Home Insurance Claim Exceptions

hdh74

Just comparing insurance quotes and policies.

Two sets of exclusions confuse me a little and I would like to understand better what they mean if anyone can help please:

Saga: Damage caused by escape of water or oil .. covered. EXCEPT if the cause is subsidence, landslip, ground heave or settlement. 
Does subsidence etc often cause burst pipes or leaks?

Post Office: Fire and earthquakes - we don't pay claims caused by scorching, singeing or melting. Won't many fires involve those or am I misunderstanding?

Any words of wisdom very welcome. Thanks.

BarelySentientAI

hdh74 said:

Post Office: Fire and earthquakes - we don't pay claims caused by scorching, singeing or melting. Won't many fires involve those or am I misunderstanding?

This comes up surprisingly often.

None of these things by themselves are a fire (in some definitions, like the PO's) - so if they are the only things that have happened, it is not covered by the 'fire' peril.

If there was a fire, and these are descriptions of the damage the fire had caused, then that's different.

Aretnap

BarelySentientAI said:

hdh74 said:

Post Office: Fire and earthquakes - we don't pay claims caused by scorching, singeing or melting. Won't many fires involve those or am I misunderstanding?

This comes up surprisingly often.

None of these things by themselves are a fire (in some definitions, like the PO's) - so if they are the only things that have happened, it is not covered by the 'fire' peril.

If there was a fire, and these are descriptions of the damage the fire had caused, then that's different.

Makes sense. So if you put an electric heater too close to your sofa, and the sofa got a bit scorched or charred but didn't actually catch fire, you couldn't claim for it under the fire section of the policy, which is designed to cover fairly major fires. You could probably still claim under the accidental damage section if you have it (accidental damage is an optional add-on for many policies).

Annemos

hdh74 said:

Saga: Damage caused by escape of water or oil .. covered. EXCEPT if the cause is subsidence, landslip, ground heave or settlement. 
Does subsidence etc often cause burst pipes or leaks?

Subsidence (ground movement) did cause my water main to burst. And the repair was treated as part of the Subsidence claim. 

I think what they are getting at here, is the question of the Excess. It is lower for "Escape of Water", than it is for "Subsidence". 

So they will want you to pay the higher Excess, if Subsidence caused the pipe burst. 

Also it would mean that you do not get hit with 2 separate claims (of both types). You would only have the Subsidence Claim. (No Escape of Water claim involved.)

DullGreyGuy

hdh74 said:

Just comparing insurance quotes and policies.

Two sets of exclusions confuse me a little and I would like to understand better what they mean if anyone can help please:

Saga: Damage caused by escape of water or oil .. covered. EXCEPT if the cause is subsidence, landslip, ground heave or settlement. 
Does subsidence etc often cause burst pipes or leaks?

Post Office: Fire and earthquakes - we don't pay claims caused by scorching, singeing or melting. Won't many fires involve those or am I misunderstanding?

Any words of wisdom very welcome. Thanks.

Home insurance is typically written on an insured perils basis, fire, theft, flood etc and each represent a subsection of the policy potentially with its own T&Cs, excesses, limits etc. In insurance you also have the concept of a causal chain and insurers typically want to ensure that they are only covering claims by the primary cause not a mid point of the chain.

As Annemos says you have subsidence that breaks a pipe you have to claim under the subsidence section with its higher excess rather than deciding you can live with the subsidence and just claim for the EoW. In the US its more extreme as earthquakes often rupture gas lines which then cause fires but not all policies cover earthquakes and so "fire following" as they call it isn't covered by the Fire section because the real cause was an earthquake (though it can be added without earthquake cover on some policies)

Other elements become a matter of clarity... so when does something go from being "hot" to being a "fire" or when does strong winds and rain become a "storm"

hdh74

Those are all really helpful responses. Thank you very much all.