Need advice on home Insurance settlement

Stompymcstomperson · 20 July 2019 at 7:24PM

Hello and thanks for reading.

I've been through the long process of a contents insurance claim after a burglary.
The case was assigned to an insurance investigator who went through every piece of detail available and now finally it has been sent back to Aviva for settlement - claim liability accepted

At the start of the claim I was asked the value/cost of the items claimed for which included over 2000 DVDs a number of jewellery items and a few more items, to which I placed a value of what I had payed for the items however I did state that this was cost and obviously doesn't reflect retail price or new for old replacement value.
Now, I spoke to Aviva yesterday and they are under the impression I had said I'm only claiming for the cost of what I paid for the items rather than them replacing them or giving me a cash settlement.
Should I be expected to have to go through the hassle of what I've already been put through by an investigator during the claims process or should settlement not just be simple. :mad::mad:
I would of never been in a position to put a value on the stolen items as I would be unaware of what they would cost to buy new, I think Aviva are trying to pull a fast one.
Several collectable cards with the value of around £7000 are also among the items.

Note, my policy is a new for old policy with a cover of £100000

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Jono111 · 20 July 2019 at 7:51PM

You have to negotiate with Aviva until you get a value you are happy with.
I hope you declared any high value items separately as they have upper limits on individual items if not declared, normally a couple of hundred pounds.

Ms_Chocaholic · 20 July 2019 at 7:52PM

Why on earth did a burglar steal thousands of DVDs

Stompymcstomperson · 20 July 2019 at 8:43PM

They were single disks in boxes and not in DVD cases, each box holds around 2500 disks safely & the boxes were locked, and very heavy. They probably had a shock when they realised they contained only disks and not anything of any real value.

Stompymcstomperson · 20 July 2019 at 8:44PM

Thank you, my single item limit is £10,000 and none of the stolen items were worth anywhere near that individually, so I'm not worried in that regard.
Thanks

tempus_fugit · 20 July 2019 at 9:35PM

It's down to you to value the items, not the insurers. If you don't have time to work that out then the insurers definitely don't. You may also have to prove the value fo some of the high value items as well, so don't expect that to be easy.

Chickenlips · 21 July 2019 at 7:55PM

It is up to you to quantify and substantiate your loss, they arent pulling a fast one by making you present your own claim. is not for Aviva to present your claim for you. They could turn around and offer a lot lower than the cost of replacing items... and you'd be annoyed at that. They'll never be able to truly work out what you had and its value, any settlement offer they made would be too low and lead to a complaint from you. I'd assume you want what it costs to replace items so that you can replace things, I'd just get on with it so you are able to get a fair settlementthag reflects your loss.

Sounds like their initial cost queries probably related to your sum insured.They may have concerns over sums insured. If you allow £10per DVD you're already at £27k for a few items. Now that they are looking at settlement, they will want a firm figure to base the sums on. The £100k limit isn't per claim, it is what you've told you've insurers it would cost you to replace every contents item in your home (carpets, clothes, food, curtains, money, DVDs, jewellery, phones, freestanding appliances, towels, Christmas decorations, gadgets... ect). If the figure is too low, they could apply average... or if they could prove they would not have accepted the risk you represent had they known the true value of your contents, they could avoid the policy. Even if your claim relates to a few items below the £100k it still needs to be adequate. In the event of a total loss youd want to get enough money to replace everything!

I suggest submitting a spreadsheet detailing the item, any model numbers, names, features ect, purchased cost and date, and replacement value (including a link to the cost from the applicable website). I'd send that with evidence off the purchase cost (if you don't have receipts, bank statements would help). I wouldn't expect bank statements for every DVD or it would take weeks.

They may look to do a cash deal, do you have a figure in mind? Youd need to be able to demonstrate that the figure falls within the loss.

If you aren't looking to replace the items, they probably are looking to cash settle on what you paid as that is what they may consider your financial loss to be (it is unlikely you could sell the items for the new cost).

It sounds as though you've ticked some fraud indicators and that's why you're having a hard time. It is unfortunate, but fraud exists and theft claims are often exaggerated. Fraud leads to all of us paying higher premiums. Just present your claim and give them what they are asking for and you'll move on from this far more quickly.

Most people seem to be under the illusion that they can submit a claim and receive a cheque with no leg work. That isn't how claims work. We are talking about tens of thousands of pounds, it is reasonable to assume you will have to do a little work. It is normally a term of your policy that you have to assist with their enquiries.

My advice is to give them what they ask for, or withdraw your claim if you don't want to go to the trouble.

Stompymcstomperson · 22 July 2019 at 1:55PM

I've actually already listed everything on a spreadsheet and been through all of this with an insurance investigator. The rest should just be settlement, surely they wont be expecting me to go through all the details again, however I am prepared to do so.
I've screenshots of the same items on Ebay and selling prices.
I plan to call them shortly to try and come to an agreement in regard to the DVDs. I dont want £10 per DVD, that would be an extortionate amount of money. Thanks for the advice, and feel free to add any more information that may help. :money:

Need advice on home Insurance settlement

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free