Why has a claim been recorded when I decided not to go ahead?

Muscari134

I have personal possessions insurance also taken out with my house insurance company. I have never claimed on it. Lost my glasses (varifocals)  a few weeks ago when out. When I called the insurance company they pointed out  I would need to pay an excess of £200. (Yes I know, silly me for not remembering this!). I decided, therefore, it was not worth making a claim. The clerk said that despite me not making a claim she would need to record it as a claim with £0 paid out!  Does this mean that I will be penalised in future renewal premiums? It seems v unfair as people must lose thimgs all the time and not report to their insurance company.

eddddy

Unfortunately, insurance companies will often record "incidents which may or may not give rise to a claim" on the CUE database (Claims and Underwriting Exchange).

All insurers have access to that database, and it's up to each insurer to decide whether to charge higher premiums as a result of incidents that don't give rise to a claim.


So I guess the best rule to follow is not to contact your insurer, unless you're pretty sure that the loss is covered by your policy, and you're pretty sure that you want to make a claim.


FWIW, here's an old newspaper article that discusses this:   https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/30/insurance-query-higher-premiums

dunstonh

Why has a claim been recorded when I decided not to go ahead?

A claim is insurance terminology for a claimable event occurring.

Lost my glasses (varifocals)  a few weeks ago when out. When I called the insurance company they pointed out  I would need to pay an excess of £200. (Yes I know, silly me for not remembering this!). I decided, therefore, it was not worth making a claim.

Your phone call to the insurer to tell them that you suffered a claimable event means it is classed as a claim.

 The clerk said that despite me not making a claim she would need to record it as a claim with £0 paid out! 

Not sure why you have emphaised that as that is the correct outcome.   You suffered a claimable event.

 Does this mean that I will be penalised in future renewal premiums? 

With some providers, yes.  Some no.

 It seems v unfair as people must lose thimgs all the time and not report to their insurance company.

It's not unfair.  It's just reality.    It is unlikely an insurer would ever find out about a lost pair of glasses.  So, not notifying the insurer is a sensible course of action.     However, the minute you bring a loss to their attention, they will record it.

MyRealNameToo

dunstonh said:
It's not unfair.  It's just reality.    It is unlikely an insurer would ever find out about a lost pair of glasses.  So, not notifying the insurer is a sensible course of action.     However, the minute you bring a loss to their attention, they will record it.

And were they to find out about the lost pair of glasses at a later date after you've renewed and still not told them then the consequences would be much more expensive than the additional premium charged for a non-claimed incident. 

Most the time them finding out isnt some AI screening your Facebook posts etc or anything sophisticated but simply you telling them during the conversation for your next claim. 

QrizB

Yet another reason not to bother insuring against events that you can afford to replace / pay for

MyRealNameToo

QrizB said:

Yet another reason not to bother insuring against events that you can afford to replace / pay for

What's your proposed solution then?

I'm guessing you are suggesting put a large excess on it but often will give you a higher premium than a lower excess would due to negative selection and if you put it very high then even more so because few insurers offer a £1k+ voluntary excess

Your second problem comes from viability of a claim... you could say that you can afford to pay a £2k claim yourself and set a £2k excess as a consequence. You then have a loss for £2,300 so in principle you should claim because you can't afford it but with the £2k excess you are only going to get £300 payout and at that level the impact on premiums at renewal will probably outweigh the benefit over 5 years. 

Better is to stick with a sensible excess that gives you a good premium level and just choose not to claim for those minor losses that arent economical to claim for.