 months we made 2 claims for £200 each for Loss of freezer food. These
2 claims have now resulted in our Renewal price increasing by £1000+.  I have Looked around on comparison Sites to get alternative quotes...and what is clear to me is that all insurers are providing similar uplifts as a result of the 2 claims Made. Had I known that claiming for £400 in total (which after the excess I would have only got less in my pocket) would have resulted in such a big jump at renewal of £1000+ (more than double the amount claimed) we would never had done it...just felt compelled to post to see if anyone else has  experienced something similar?  And to flag as a warning for others as I will never put in a claim like this again...it just seems to me that home insurance Claims should be for big claims like fire Damage, burglary, flood etc 

davidmcn

I would have thought it's common knowledge that any sort of claim is only going to put your premiums up. Usual money-saving advice is to save insurance for the stuff you couldn't otherwise afford (and reduce your premiums by maximising the excess)

TELLIT01

davidmcn said:

I would have thought it's common knowledge that any sort of claim is only going to put your premiums up. Usual money-saving advice is to save insurance for the stuff you couldn't otherwise afford (and reduce your premiums by maximising the excess)

Accepting that premiums will increase following a claim is one thing, and increase of that amount following tow comparatively small claims is ridiculous.  That said, two claims for the same issue in a 12 month period would probably cause concern for most insurers.

davidmcn

TELLIT01 said:

davidmcn said:

I would have thought it's common knowledge that any sort of claim is only going to put your premiums up. Usual money-saving advice is to save insurance for the stuff you couldn't otherwise afford (and reduce your premiums by maximising the excess)

That said, two claims for the same issue in a 12 month period would probably cause concern for most insurers.

Indeed, it pretty much proves their fears that one claim means others are more likely to follow. Wonder how much the premium hike would have been if there had only been one claim.

bradders1983

£200 worth of food in a freezer twice? 🤔 

JGB1955

I've claimed only once on our contents insurance for accidental damage (red wine - carpet) and have vowed to never claim again unless we're talking in the £thousands.  Ended up spending a top-up on a carpet we didn't want (the insurance company told us who we could buy from).  We still have accidental damage insurance for both contents and buildings but would only claim if we were homeless.... or had no contents left!

Aretnap

"Propensity to claim" is a fairly big rating factor for insurers, particularly home insurers I believe.

Some people who suffer a broken down freezer, or who spill wine on the carpet, will not think to bother their insurer - they'll shrug and buy new food, or move the sofa to hide the stain. Other people will call up their insurers and want a new freezer full of food, or a new carpet. Obviously insurers would much rather insure people in the first category.

I imagine two small-ish claims in a year will doubtless be a particular red flag, as it suggests a customer who will continue to make small-ish claims every time something relatively minor goes wrong, so the insurance has to be priced on the assumption that there will be more claims coming next year.

(Paradoxically the customer will probably learn his lesson when he sees the renewal premium and stop making small claims... however if the insurer offered him cheap cover on that basis he wouldn't learn his lesson and the small claims would continue. So the insurer has to hike up the renewal premium, even though that means the claims will likely stop).

dunstonh

We havent claimed on Our home insurance in the last 20 years with Admiral and then In the last 12 months we made 2 claims for £200 each for Loss of freezer food. 

On paper, that has turned you into a potential serial claimer.

it just seems to me that home insurance Claims should be for big claims like fire Damage, burglary, flood etc 

Most people never claim on their home insurance.  Sometimes they are unlucky to have to claim once.   You have claimed twice in a short period and twice for something that even if most people suffered it, wouldn't claim for.    Your twenty years no claims history has gone and they look at you now very differently as a high risk household.   Two claims in a short period in areas that are rife with fraudulent claims or persistent claimers that insurers do not want.    They will be looking at you thinking that if you are claiming twice in three years then chances are you will be loss making at your current claims rate.

tempus_fugit

Your premiums have doubled and gone up by more than £1,000? Sounds like you were paying way too much already for your home insurance, probably because you have been with the same insurer for 20 years. 😲

elle_may

I only think of my insurance for the big events of life ie fire, flood, burglary as they can make a mess. Did make a claim for repair of a mac laptop Cost £1000 but would not for small accidents as i would cover them myself. I like to keep my insurance as low as possible.

Penelopa.Pitstop

I would never claim for such small amounts. I claimed on contents insurance, value of items around £1600. One was replaced, one repaired. I paid extra £100 for couple of years, so £500 instead of £400.