Home insurance (non-claim) scandal!

revolversoul

I recently had a renewal notification from Hastings Direct more than doubling my premium and stating in my email that 'During the past year a claim was made on your policy, which may have affected your renewal price.' This was not the case and when I rang them up to complain I was told that because I had telephoned them last August about an accidental damage to a TV and whether we could claim for it and discovered that we couldn't because we didn't have accidental damage cover on our policy, ok so we never actually claimed just enquired. Apparently this counts in the system as a claim for a loss even though I never actually claimed anything and the guy on the phone stated that this was industry policy not just his company. Just to rub salt into the wounds they sent me a no claims certificate with zero years on contents! If true this is scandalous and deserves to be made public. Can anybody confirm if this is true or not.

DullGreyGuy

You are normally asked if you have made a claim or suffered a loss irrespective if you claimed or not. 

It sounds like you called up to claim for your TV, the claim was declined as you didnt have the coverage and so it would be correct to say that a declined claim is now on file. If a claim is paid, repudiated, declined, withdrawn etc then it still counts as a claim 

BarelySentientAI

revolversoul said:

I had telephoned them last August about an accidental damage to a TV ...

... If true this is scandalous and deserves to be made public. Can anybody confirm if this is true or not.

You had a loss.  You are, therefore, statistically more likely to claim on your insurance in future.

It is completely normal that this should affect your premiums and is in no way a scandal.

Potentially the misunderstanding here is you thought that you had called for advice and to check your policy coverage, but the insurer has interpreted it as you calling to claim and them saying no because it wasn't covered - but for a large number of insurers those things are pretty much the same anyway.

dunstonh

ok so we never actually claimed just enquired.

What you describe is an event declarable as a claim, loss or incident.   That means it is effectively a claim.

Apparently this counts in the system as a claim for a loss even though I never actually claimed anything and the guy on the phone stated that this was industry policy not just his company.

That is correct.  The word claim is shorthand for loss and other declarable events.

If true this is scandalous and deserves to be made public.

It's true but not scandalous and is nothing new.    

etienneg

The thing to remember for the future is NOT to ring to ask if something is covered, but to keep the renewal schedule and policy details (either in paper form or as computer files) and read for yourself if you are covered. This way it would have been easy to find that you didn't have accidental damage cover, so no point in ringing and no chance of this being (mis)interpreted as a claim.

Sea_Shell

What is a "loss"?  Does it have to breach a £££ threshold?   Be just be more than ones excess?

If you did have AD cover and you, say, dropped a plate and smashed it... likely it would fall within ones excess and noone would even think of claiming, or even enquiring.

So where's the threshold between a plate and a TV? 🤔

dunstonh

So where's the threshold between a plate and a TV? 🤔

The threshold is common sense.  But if someone was to phone the insurer and ask if they could claim for breaking a plate then it would be classed as a claim.

Sea_Shell

dunstonh said:

So where's the threshold between a plate and a TV? 🤔

The threshold is common sense.  But if someone was to phone the insurer and ask if they could claim for breaking a plate then it would be classed as a claim.

But if we're talking "disclosure" here of any "losses", then ones own common sense is a bit of a grey area.

Ones mans insignificant loss, is another's catastrophy.   One might have a £50 excess, the other £500.

DullGreyGuy

Sea_Shell said:

What is a "loss"?  Does it have to breach a £££ threshold?   Be just be more than ones excess?

If you did have AD cover and you, say, dropped a plate and smashed it... likely it would fall within ones excess and noone would even think of claiming, or even enquiring.

So where's the threshold between a plate and a TV? 🤔

The OP called up to claim so its a slightly different story.

Even as someone working in the industry find the question awkward when applied to Home insurance as companies dont specify a minimum loss value but at the same time if you started to tell them every time you've chipped a mug etc they are likely to say those things dont need to be declared (more difficult if you are using an online tool). 

For Motor its clearer but you still get cases like if you kerb your alloys is that declarable or just the way you know your close enough to the kerb. 

If you've called to try to claim, as the OP did, then it's most likely going to count as a claim even if its a chipped mug which was repudiated on a number of levels. 

revolversoul

etienneg said:

The thing to remember for the future is NOT to ring to ask if something is covered, but to keep the renewal schedule and policy details (either in paper form or as computer files) and read for yourself if you are covered. This way it would have been easy to find that you didn't have accidental damage cover, so no point in ringing and no chance of this being (mis)interpreted as a claim.

Thank You for your comment, it was a stupid mistake in hindsight. 

Sea_Shell

DullGreyGuy said:

Sea_Shell said:

What is a "loss"?  Does it have to breach a £££ threshold?   Be just be more than ones excess?

If you did have AD cover and you, say, dropped a plate and smashed it... likely it would fall within ones excess and noone would even think of claiming, or even enquiring.

So where's the threshold between a plate and a TV? 🤔

The OP called up to claim so its a slightly different story.

Even as someone working in the industry find the question awkward when applied to Home insurance as companies dont specify a minimum loss value but at the same time if you started to tell them every time you've chipped a mug etc they are likely to say those things dont need to be declared (more difficult if you are using an online tool). 

For Motor its clearer but you still get cases like if you kerb your alloys is that declarable or just the way you know your close enough to the kerb. 

If you've called to try to claim, as the OP did, then it's most likely going to count as a claim even if its a chipped mug which was repudiated on a number of levels. 

I agree about the motor insurance too.  But it's only really "clearer" if it involves a third party (vehicle, person or property)

It's one thing to scratch your car slightly on, say, a twig on a country lane, another if it's been keyed.

Or the difference between a stone chip, and being hit by any larger flying object.

You risk an engineer picking up "previous unreported damage" if you then have a "proper" claim.

Then the age of the car and "wear and tear" come into play.   

It's a minefield.

Nearly every time someone asks "should I declare this damage...?" , the answer will be "yes", regardless of £££