Building Insurance Non-Claims

stormcooper

Having had buildings and contents insurance for over 20 years without a single claim, I had reason on two occasions in the last 12 months or so to ask two different insurance providers (contents and buildings) whether certain incidents would be covered, should I choose to claim. I never formally submitted a claim for either, preferring to cover them myself. When the first one (Tesco contents insurance) added this to my account (and the insurance database) i complained to them and they said it still counts as a claim. 

So now my buildings insurance premiums have gone up (for the cheapest quote) 150% and when i read into this, its because the insurance companies share a database and they say just enquiring suggests I'm more likely to make a claim in the future. But since I chose NOT to claim on these two occasions, doesn't it make me less likely? 

I have two issues here. The first is that if I say....wrote off my car, I doubt my car insurance would go up 150%. The second is that a database over which I have no control has false information about me. This database says I have MADE two claims. Before I realised this and called up one insurance company, they pulled me up when I said no to having made any previous claims. I said I hadn't but they said yes you have. You have made two claims. When I said I didn't they said it doesn't matter....it's classed as a claim. This is blatantly false and actually deters people from even enquiring about a claim.

Has anyone had any experience of trying to fix this and more importantly...and i know this could be a silly question, does anyone know of any ethical insurance companies that don't penalise customers for asking a question?

DullGreyGuy

Home insurance is a much more complex product than Motor however its approach to claims is much more basic and the majority of insurers have no concept of a "no claims discount" for Home. With motor you have X years NCD and it steps down 2 years or to 3 years after a claim, you can buy NCD protection etc and so if you have 9 years NCD you go down to 3 years which still represents the majority of the discount. In Home if there is an NCD you lose it all plus you now have to declare the 0 years since your last claim. Similarly in Motor there is the concept of a non-fault accident which doesn't impact your NCD which again doesn't exist in Home. 

Insurers typically require you to declare all losses irrespective of if you claim or not, obviously if you ask your insurer there becomes an official record of this and so highly risky to not declare in the future whereas those that decide not to inform their insurers are more likely to get away with "forgetting" to mention it in the future. 

Insurance systems are typically old and fairly basic. Never seen one that has the capability for claims to load an "incident" without creation of a claim. For Motor this isnt a problem because it can be closed non-fault and so there is no difference between an incident and a withdrawn claim. 

You need to read the policy book of your old insurer and what it says about NCD
You need to double check the exact questions asked for how you buy your current/next policy. If you look at confused.com for example it asks for your NCD value and what claims/incident you've had whereas looking at DirectLine it just asks how many continuous years claims free have you had and what claims/incidents you've had. The answers to these different sets of questions may be different.

Almost all insures are the same in wanting to know about incidents, which to me makes no sense for Home but it's the way the market has moved. 

stormcooper

Thanks for the answer. I'm so angry about this but they have you over a barrel.

Smithcom

stormcooper said:

Thanks for the answer. I'm so angry about this but they have you over a barrel.

Quite clearly, you have not made a claim, but I'm presuming that the loss did actually occur, as opposed to you phoning them just for fun one rainy afternoon!

If an insurer only asks about claims you have made, you can answer no.  

However, most/all insurers ask about claims or losses.   That being the case, losses will need to be declared to that particular insurer also.

We could debate the fairness of the question - as in what losses exactly needs to be declared.  What about a broken stapler?    Or a house fire?    Or something inbetween?   

All you can do from here is answer the insurer questions honestly, and hope that you can find an insurer who will not increase the premium.   Bear in mind that these losses may well now be recorded on the CUE database.

SC



 

stormcooper

Smithcom said:

stormcooper said:

Thanks for the answer. I'm so angry about this but they have you over a barrel.

Quite clearly, you have not made a claim, but I'm presuming that the loss did actually occur, as opposed to you phoning them just for fun one rainy afternoon!

If an insurer only asks about claims you have made, you can answer no.  

However, most/all insurers ask about claims or losses.   That being the case, losses will need to be declared to that particular insurer also.

We could debate the fairness of the question - as in what losses exactly needs to be declared.  What about a broken stapler?    Or a house fire?    Or something inbetween?   

All you can do from here is answer the insurer questions honestly, and hope that you can find an insurer who will not increase the premium.   Bear in mind that these losses may well now be recorded on the CUE database.

SC



 

They claim asking about a claim means you're more likely to claim. But the fact that I've taken insurance out means I'm expecting to claim if I have a loss. Then if I do claim....how much have I claimed and how much have I taken out of the claims pot. 

Fine.....add a few quid on because I asked about a claim....but this much?? Crazy!

We all know what this is about. It's another way to build up their premiums. But I am going to look at legislation governing information kept on a database, purely because they keep saying I made a claim. 

Thanks for your advice. 

eddddy

stormcooper said:

But I am going to look at legislation governing information kept on a database, purely because they keep saying I made a claim. 

It's probably just 'sloppy' wording by the phone agents that you've spoken to.

The database in question is the Claims and Underwriting Exchange (CUE) database.  For historic reasons, it's managed by the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) - even though it contains information about Home Insurance.


The MIB are more accurate in describing the information that the CUE database holds:

CUE is a central database of motor, home and personal injury/industrial illness incidents reported to insurance companies which may or may not have given rise to a claim.  

Link: https://www.mib.org.uk/managing-insurance-data/mib-managed-services/cue-miaftr

So rather than saying 'claims' - your insurers should be saying 'incidents reported to insurance companies which may or may not have given rise to a claim'.



The bottom line is... it's probably best not to contact your insurers about an incident, unless you are pretty sure it's covered by your policy, and you are pretty sure that you want to make a claim.

Smithcom

stormcooper said:

Smithcom said:

stormcooper said:

Thanks for the answer. I'm so angry about this but they have you over a barrel.

Quite clearly, you have not made a claim, but I'm presuming that the loss did actually occur, as opposed to you phoning them just for fun one rainy afternoon!

If an insurer only asks about claims you have made, you can answer no.  

However, most/all insurers ask about claims or losses.   That being the case, losses will need to be declared to that particular insurer also.

We could debate the fairness of the question - as in what losses exactly needs to be declared.  What about a broken stapler?    Or a house fire?    Or something inbetween?   

All you can do from here is answer the insurer questions honestly, and hope that you can find an insurer who will not increase the premium.   Bear in mind that these losses may well now be recorded on the CUE database.

SC



 

They claim asking about a claim means you're more likely to claim. But the fact that I've taken insurance out means I'm expecting to claim if I have a loss. Then if I do claim....how much have I claimed and how much have I taken out of the claims pot. 

Fine.....add a few quid on because I asked about a claim....but this much?? Crazy!

We all know what this is about. It's another way to build up their premiums. But I am going to look at legislation governing information kept on a database, purely because they keep saying I made a claim. 

Thanks for your advice. 

It's not that you have taken anything our of the claims pot.   It's just that you have (effectively) declared two losses, which, rightly or wrong, affects your risk profile.   Now, I'm not suggesting that anyone does not provide insurers with factual information.  Quite the opposite.  But, there may be times when a small loss (which, lets face it, everyone has) may not need to be discussed with an insurer.   For example, a broken pencil, or damaged suit etc.   But once you declare the loss to the insurer, you declare the loss, and the rest is history.   A decent insurance broker should carefully guide you through the process, notwithstanding that they also need to be careful with their professional obligations.  

Good luck with your legislation.   Let us know how you're getting on.

SC