Renewal of Buildings & Contents Insurance but I have an ongoing claim that hasn't been settled.

barnishroader

Hi,

I recently had a lightning strike at my house which caused damage to the build as well as some contents.

The claim is ongoing but it isn't at the stage where the cost has been valued yet.

My policy is due for renewal in 2 weeks and my current insurer has said they are not going to offer me a renewal quotation.

If I go back out to market, do I need to mention this current claim?

As it hasn't got a monetary value on it, and all of the sites ask for the value of any claims, then I can't include that.

I am not trying to be devious about it or give misleading information but in my eyes, technically the claim is not settled so isn't relevant.

For example, I could tell them to stop the claim after my renewal date and it wouldn't have any impact on my claim history and I wouldn't have been paid any money so therefore at this point in time it isn't a confirmed claim.

What do you think?

Has anyone been in a similar situation and understand what I should do?

It would be good to avoid the likely large increase in my premium for this year by not including it but I know it would be valid for my renewal next year.

DullGreyGuy

If you contact your insurers they will have a claim reserve set for it, this is their estimate of what the total cost is likely to be. You can then use this for declaring what the value of the claim is, to the best of your knowledge, which is all you are required to give. 

A withdrawn claim is still a claim and still has to be declared. The value of a claim isnt used by most insurers however aggregators like confused.com have to cater for the lowest denominator so do ask about the value for the sake of the minority that use it. 

barnishroader

Thanks for your response.

I will see what the reserve is and use that value.

barnishroader

Adding that doubles my premium!

Ridiculous, considering it was a lightning strike so I couldn't not claim for the repairs and now I am going to be hit with this increase for at least 5 years now.

DullGreyGuy

It tapers off relatively quickly after the first year.

Unfortunately it seems your property is the easiest route to ground and so in a future electrical storm it could easily happen again and you've shown you are the type to make claims. Some people claim for anything over the excess (there really are claims for £25 etc on file) and other people wont claim short of the house burning down. 

Smithcom

barryheffron said:

Adding that doubles my premium!

Ridiculous, considering it was a lightning strike so I couldn't not claim for the repairs and now I am going to be hit with this increase for at least 5 years now.

Apologies if I have missed this, but why can you not claim for a lightning strike?

Also, what is the approx value of the damage.    You said above that you didnt know, but you must have a feel for whether it's £1,000 or £10,000, surely.

Will your current insurer agree to extend cover for a month until the claim is resolved, since few insurers will take on a client with an outstanding household claim?   Might be worth an ask

SC