Freezer food claim - impact on future premiums

Doc_N

Freezer on the blink, with a likely loss of around £250 food, covered by our John Lewis policy.

I suspect though that claiming £250 now will end up costing more than that in future premium increases.

Anyone any experience of freezer food claims and their impact on future premiums, particularly with John Lewis insurance?

Sandtree

If the freezer is faulty this typically wont be covered by the insurance, their Essentials policy excludes:
Wear and tear
Any loss, damage, liability, cost or expense of any kind caused directly or indirectly by or resulting from wear and tear, viruses, disease, depreciation, repairs necessary in the normal course of maintenance, corrosion, rusting, damp, insects, vermin (except for cover 4 under the Home Emergency Option), fungus, condensation, fading, frost or anything which happens gradually, the process of cleaning, dyeing, repair, alteration, renovation or restoration.

Freezer cover is normally for things like powercuts or if someone doesnt close the door properly etc. If the freezer is on the blink you need to have it fixed or replaced before it causes a loss.

Impact of claims will depend on your insurance and claims history. JL do operate a NCD type scheme so if you have a discount thats then lost due to a claim the impact will be bigger than if you didnt have an NCD in the first place.

Doc_N

Sandtree said:

If the freezer is faulty this typically wont be covered by the insurance, their Essentials policy excludes:
Wear and tear
Any loss, damage, liability, cost or expense of any kind caused directly or indirectly by or resulting from wear and tear, viruses, disease, depreciation, repairs necessary in the normal course of maintenance, corrosion, rusting, damp, insects, vermin (except for cover 4 under the Home Emergency Option), fungus, condensation, fading, frost or anything which happens gradually, the process of cleaning, dyeing, repair, alteration, renovation or restoration.

Freezer cover is normally for things like powercuts or if someone doesnt close the door properly etc. If the freezer is on the blink you need to have it fixed or replaced before it causes a loss.

Impact of claims will depend on your insurance and claims history. JL do operate a NCD type scheme so if you have a discount thats then lost due to a claim the impact will be bigger than if you didnt have an NCD in the first place.

Thanks. I should have been clearer - by on the blink I should have said has failed. There’s a clear right to claim under the policy (Premier) for a freezer when food’s spoiled due to an accidental change in temperature but it’s just a question of whether to claim.

As you say, there’s a NCD scheme, which I’ve protected, but it’s still only one claim in three years that’s allowed without affecting the NCD.

Aside from that, it may well be that a claim, or even notification of a potential claim, would increase premiums anyway.

The more I think about this, the less inclined I am to claim.  Thanks for your input.

Sandtree

Doc_N said:

Thanks. I should have been clearer - by on the blink I should have said has failed. There’s a clear right to claim under the policy (Premier) for a freezer when food’s spoiled due to an accidental change in temperature but it’s just a question of whether to claim.

As you say, there’s a NCD scheme, which I’ve protected, but it’s still only one claim in three years that’s allowed without affecting the NCD.

Aside from that, it may well be that a claim, or even notification of a potential claim, would increase premiums anyway.

The more I think about this, the less inclined I am to claim.  Thanks for your input.

Wear and tear
Any loss, damage, liability, cost or expense of any kind caused directly or indirectly by or resulting from wear and tear, viruses, disease, depreciation, repairs necessary in the normal course of maintenance, corrosion, rusting, damp, insects, vermin (except for cover 4 under the Home Emergency Option), fungus, condensation, fading, frost or anything which happens gradually, the process of cleaning, dyeing, repair, alteration, renovation or restoration.

Premier has the same general exclusion that applies to all sections as the policy... to be honest it actually has more than the Essentials policy oddly. So if they say your freezer has changed temperature because of wear and tear rather than an accident then there is no cover.

It would be a rather low value claim after the excess to use your only life on NCDP on and even if the NCD is preserved from this claim the underlying premiums can still go up

Doc_N

Sandtree said:

Doc_N said:

Thanks. I should have been clearer - by on the blink I should have said has failed. There’s a clear right to claim under the policy (Premier) for a freezer when food’s spoiled due to an accidental change in temperature but it’s just a question of whether to claim.

As you say, there’s a NCD scheme, which I’ve protected, but it’s still only one claim in three years that’s allowed without affecting the NCD.

Aside from that, it may well be that a claim, or even notification of a potential claim, would increase premiums anyway.

The more I think about this, the less inclined I am to claim.  Thanks for your input.

Wear and tear
Any loss, damage, liability, cost or expense of any kind caused directly or indirectly by or resulting from wear and tear, viruses, disease, depreciation, repairs necessary in the normal course of maintenance, corrosion, rusting, damp, insects, vermin (except for cover 4 under the Home Emergency Option), fungus, condensation, fading, frost or anything which happens gradually, the process of cleaning, dyeing, repair, alteration, renovation or restoration.

Premier has the same general exclusion that applies to all sections as the policy... to be honest it actually has more than the Essentials policy oddly. So if they say your freezer has changed temperature because of wear and tear rather than an accident then there is no cover.

It would be a rather low value claim after the excess to use your only life on NCDP on and even if the NCD is preserved from this claim the underlying premiums can still go up

I take your point on the literal meaning of the W&T clause, and strictly speaking it would appear to exclude any claims arising from freezers that break down.

The clause covering freezer food is widely drawn:

'The cost of replacing food in a freezer in your home that has been spoilt by an accidental change in temperature', with a couple of exclusions for businesses and deliberate supply changes.

So leaving a freezer door would certainly be covered, but, technically, not perhaps a failed freezer. I doubt they'd apply that clause on a freezer claim, but I'm not even going to ask the question.

I have found them very good to deal with, incidentally, on one occasion paying a claim for several hundred pounds which they could have repudiated had they chosen to because the correct claim procedures (bringing in their own repairer) hadn't been carried out. They looked at the facts, and the circumstances, and paid the claim. Many companies wouldn't have.

Sandtree

Insurance is a complex thing and as an outside party we can only judge by what the policy wording states. Whilst most will claim insurers wont even pay out what the wording states they will the reality is most, if anything, go beyond that in the wording either by design or processes allow things to slip through the net.

Commercially there are always considerations... a former client was a TPA who did end to end claims processing for insurers. A household claim cost £80 irrespective of outcome and most repudiations were supposed to go via an adjustor... their rates vary a lot but the floor was anywhere between £150 to £500 (and can go up into 5 digits). Some will pay small claims as its just cheaper than arguing.

Similarly with another client they did a lot of white label deals, the wholesale price for Travel insurance was about £8 but you could pay £2 more to have your calls prioritised, £1.50 to have discretion given so a 11hr 45 delay gets a payout even though the terms say over 12 hours etc. The seller was then free to set their own price... interestingly one "consumer champion" type brand took none of the extras and was charging the most to their customers whereas another which is much more cheap and cheerful took all options and sold it at cost.