To make home insurance claim or not

info_maniak

We've had a fire in the extractor hood (above the gas hob) in the kitchen a few days ago. The house is 3 years old and bought as a new build 3 years ago. The fire was doused by us quickly and except the damaged extractor hood it did not cause any damage in the house. The extractor hood is AEG branded and came with the new build house so I am assuming that the builders or their contractors have installed it.

I opened a "home emergency" claim on the day the incident happened - my home insurance policy has a "home emergency" add on which I pay extra for each month. But they rejected this home emergency claim saying that the electricity is working in the house and it is not an emergency. 

The fire service also visited the property within minutes, by then the fire was already doused and they just inspected that everything was safe and then left.

I am now in two minds whether to open a home insurance claim or not. It has been around 16-18 days since the incident happened.

The other options I was thing are - complain to the house builder who installed the appliance, complain to the manufacturer AEG.

I am sure a claim will make my premium jump up for the next 5 years or so. I tried generating a quote with another provider and their quotation process is asking for either a claim or an incident (in which a claim was not made).

Slinky

Personally I'd just replace the cooker hood and not claim. With regards complaining to the builder or the manufacturer, I doubt you'll get very far. How can you prove that the fire wasn't down to the hood being clogged up with grease from your cooking?

We had to take the hit on a new radiator that went rusty in less than 18 months. The supplier sent a new one, but we still had to pay a plumber to plumb the new one in.

Sometimes you just have to take the hit and move on, and be thankful it wasn't more serious.

info_maniak

Thanks, I will try and get some quotes for its replacement. My only worry is that getting this issue fixed without claiming should not affect my home insurance or any other claim in future.

TELLIT01

I would just pay for the repairs.  What are you hoping to claim against the house builders or the manufacturer of the cooker hood?  It's unlikely there was a fault with the installation as a fire would probably have happened in much less than 3 years.  To have any claim against AEG you would have to prove a fault with the cooker hood which was there at the time of manufacture.  It's possible that the fire was caused by oil/fat captured by the hood filters if they weren't cleaned/change in accordance with manufacturers guidance.

I've made claims against home and contents insurance in the past and have seen absolutely no evidence of any increase in policy costs.  In fact, the year after I claimed for lost jewellery the cost went down.

DullGreyGuy

info_maniak said:

Thanks, I will try and get some quotes for its replacement. My only worry is that getting this issue fixed without claiming should not affect my home insurance or any other claim in future.

First of all... what's the excess on your policy? Most these days are £250+

Second, what's the cost of a replacement hood? If it's a basic chimney style one they start at £254 if you want to stick with AEG. Are you competent to fit it yourself or will you need someone to do it for you? 

Home insurance is typically not as impacted by a single claim than Motor is but it is impacted badly by multiple claims. So what may be a tiny claim could just about economically work out but only if you can be certain that there are no future claims. Personally I wouldn't claim sub £1k but have known others claim under £100

Not claiming won't be a problem but you do have to answer questions in the future honestly and these days most companies ask about incidents irrespective of if you claimed or not and so obviously faced with such a Q you would have to answer "yes" and then go on to say you didnt claim etc.