Lost jewellery claim

crossfluffycat

We have house and contents insurance with Hastings. On Saturday, I lost my necklace, which cost £1500. I have registered a claim, but am now concerned because Hastings have informed me that we will loose all our 9 years no claims. I am very worried that the insurance renewal cost will be extortionate- we currently pay £284. Is it worth progressing with the claim?

Ayr_Rage

crossfluffycat said:

We have house and contents insurance with Hastings. On Saturday, I lost my necklace, which cost £1500. I have registered a claim, but am now concerned because Hastings have informed me that we will loose all our 9 years no claims. I am very worried that the insurance renewal cost will be extortionate- we currently pay £284. Is it worth progressing with the claim?

It depends on how much the premium will increase.

What is the full premium now and how much is the discount for 9 years without claims?

(There is only one O in lose)

MeteredOut

It should be no surprise that you lose your no claims bonus if you make a claim (although some policies have a "stepped" reduction based on the number of claims).

One thing you could do is do a dummy policy quote based on your current cover, based on 9 years no-claims and again with no no-claims. It won't be anything more than indicative, but might help you make the decision.

But, even if are able to withdraw your claim, the loss is still registered, so your premiums might still rise even if you retain your no claims bonus.

elsien

Your necklace may have cost that amount, but unless you have a new for old policy, what is it worth now? 

High street jewellery doesn’t necessarily hold its so you might want to check that if you haven’t already to  helping you to decide whether to carry on.

Aretnap

elsien said:

Your necklace may have cost that amount, but unless you have a new for old policy, what is it worth now? 

High street jewellery doesn’t necessarily hold its so you might want to check that if you haven’t already to  helping you to decide whether to carry on.

Virtually all home insurance policies will have new for old cover for jewellery (and nearly everything else that you would want to claim for). Unless it was bought recently the replacement cost will likely be more than the original £1500 purchase price. You would need a big increase in your premium, or a big excess, for a claim not too be worthwhile.

No claims bonus is not a well developed concept in home insurance and many insurers do not use it in pricing so losing it is not really biggie.

You will of course have to declare the claim for the next 3-5 years, which will still have an effect on your premium, but you would usually have to declare the burglary whether you claimed it not (and now you've registered the claim it's a bit late to "forget" that it happened) so there's probably little advantage to withdrawing the claim.

MynameisMichaelCane

I had a similar experience a few years ago. I claimed for a lost necklace (Saga Insurance) and got a replacement. The service from them was excellent, however, the insurance went up by a substantial amount on renewal. I got a quote from other companies and found they were much cheaper even though I had been totally honest about the claim I had made within the last 6 months. 

MyRealNameToo

crossfluffycat said:

We have house and contents insurance with Hastings. On Saturday, I lost my necklace, which cost £1500. I have registered a claim, but am now concerned because Hastings have informed me that we will loose all our 9 years no claims. I am very worried that the insurance renewal cost will be extortionate- we currently pay £284. Is it worth progressing with the claim?

Have you checked your policy actually covers simply losing a necklace? Is this in the home or away from the home?

We claimed £2k for a theft away from the home, the premium went up in total by 1/3 the next year but then premiums on average went up 20% that year so the claim alone was most likely a more modest impact.