Claiming for a small amount on house insurance.

[Parabola]

Managed to lose my brand new winter coat, the second time I wore it!

It was £160 so I'm thinking about claiming on my house insurance.

The excess is £50. My question is, will this ramp up the amount I pay next year or even make it difficult to claim in the future.

Any thoughts, experiences appreciated.


Cheers

[Ross_]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news ... but i wouldnt say it would be worth while claiming for it... your premium next year is likely to increase by 20-50% depending on your insurer and obviously your likely to be only paid out £100 once you have paid the excess.

but obviously insurance is there to be used , so if you think its worth it feel free to ignore what i have just said

R

[Pickled Piper]

It really depends on the insurance co. They may hike up the premium next year. Also, if you want to change insures come renewal time they will certainly penalise you for the claim.

Perhaps someone working in the insurance sector can advise?

Personally, I wouldn't bother claiming.

pp

[rude-boy]

What Ross said.

The only time i ever claimed on house insurance was when i had over £1500 worth of stuff nicked.

[Parabola]

Yeah, I guessed it might not be worth it.

Sounds daft, but if I was to phone up my insurance company, (Legal & General) do you think they'd be able to give me a straight answer to if my premium would go up massively?... actually, one way to find out I suppose!

[im]

Pickled Piper said:

Also, if you want to change insures come renewal time they will certainly penalise you for the claim.

I'd heard about this.

Scenario

1. I claim £500 for my tv being damaged

2. They pay me out

3. 6 Months later I don't like their renewal premium price so cancel the policy and start looking elsewhere.

How do my (now) ex-insurers penalise me?

[Dirty Boy]

rude-boy said:

What Ross said.

The only time i ever claimed on house insurance was when i had over £1500 worth of stuff nicked.

I've been unlucky with house insurance.

My mountain bike was stolen, phoned up, not covered, so I changed the policy, never mind, then recently, the wife lost her bracelet and a watch, both expensive, not covered, have upgraded the policy to all singing all dancing, itemised all three bikes, jewellry, av etc etc.

I'll probably never need to claim again. Hey ho.

[V6]

I claimed for my camera that got stolen. Called up first to check how much it would go up by, they said 10 - 15%. My house insurance was at the time £140, so the increase was nothing compared to the camera I claimed for (obviously I had the most expensive camera on the market stolen )

[paoloh]

Parabola said:

Managed to lose my brand new winter coat, the second time I wore it!

It was £160 so I'm thinking about claiming on my house insurance.

The excess is £50. My question is, will this ramp up the amount I pay next year or even make it difficult to claim in the future.

Any thoughts, experiences appreciated.


Cheers

Did you buy it with a Card? Might have cover there.

[Parabola]

paoloh said:

Parabola said:

Managed to lose my brand new winter coat, the second time I wore it!

It was £160 so I'm thinking about claiming on my house insurance.

The excess is £50. My question is, will this ramp up the amount I pay next year or even make it difficult to claim in the future.

Any thoughts, experiences appreciated.


Cheers

Did you buy it with a Card? Might have cover there.

Good point.. was only paid for with Maestro tho

[paoloh]

Parabola said:

paoloh said:

Parabola said:

Managed to lose my brand new winter coat, the second time I wore it!

It was £160 so I'm thinking about claiming on my house insurance.

The excess is £50. My question is, will this ramp up the amount I pay next year or even make it difficult to claim in the future.

Any thoughts, experiences appreciated.


Cheers

Did you buy it with a Card? Might have cover there.

Good point.. was only paid for with Maestro tho

Might be wortha quick check with the bank.

[Trax]

im said:

Pickled Piper said:

Also, if you want to change insures come renewal time they will certainly penalise you for the claim.

I'd heard about this.

Scenario

1. I claim £500 for my tv being damaged

2. They pay me out

3. 6 Months later I don't like their renewal premium price so cancel the policy and start looking elsewhere.

How do my (now) ex-insurers penalise me?

A lot of insurers offer discount for no claims (similar to car insurance), so a 20% discount for not claiming for a few years can have a big effect.

Any prospective new insurer will obviously will ask you if you have had any claims, and if you lie, there is a chance, that when your house burns down, and they find you lied........

[Simpo Two]

Real example - my premium was £127.

When I claimed £412 (I only get £312 after excess) my premium went up to £300+.

Needless to say I didn't renew.

[Soft Top]

im said:

Pickled Piper said:

Also, if you want to change insures come renewal time they will certainly penalise you for the claim.

I'd heard about this.

Scenario

1. I claim £500 for my tv being damaged

2. They pay me out

3. 6 Months later I don't like their renewal premium price so cancel the policy and start looking elsewhere.

How do my (now) ex-insurers penalise me?

They don't. The new insurance company does by increasing the premium they quote.

[Simpo Two]

Soft Top said:

They don't. The new insurance company does by increasing the premium they quote.

Reality check.

Why should the premium increase at all? You're insuring risk. The risk of you dropping a telly is the same in 2007 as it is in 2008.

[scotal]

Simpo Two said:

Soft Top said:

They don't. The new insurance company does by increasing the premium they quote.

Reality check.

Why should the premium increase at all? You're insuring risk. The risk of you dropping a telly is the same in 2007 as it is in 2008.

Because in the mind of an insurance company, someone who has had a recent claim is more likely to have another claim sometime soon, and therefore they claim the risk is more expensive.

BTW OP, how do you lose a coat?

Edited by scotal on Thursday 16th October 19:14

[GT03ROB]

I've had 3 claims on my house policy, 2 in 1992, totally around £3000 for various things and 1 last year for £1500 of carpet damaged when a log rolled out of a fire onto it. My premium certainly hasn't changed this year & I don't think it did on the previous occasion.

[Ross_]

Sorry i should have said ... this is my specialist field ..apparently.

Scotal pretty much got it spot on , also now a lot of main stream insurers , NUD , direct line , HSBC , Barclays etc allow an No claims discount scheme much like car insurance , so regardless of the value of the claim this would obviously mean if asked "how many years have u been claim free on your contents" you would have to say none.

to give OP an idea .. that can be as much as 50% discount for 5 years claim free - also expect a slight load 5-10% for the actual claim itself.

Risk may be the same from 2007 - 2008 but insurers do not like people who claim (shock horror)

R

[off_again]

im said:

Pickled Piper said:

Also, if you want to change insures come renewal time they will certainly penalise you for the claim.

I'd heard about this.

Scenario

1. I claim £500 for my tv being damaged

2. They pay me out

3. 6 Months later I don't like their renewal premium price so cancel the policy and start looking elsewhere.

How do my (now) ex-insurers penalise me?

Insurance is a multi-billion pound game, I suspect that have thought of that one!

Of course you can do this and thats fine. But when you go to take out your next policy then you will be asked if you have made a claim in the last 6 / 12 / 18 / 24 months. Of course you can tell the truth and then explain what happened. The insurer could of course refuse to offer you insurance and that's that.

If you lie and say that nothing happened and you have not made a claim then this is in breach of the conditions of the offer of insurance and hence you are not insured. So should anything actually happen, and they find out, they can keep your money and not pay out. Of course, they need to find out, but the threat is typically enough to scare people. If you did manage to lie, get away with it and then not get discovered then this is fraud which is an imprisonable offence...

[Ross_]

im said:

Pickled Piper said:

Also, if you want to change insures come renewal time they will certainly penalise you for the claim.

I'd heard about this.

Scenario

1. I claim £500 for my tv being damaged

2. They pay me out

3. 6 Months later I don't like their renewal premium price so cancel the policy and start looking elsewhere.

How do my (now) ex-insurers penalise me?

Simple answer is approx 1 in 5 new policies with NUD (per example) as spot checked now for claims using the CUE system , so if its found you made a claim they will send you a nice little letter telling you what they have found , asking for an explaination and also telling you that your premium is now X much more expensive.

R