patio door lock jammed in closed position-is this covered under home insurance

Xyzretro

When I closed my patio door, the lock jammed in locked position and I now cannot open it. I understand from tradesman there is no guarantee of opening the door without the risk of damaging it and could end up needing a new patio. As far as I am concerned this is an accidental damage. If I approach my insurer at the outset and say, they refuse and I then take my chances and call in a double-glazing specialist and get it fixed using my own money. Will my insurer put my premium (because I have highlighted a potential insurance risk)  over and above the normal increase when my premium comes up for renewal?

marcia_

 How old is the door? Unless it is fairly new it will be classed as west & tear and not covered I wouldn't call the insurance over this. Just pay a locksmith to fix it. 

TadleyBaggie

As above, it will be wear and tear, doubt insurance will be interested.

Neil49

As mentioned above, unless it is nearly new it would be classed as wear and tear.

I would try plenty of silicone spray or WD 40 and leaving it to soak in for a while then gently push and pull the door while gently trying the key. 

DullGreyGuy

Xyzretro said:

When I closed my patio door, the lock jammed in locked position and I now cannot open it. I understand from tradesman there is no guarantee of opening the door without the risk of damaging it and could end up needing a new patio. As far as I am concerned this is an accidental damage. If I approach my insurer at the outset and say, they refuse and I then take my chances and call in a double-glazing specialist and get it fixed using my own money. Will my insurer put my premium (because I have highlighted a potential insurance risk)  over and above the normal increase when my premium comes up for renewal?

You are required to declare all incidents irrespective of if you claimed for it or not. Were you to speak to the insurer then they would register a claim, decline it on the basis of it being mechanical breakdown or wear & tear and then close the claim. 

In that way you then cannot "forget" to mention it going forward as it will most likely make its way to CUE which most insurers subscribe to check claims details. 

Veteransaver

The lock handles are fairly universal on these so a decent locksmith should be able to sort it relatively cheaply.
Unless you have some home emergency cover (Eg like homeserve add on) on your policy Eg for damaged locks then I wouldn't think you could claim on insurance.
Even home emergency cover might not cover unless it's your only exit or you can't secure it.

dunstonh

As far as I am concerned this is an accidental damage

How have you ascertained that compared to say wear and tear?

If I approach my insurer at the outset and say, they refuse and I then take my chances and call in a double-glazing specialist and get it fixed using my own money. Will my insurer put my premium (because I have highlighted a potential insurance risk)  over and above the normal increase when my premium comes up for renewal?

Even though it was rejected, you would have a claim in that scenario.  So, providers that increase premiums for claimable events would put the premiums up.

Aretnap

It sounds very much like it failed during normal use - which points towards it being wear and tear and/or a manufacturing defect, neither of which would be covered by home insurance.

If an attempt to repair it inadvertently caused further damage then you would probably be on stronger ground arguing that the additional damage was accidental damage. But you can't claim for something that hasn't happened yet  (and hopefully won't happen at all).

35har1old

DullGreyGuy said:

Xyzretro said:

When I closed my patio door, the lock jammed in locked position and I now cannot open it. I understand from tradesman there is no guarantee of opening the door without the risk of damaging it and could end up needing a new patio. As far as I am concerned this is an accidental damage. If I approach my insurer at the outset and say, they refuse and I then take my chances and call in a double-glazing specialist and get it fixed using my own money. Will my insurer put my premium (because I have highlighted a potential insurance risk)  over and above the normal increase when my premium comes up for renewal?

You are required to declare all incidents irrespective of if you claimed for it or not. Were you to speak to the insurer then they would register a claim, decline it on the basis of it being mechanical breakdown or wear & tear and then close the claim. 

In that way you then cannot "forget" to mention it going forward as it will most likely make its way to CUE which most insurers subscribe to check claims details. 

The wording says if you make a claim you may need to provide photos that would suggest you can choose not to claim.
If you had to report every incident say a kettle blew a fuse.Light bulb blows.Burglar alatm goes of due to a spider crossing the sensor 
🙂🙂 I don't think so

marcia_

 Both my patio and front door locks have bust and been replaced due to wear and tear in a 13 yrs old house. I didn't report it as a claim. T&C say wear and tear isn't covered so I didn't report 

Lorian

Might be worth a post in the right forum with some pics for an opinion on what's wrong and how hard to fix.