House Insurance Claim Advice !!

pauliepie

Last week my wife accidently knocked our tv onto the floor while we were both decorating. We have been told that the tube has gone?

The tv is a Philips and is approx 4 years old and cost £750.

We gave our insurance company a call and they have mentioned the model replacement for that tv, we have checked on the internet and the model they have mentioned is only £189 inc vat ?

Do we have to take this model?
Our Philips tv is a 25" and it came with a mahogany unit with class doors, the tv was also mahogany.
The replacement stated is only the tv in silver(no longer do same model)
We are paying approx £350 per year on insurance and have not made a claim in 5 years on the policy.
Can anyone tell me what I should do or what the procedure is.
I thought i would get around £500 towards a new tv and we could put around £200 ourselves and have a lcd or plasma.

We look forward to any feedback .

Many Thanks

BenL

Is the model they have found pretty much the same as yours besides the colour??

Insurance is to replace your goods to a similar state that you had before.

You should neither be better off or worse off after a claim.

Ben

Poppy9

There is aoften a clause in your insurance about suites of furniture. Have a read and see what it says.

You do not have to take a replacement TV from insurers if you don't wish. You are entitled to request the money to buy yourself.

telly-addict

You'll need to refer to your policy wording - there should be a "basis of claims settlement" condition (or something similar).

You're not obliged to take a replacement TV, but your insurer's maxium liability will be the replacement cost of a TV as close to the one damaged as now available (less any applicable policy excess). The cost of TVs has dropped considerably in the last few years, so I'm not that surprised by the figures that you've quoted.

My current insurance with Norwich Union goes one step further and states that:
"If we can replace property, any payment will be limited to the cost of replacement by our preferred supplier".

Basically, insurers want you to replace the item. If you choose not to do so, they won't pay any more than the replacement cost.

BenL mentions the principle of indemnity - "putting the policyholder back in the same position as prior to the accident". Actually, this isn't true in the case of household insurance. You get the benefit of "new for old" cover, which actually is a better deal than indemnity. In your case, you're getting the replacement cost of a new TV, not the notional cost of a 4-year old TV.

Hope that this helps.