Home insurance - Can I / Should I claim?

impossiblegoose

Wondering if anyone can help me with this? We have buildings & contents insurance with accidental damage for our home.

Over the last few years we've noticed the front door causing an issue in the way it closes, meaning that it bangs against a dwarf wall and attached half window, which has now led to cracks in the brickwork. I've had a few people look at it, one company say I just need to get the brickwork re-tied in, another company say I need to do that then should replace the whole door and surrounding windows since they're all poorly installed and will keep causing the same issue. (FYI they're about 13 years old) 

I can't work out whether this is something I can claim on the insurance or not? Would it cover a whole new front door and side / above windows or just the fixing of the brickwork? I feel like the claim isn't worth the excess and increased premiums if it's just to fix the brickwork since that's being quoted at around £400, but obviously replacing the door and windows is going to be around the £4k mark.

Any thoughts and advice much appreciated.

Mark_d

I doubt you could claim this on insurance.  Amongst other things - you knew about this front door issue before you took out the insurance policy this year.  You generally can't get insurance cover for events you're expecting.

impossiblegoose

Thanks @Mark_d - although the brick work cracking has only appeared in the last few months, under the current policy.... would that mean it's covered?

cw8825

Would this not be excluded under wear and tear. 

Aretnap

Home insurance covers one-off unexpected incidents that cause damage to your home - not wear and tear, routine maintenance or poor workmanship/poor installation. So I don't see how you'd be able to claim for this I'm afraid.

Accidental damage might cover it if it was the result of a single incident (eg a strong wind takes the door from your hand and smashes it against the wall, causing immediate damage), but not the cumulative effects of it tapping the wall every time you open it.

DullGreyGuy

impossiblegoose said:

Wondering if anyone can help me with this? We have buildings & contents insurance with accidental damage for our home.

Over the last few years we've noticed the front door causing an issue in the way it closes, meaning that it bangs against a dwarf wall and attached half window, which has now led to cracks in the brickwork. I've had a few people look at it, one company say I just need to get the brickwork re-tied in, another company say I need to do that then should replace the whole door and surrounding windows since they're all poorly installed and will keep causing the same issue. (FYI they're about 13 years old) 

I can't work out whether this is something I can claim on the insurance or not? Would it cover a whole new front door and side / above windows or just the fixing of the brickwork? I feel like the claim isn't worth the excess and increased premiums if it's just to fix the brickwork since that's being quoted at around £400, but obviously replacing the door and windows is going to be around the £4k mark.

Any thoughts and advice much appreciated.

Insurance covers, with the exception of subsidence, one off sudden events... storm rips the roof off, burglar steals all your electronic items, driver comes off the road and ends up in your front room. It's written on a "losses occurring during" basis so you claim off the insurer at the time of the event. The "events" have to be tied to one of the insured perils eg flood, fire, earthquake

You haven't identified what happened a few years ago that meant the door started hitting the wall and so that won't be covered. The door hitting a wall and causing damage MAY be covered but they'd need to accept it was a single hit that broke the brick rather than a series of hits over time, in which case it would effectively be 1 excess to be paid for each impact. 

If you did identify what happened to the door and did manage to link it back to a single event from an insured peril then you'd have to claim from the insurer that was covering it at that time and they are likely to challenge that having not claimed promptly you've worsened the issue and so repudiate the claim. Your current insurers would also ask questions as to why you didnt declare the matter when you bought the policy from them

impossiblegoose

Thanks for everyone's comments, appreciate your advice. 

TELLIT01

If the door has been allowed to bang on the wall for the 'last few years' the damage will certainly not be covered by insurance.  It's been caused by lack of maintenance i.e. wear and tear.