Home Insurance Discussion

D__W__C

I live in a flat within a building, and only the building, not the individual flats are listed in the address search on almost all the comparison sites.

It's stopping my getting past the first page when trying to get a quote!

Anyone know if I select just the building address, would this invalidate any claims?

Scooby007

hi I wonder if anyone out there can help me. My parents took out a policy through the policy expert, dad asked if policy would gree cover everything including drains (as he had a problem a couple of years ago with them) he was told everything was covered.
Unfortunately today had a massive leak in his bathroom in his bathroom. its just cost him £800 for a plumber insurance told him he's not covered for the pipes or work but said they would pay for damage to be sorted but it would cost £600 on excess!!!!
This sounds a little extreme to me has anyone heard of this company the paper work says there is a £600 excess limit on policy but he wasn't told this I thought you had to agree the excess. I think he has been done, if anyone can give me any advice on this I would appreciate it. Also plumber refused to give him an invoice or a receipt saying it would cost an extra £120 do we live in rip off Britain. I feel frustrated for them :eek:

rs65

Insurance won't repair something that has failed due to maintenance or wear and tear but will cover the resultant damage. It seems they are giving him correct info.

Scooby007 wrote: »

the paper work says there is a £600 excess limit on policy but he wasn't told this I thought you had to agree the excess.

If the paperwork he has says that a £600 excess applies then surely he knew about it.

Sounds like he paid the plumber cash in hand therefore avoiding VAT. If he wants an invoice, it goes through the books and therefore costs more. If that's the case then it's a bit rich referring to 'rip off Britain'.

Milzinator

Hello everyone,


I am new to this, and I'm wondering if I could get some advice. I took out Home Insurance with Lloyds TSB, and it was actually the Manager of the branch who went through the claim with me. The reason I took out Insurance in the first place was for my laptop, which was £1200, and I was told that in the event of something happening to it, I would be given £1200 to find a replacement. Now, although this is still up and running, I have had my Sony Bravia break (£1200 originally) and my Launch day PS3 (£425).


Going on the information I was told when we set up the Policy, this would have put me in line for a total of £1625. However, I have been told that this is not the case. I was offered a Panasonic, with a value of £450, although it was relayed to me by DVS (the supplier) that they in fact get discount on the goods they replace. The PS3 was valued at £217.39, so again way short of the original price.


I have been back and forth, both with Lloyds TSB and their complaints team, and DVS, and while they clearly acknowledge that the Policy was mis-sold to me, they are reluctant to honour the deal. Instead, I was offered a £75 "We're Sorry" voucher to add on to the total. In the end, I have had to reluctantly accept their total offer of £666 in Curry's vouchers, although it would have been £766 but they have taken £100 off for the excess. Was this the right thing to do? Are they in the wrong, or am I? Any advice or guidance on the situation would be gratefully appreciated, as I have left feeling pretty dissatisfied with the process as whole.


(Luckily my Laptop didn't break!)

Spikey1

Hi there,

Your Insurers cover you for the cost of replacing your old, used and sometimes outdated items with brand new modern equivalents. That's what is meant by "new for old" and "like for like".

In many cases the cost of items goes UP with inflation and the insurers will pay out much more than the original price you paid. In some cases though, particularly the electronics and gadget markets the prices actually come down over time. As technology advances your once, top of the range, expensive gadget falls in price as it is can no longer command the price it held when first launched. So a new, like for like item (ie. similar spec to what you had) will cost less than before.

Insurers have no control over market prices of course so its not something that they are responsible for. The flip side is that if you owned say a 10 year old piece of furniture, jewellery or carpet you would expect to pay more for it now than you did 10 years ago and your insurers would cover that cost....its swings and roundabouts really.

Cheers

rs65

Milzinator wrote: »

Any advice or guidance on the situation would be gratefully appreciated, as I have left feeling pretty dissatisfied with the process as whole.

The settlement you have been offered is pretty much in line with what I would expect (assuming of course that the TV the offer is based on is no lesser spec than you had).

You were never going to get a cheque for the original purchase price and you were always going to get the excess deducted.

choppedminx

Hi
Wonder if anyone can help.
Have used various insurance companies for home and contents cover over the last few years with no problems.
Due to a change in my self employed status I now find that insurance quotes have gone through the roof!
I used to work in the party industry with just clerical work from home.
After a change of direction, I now sell secondhand bicycles. I service the bikes in my garage, and sell through Gumtree/Ebay etc.

The problem it seems is that if I have any visitors (not into the house, just to collect a bike from the garage) the risk is vastly increased i am informed.

As an example, best quote using Confused for clerical only £170, with any visitors £650+
I could of course just 'bend' the truth, but I'm sure this wouldn't be advised.

Is there anyone else who has had a similar problem? Can anyone suggest a company that are reasonable?

davtom

Just got my renewal quote from Aviva - £156. I went through the first two stages of Martin's advice, and I found theAA would beat it.

When I set up the options to match the existing cover (low excess, legal expenses cover, etc), it came to about £150.

That's not much of a saving, but I should get £39.90 cashback from Topcashback, and also they offered free roadside recovery from the AA for a year into the deal! I was happy with that.

Not bad for about two hours work!

Many thanks to this website and Martin for the excellent advice it offers.

caddydave

Is it usual for insurers to request permission to do a credit check?

Quentin

Not unusual. You normally get a warning when doing online or phone quotes that a credit check will be involved.