Flood Damage insurance PROBLEM

Caboodle · 27 June 2007 at 5:40PM

My insurance had run out but week after i had lost my job, so I forgot all about the insurance and as you could possibly understand, also I heard of floods in Barnsley through the post man and NOT a flood alert warning, and this is ome distance from us and we are under the Rotherham Council NOT Barnsley, so any flood alert if there was one for Barnsley would not effect us.

There was also NO flood alert/warning for the area where i am either.

Many thanks

Labman_2 · 27 June 2007 at 5:41PM

Caboodle

I think you may be on dodgy ground if you admit you took out insurance because you heard of floods in the general area. If there had been no floods reported or none forecast and your claim hadn't been the very next day I don't think there would have been the same issue. It will look suspicious to the insurance company & it's only to be expected that they will look at the claim with a magnifying glass.

Caboodle · 27 June 2007 at 5:41PM

brazilianwax wrote: »

Sounds VERY suspicious to me too. I can't understand why you didn't have insurance anyway, given that you have young children. What would you have done if the house burnt down??

You knew there was flooding within 20 miles. Flood warnings were widespread on Monday. You were concerned enough to arrange insurance.

The worst happened. I think the chances of the insurance company paying out are very slim.

PS - That link was for the Midlands, not the Northeast, so Huddersfield wouldn't have been on there.

My insurance had run out but week after i had lost my job, so I forgot all about the insurance and as you could possibly understand, also I heard of floods in Barnsley through the post man and NOT a flood alert warning, and this is ome distance from us and we are under the Rotherham Council NOT Barnsley, so any flood alert if there was one for Barnsley would not effect us.

There was also NO flood alert/warning for the area where i am either.

Many thanks

Caboodle · 27 June 2007 at 5:46PM

Labman wrote: »

Caboodle

I think you may be on dodgy ground if you admit you took out insurance because you heard of floods in the general area. If there had been no floods reported or none forecast and your claim hadn't been the very next day I don't think there would have been the same issue. It will look suspicious to the insurance company & it's only to be expected that they will look at the claim with a magnifying glass.

No never told insurance i heard of a flood in Barnsley via the POST MAN...i just took precaution cos of the heavy rain that's all, and i am probably bloody lucky and if so, this would be the only luck i have had all year.

Thanks

brazilianwax · 27 June 2007 at 5:51PM

vikingaero wrote: »

People buy insurance at all sorts of time and I don't think Churchill have a leg to stand on. It's like buying AA cover and the next day your car goes bang.

.

Except the AA wouldn't buy you a new car - they'd just tow you to a garage.

It's more like buying an insurance policy for a car that mysteriously catches fire 24 hours later.............

marty1888 · 27 June 2007 at 6:01PM

Caboodle wrote: »

I am genuine person and I did not have insurance but once you hear of floods in Barnsley which is 20 + miles from us at Ravenfield, we thought to be safe we will cover this, luckly i did this, and we where flooded on Tuesday afternoon when we got back home.It may sound strange but it's probably because i acted in time and I think it's good i did this rather than not.

This cover they say is of immediate effect, so your saying if we took car insurance out and in 10 mins you had a crash this was classed as suspect. It states immediate effect so this should stand.

Thanks

fair enough, I was only jesting! but you never know what these insurance companies are like. Like bloody bookies, they only pay out when they want!

FlameCloud · 27 June 2007 at 6:03PM

Your claim will look bloody dodgy, regardless of what you do or say.

If I was trying to get rid of the claim, I would personnally use the pre inception clause, argueing that the proximate cause of the flood began before the policy was incepted.

It will look even worse if you didnt have any other cover immediatly before it and wasnt simply a matter of changing due to price.

Labman_2 · 27 June 2007 at 6:04PM

Caboodle wrote: »

No never told insurance i heard of a flood in Barnsley via the POST MAN...i just took precaution cos of the heavy rain that's all, and i am probably bloody lucky and if so, this would be the only luck i have had all year.

Thanks

I'm not having a go at you.....honestly.

The insurance company are going to look at your claim & ask themselves did you have knowledge of flooding in your general area at the time you took out your policy, which is, coupled with the heavy rain the reason you took out the policy when you did. If there's an escape for an insurance company not to pay out they will generally try and find it.

vandanfc · 27 June 2007 at 6:10PM

These are the obvious refs. to Rotherham:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/Northeast.html

River Don at Rotherham 1
Status:
Received at: Flood Warning
12:15 on 25-Jun-2007 Properties on Masbrough Street, Sheffield Road, Central Road, Bridge Street, Main Street and Marsh Street, It includes the South Yorkshire Police Sub-Divisional Headquarters and the Central Railway Station

River Don at Rotherham S
Status:
Received at: Severe Flood Warning
14:02 on 25-Jun-2007 Properties on Masbrough St, Sheffield Rd, Central Rd, Bridge St, Main St, Marsh St, Erskine Rd, Effingham St, St Anns Rd, School Lane, Cross St, Don St and Stadium Way, including Retail World Shopping Centre

courtjester · 27 June 2007 at 6:11PM

The key here is not whether you were worried about flooding of your home when you took the policy out. The only thing you would have to declare when doing so is if the house has any previous instances of flooding which you would have to disclose when takingout the policy.

If the property has never been flooded in the past to your knowledge, then it doesn't matter (as long as you have answered all proposal questions accurately and not kept hidden anything material to the insurance cover at the time of buying the cover).

The issue of Churchills investigation will only relate to the timing of your policy and the time of flooding of your home - providing the policy was taken out before the flood occurred and you can PROVE this, they have to pay.

Find out from your neighbours exactly what time the flood occurred. Presumably, emergency services would also have been informed of the time at which your street went under so there should be evidence available as to exact time.

Flood Damage insurance PROBLEM

Comments

Categories

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