Home insurance covers cost of finding issue but not fixing it, is that right?

martin2345uk

So we have a slow leak in the water main under our driveway (on our side of the water meter). 

LV Home Insurance organised a firm to come and trace the leak, which they did after a couple of days digging around on the drive. 

But when they found it they said they don’t actually fix it and that was up to me to sort out because insurance companies don’t usually cover the actual repair?

Am I being naive, is that really the case? Seems odd that insurance doesn’t cover fixing the actual issue..?

I did call LV but the woman didn’t seem too sure and said the other firm could send them a report and maybe then they could get another contractor to actually repair it; but when I asked the firm about said report they again expressed surprised and said that’s not usually how it works. 

I’ve never claimed on insurance before so just wanna see if this is indeed the usual process?

Thanks all!

Aretnap

It's fairly normal. In general insurance covers unexpected one-off events which cause damage to your home. It doesn't cover wear and tear or routine maintenance - things like the fact that your wooden window frames are rotting or your roof tiles need replacing every few decades. Those are just part of the joy of being a homeowner.

Applied to a leaking pipe, this means that your insurance will cover attendant costs resulting from the leak - like water damage to the plaster and carpets, and the cost of treating the house apart to find the leak (and putting it back together afterwards). But it won't actually cover replacing a pipe which has degraded over time - that comes under wear and tear.

Sometimes the cost of actually replairing the pipe is trivial compared with the cost of finding the leak, so if the same contractor can do both the insurance company might just cover both and not worry about the distinction. But if they do then it's generally as a goodwill gesture rather than being something that they're obliged to cover.

DullGreyGuy

Your average policy wouldnt even have helped find the leak, it's a feature called "trace and access" and tends only to be part of mid tier level policies. With basic policies they only cover fixing the resulting damage from the "escape of water" and neither tracing nor fixing the leak.

huckster

Speak to water company. Depending on where the leaking part is, will depend on whether they would pay for repair or not.