House burgled. Insurance not paying for total losses
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SG27
Posts: 2,773 Forumite
Hi a friend had their house burgled a few weeks ago. They took basically everyone of any value, and a few things of almost no value it seems, including the contents of a safe containing some expensive jewellery and cash. Some of which were old hierlooms with no receipts and some were recently purchased. The insurance company are not paying out on these because the items weren't individually listed/valued and the cash was only covered up to about £750. Is there anything they can do? They are looking at being over £10k short.
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Comments
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Ensure you're adequately insured in future?0
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Whenever you are unhappy with your insurer then the route to go down is to make a complaint. The complaints procedure will be set out in the policy docs
If you are unhappy with the response to the complaint (or they ignore it for 8 weeks) then you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication all at no cost to you0 -
My policy quite clearly states that any item worth more than £1000 has to be listed individually to be covered. If you have things that need to be in a safe then it's wise to keep photographs and valuations as proof. Nothing they can do if they don't have proof of the value of what was taken.0
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if you don't cover your self adequately and try and skimp on insurance by under declaring to save a few pennies, what do you expect?"It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"
G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP0 -
Thanks for the replies. They were actually paying quite a hefty premium so I think they thought they would have better cover. The thing is until something like this happens most people dont sit and go through all the details of their policy regularly to keep it up to date.
Some of the items were bought on credit card, would section 75 cover it?0 -
Hi a friend had their house burgled a few weeks ago. They took basically everyone of any value, and a few things of almost no value it seems, including the contents of a safe containing some expensive jewellery and cash. Some of which were old hierlooms with no receipts and some were recently purchased. The insurance company are not paying out on these because the items weren't individually listed/valued and the cash was only covered up to about £750. Is there anything they can do? They are looking at being over £10k short.
As above it is down to the individual to ensure they are insured adequately. If you want to pay for a surveyor to come round and value your goods, you'll need to pay for a very expensive policy. Zurich Private Clients (used to, not sure if they still do) offer this service but premiums are in the thousands.Thanks for the replies. They were actually paying quite a hefty premium so I think they thought they would have better cover. The thing is until something like this happens most people dont sit and go through all the details of their policy regularly to keep it up to date.
Some of the items were bought on credit card, would section 75 cover it?
No, S75 wouldn't apply as the goods were stolen, they aren't faulty.
Paying a premium for your insurance doesn't always infer high levels of cover, it just means you're deemed a higher risk and rated accordingly or it's been tacitly priced as you aren't shopping round to keep the insurer honest on price.0 -
They were actually paying quite a hefty premium so I think they thought they would have better cover.
It's not good enough to just assume though. They need to read the policy.The thing is until something like this happens most people dont sit and go through all the details of their policy regularly to keep it up to date.
Then most people shouldn't try to do it DIY.
They should go to a broker who would tell them these things, if they don't want to spend a few minutes reading.Some of the items were bought on credit card, would section 75 cover it?
Section 75 gets you joint liability with the retailer.
It's hardly the retailer fault that the jewelry has been stolen.and some were recently purchased
If they've chucked away receipts do they have a credit card statement with them on? That would prove purchase.
Won't help if they were over the limit though.
I can understand people being put off by 300 pages of terms and conditions, but throwing away receipts of valuable items is just silly. Do you honestly think insurance companies just take people's word for it?0 -
The insurer only has to pay up to the limits in the policy. They can also deduct a % according to the % your friend is underinsured for.
The limits will usually be outlined in the schedule - so only one page to read.
They can complain - but the onus is on them to ensure the product is correct for them.0 -
Just because "most people don't read it" doesn't mean that they shouldn't, especially when you have what I would say is unusually high value items. It's a case of if you are paying for something surely you want to know what you are paying for.The thing is until something like this happens most people dont sit and go through all the details of their policy regularly to keep it up to date.Retired at age 56 after having "light bulb moment" due to reading MSE and its forums. Have been converted to the "budget to zero" concept and use YNAB for all monthly budgeting and long term goals.0 -
The credit card statements showing the purchases, would generally be acceptable as proof of purchase of the items0
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