Personal Liability Home Insurance Claim

Tuscan9

I stayed at a Bed & Breakfast (not Airbnb) in Scotland and made a spill/stain on their brand new, wool carpet which they're unable to get out (£1450 for a new carpet - I've phoned around and this is a realistic cost for the expensive carpet), and subsequently they are telling me they need an entire new carpet, as in the process of my trying to get rid of the stain (rubbing it for 10 minutes), this has damaged the carpet further.

As my travel insurance won't cover it (weirdly, they would cover it if it was outside of the UK - where I live), I have attempted to make a claim on my home insurance (Admiral) under "Personal Liability". Here is the terms of my insurance:

(II) Personal liabilityYour or your family’s liability after an accidentt hat happened during the period of insurance, within the territorial limits, and caused the following.

• Death, disease, illness or physical injury to a person

• Damage to physical property that you, your family or anyone else permanently living with you, including your domestic staff, do not own and are not responsible for

The problem is, my insurance company are unwilling to accept any claim unless the Bed & Breakfast owner has made a claim, however the owner is refusing to make a claim as they have a large excess and it's a black mark against their name with insurers (which would likely put up their premium).

My question is: Are the insurance company trying to pull the wool over my eyes in not accepting the claim? I wonder - if I accidentally damaged a property outside of my house of which I was sent a bill for repair, but they had no has no insurance cover, should my insurance company still reject the claim?

Also, any further advice would be appreciated if anyone has ideas for me to save cost.

Thank you for any help!

GDB2222

"The problem is, my insurance company are unwilling to accept any claim unless the Bed & Breakfast owner has made a claim"

That is not what the part of the policy you quoted says, so it sounds like they are barking. Could you kindly quote *exactly* what they wrote when rejecting your claim.

Admiral may not mean an insurance claim, but a claim against you personally.

Tuscan9

GDB2222 said:

"The problem is, my insurance company are unwilling to accept any claim unless the Bed & Breakfast owner has made a claim"

That is not what the part of the policy you quoted says, so it sounds like they are barking. Could you kindly quote *exactly* what they wrote when rejecting your claim.

Admiral may not mean an insurance claim, but a claim against you personally.

They've not written anything in writing to say they wouldn't accept the claim, just told me over the phone that they wouldn't pursue it unless they received correspondence from the BnB's insurance company. Here are the T&Cs of the Admiral Insurance:

DullGreyGuy

Has the B&B owner written you a formal letter claiming monies from you? 

Sea_Shell

DullGreyGuy said:

Has the B&B owner written you a formal letter claiming monies from you? 

I was just going to ask the same.

It sounds like they need to 'formally' hold you responsible for the damage.   Which doesn't necessarily mean they have to engage their own insurers.  

Tuscan9

DullGreyGuy said:

Has the B&B owner written you a formal letter claiming monies from you? 

Not yet, just sent me a quote from the carpet company - but I can request a claim letter from him.

user1977

Tuscan9 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Has the B&B owner written you a formal letter claiming monies from you? 

Not yet, just sent me a quote from the carpet company - but I can request a claim letter from him.

Yes, I think that's what your insurers actually need - there's no requirement for it to go via the BnB's insurers.

Sea_Shell

Tuscan9 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Has the B&B owner written you a formal letter claiming monies from you? 

Not yet, just sent me a quote from the carpet company - but I can request a claim letter from him.

Be careful though, as you don't want to admit liability and prejudice your insurers position.

It's up to him to jump through the right hoops in making a claim ..not you.

You should just forward any correspondence you receive to your insurers.