Does any Insurance Company Payout with Cash Instead of Vouchers?

unsung

When it comes to content insurance, does any insurance company give you the option to receive in cash instead of vouchers or are they pretty much all the same?

DullGreyGuy

They all pretty much the same in that they will give you cash but it will be what they would have paid for the vouchers rather than the face value of the vouchers. With some retailers its fairly heavy discounts. 

Your only hope is to have items that their network of retailers dont sell but that mainly would mean having high net worth budgets but buying a standard home insurance policy as Dixons/AO and H Sammuels etc won't stock Wolf ovens or Cartier earrings. 

unsung

I phoned up Santander-Aviva today, my policy holders, and was told they could repair, replace, send vouchers etc . . . basically whatever suits THEM. At a time when the victim’s morale will be low it would obviously be better to have the convenience and flexibility of cash. After all insurance is supposed to be about peace of mind. I would gladly change insurer if there was one which was more focussed on the needs of the customer.

user1977

How much more would you be prepared to pay on your premiums for such a policy?

DullGreyGuy

unsung said:

I phoned up Santander-Aviva today, my policy holders, and was told they could repair, replace, send vouchers etc . . . basically whatever suits THEM. At a time when the victim’s morale will be low it would obviously be better to have the convenience and flexibility of cash. After all insurance is supposed to be about peace of mind. I would gladly change insurer if there was one which was more focussed on the needs of the customer.

Not getting the economies of scale is a cost... willing to pay 30% higher premiums for cash settlements?

Santander policy does state they can settle cash but as I said it will be settled at the price they'd have gotten via their own suppliers. 

To be honest people are split on these matters... you think that if you came home and found water pouring out the front door that you'd rather a lump of cash and have to find your own trades, hope the dehumidifiers dont cost more to hire and run than you thought etc. Plenty of others complain when their insurers say their own trades/suppliers etc cannot help and therefore you need to provide two estimates and we'll give you cash, that its less stressful if "experts" simply turn up, take things away and bring new replacements

unsung

@user1977 Maybe 25 percent would be tolerable.

@DullGreyGuy I thought pluming accidents were another matter not contents. I was envisaging more the likes of nicked tellies or laptops. The representative did not mention the word cash at all, but then I guess she was no expert, just reading from a pdf. 

I find, apart from food, local stores rarely have what I need in general and have things shipped from ebay or amazon. A handful of vouchers with their limitations don’t really cut it.

DullGreyGuy

unsung said:

@user1977 Maybe 25 percent would be tolerable.

@DullGreyGuy I thought pluming accidents were another matter not contents. I was envisaging more the likes of nicked tellies or laptops. The representative did not mention the word cash at all, but then I guess she was no expert, just reading from a pdf. 

I find, apart from food, local stores rarely have what I need in general and have things shipped from ebay or amazon. A handful of vouchers with their limitations don’t really cut it.

If you've got water pouring out your front door due to a burst pipe then you are going to have both buildings and contents damage to claim for. 

Not sure what television or laptop you own thats only available on eBay or Amazon? Neither sell particularly exotic things. However, if that is the case, say you have a B&O TV, then it becomes simple, Dixons and AO (two common suppliers) dont sell something equivalent and so you can get a full cash settlement. If your like the 99% and have a Samsung or LG TV etc then their preferred supplier simply will have an equivalent model.

Normally the "voucher" is a gift card which can be used online or in store. 

You could get a quote from Hiscox, their terms dont have the normal clauses about discounting cash for their corporate discounts but they sell to people who want quality not money saving, last time I spoke to them their minimum premiums were £1,000 for B&C cover but then they aim at people with properties over £1m and contents over £200k

XRS200

unsung said:

I phoned up Santander-Aviva today, my policy holders, and was told they could repair, replace, send vouchers etc . . . basically whatever suits THEM. At a time when the victim’s morale will be low it would obviously be better to have the convenience and flexibility of cash. After all insurance is supposed to be about peace of mind. I would gladly change insurer if there was one which was more focussed on the needs of the customer.

If my telly was nicked, the insurer replacing it would give me peace if mind.  Getting cash wouldn't lift my morale - a replacement telly would.

unsung

@XRS200 Ah but you could use the cash to buy a telly.

@DullGreyGuy I mentioned telly to differentiate the between plumbing damage and nicked goods. The sort of electrical stuff I value is not found in local shops. For example (once fairly abundant) audio amps, Hi Fi Speakers, NAD drives, particular media streaming devices. Where things are a rather more technical or specialised, you won’t find them in Tesco. I would rather have the cash to have the freedom to choose what I want and how and when I want it delivered and that’s about it really.

DullGreyGuy

unsung said:

@DullGreyGuy I mentioned telly to differentiate the between plumbing damage and nicked goods. The sort of electrical stuff I value is not found in local shops. For example (once fairly abundant) audio amps, NAD drives, particular media streaming devices. Where things are a rather more technical or specialised, you won’t find them in Tesco. I would rather have the cash to have the freedom to choose what I want and how and when I want it delivered and that’s about it really.

Well you have two choices... you either pay a lot more for your insurance up front and choose an insurer like Hiscox who dont reduce cash settlements or you pay less for your insurance and accept a cash settlement will represent a discounted value IF their providers could have provided an appropriate replacement. 

Personally I am happy with a standard insurer, I know who their suppliers are and none do anything like an Arcam AVR or KEF architectural speakers so can be confident settlement will be in cash and on the off chance they've Richer Sounds or Severnoaks S&V on their list and I dont know then I'd be confident of an appropriate replacement. 

The only scenarios where cash really is king are 1) where you have a lot of stuff that you just dont really want/need any more hence dont want a replacement or 2) your in financial distress and would rather the cash for now than the telly. Both of these are red flags for fraud though as some do realise that they'll get more money liquidating their possessions via an insurance claim than on eBay

unsung

'1) where you have a lot of stuff that you just don't really want/need any more hence don't want a replacement'

I imagine that would apply to a lot of us since technology has moved on so much and clearly cash wouldn't force you to rebuy stuff you were thinking about ditching anyway. I think that would just be a case of turning a bad situation to your advantage rather then than being deliberately devious. In my brief call to Santander, she seemed to rule out the possibility of cash even though I mentioned the discount aspect and cash wasn't mentioned in policy document. Either it was a case of her not being very knowledgeable about the question or Santander being pretty inflexible. Maybe some standard insurers are better than others. I don't think you mentioned the name of your insurer.