Home Insurance? Don't you dare make a claim!

[rupert the dog]

I'll bet almost all of you have got home insurance - I have. Now, my idea of buying insurance for the last twenty and more years has been to cover risks, like being burgled.

So, last September, we were,as it happens, burgled. The f****** b******s used a jemmy on the front door and made off with a haul of our valuables, never to be seen again. Aha, we thought, this what insurance is for. Well, after much heartache, visits from the loss adjuster and so on the insurance company did eventually pay up.

Now. It's renewal time. The renewal quote is 3.5 times this year's premium!! Because I made a claim......er I thought that's what insurance is for. I tried the comparison websites, only to find that the majority of companies won't even quote!

What a fix! Yes, we'll take your premiums for years and years and years, but if you make a claim, don't come looking to us for cover next year, oh no.

Gang of **** ********* **************** (you fill in the blanks)

[ascayman]

how much was the paid out by the insurer?

[GuinnessMK]

Had exactly the same experience I'm afraid.

This year was the first time we've been able to change insurers / use a comparison site since our claim (5 years).

tts

[Steve H]

Have you been with the same insurer for the last 20+ years?

[Toilet Duck]

Much like car insurance then. Even if you have gauranteed/protected no claims bonus protection, if you make a non fault claim they still put your premium up next year. The insurance world is akin to organised crime, its a form of racketeering. At any given opportunity they leave you with a bum hole wider than your mouth.

[Simpo Two]

That's right. 20 years claim-free insurance, claim £400 and see the premium double. You can't go elsewhere because you have to tick a box saying you made a claim.

Insurance company policy:

1) Get in as much loot as possble.
2) Pay as little as possible out.

Obvious really!

[Paul Drawmer]

try this page for a good insurer.
http://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/reviews-ns/...

[andy43]

If the premium more than tripled, I'm guessing the valuables weren't limited to a Samsung LCD and some Argos gold?
We had about 10 metres of drains scoped, unblocked and relined, supposedly 2k's worth and the insurance premium barely changed.

[hidetheelephants]

andy43 said:

If the premium more than tripled, I'm guessing the valuables weren't limited to a Samsung LCD and some Argos gold?
We had about 10 metres of drains scoped, unblocked and relined, supposedly 2k's worth and the insurance premium barely changed.

I think most insurers would weight your policy very heavily if they knew you owned any of Lizzy Duke's fine bingo clink.

[fatboy b]

We made a £5000 claim for subsidance a couple of years ago our premium rose £1.50 a month.

[rupert the dog]

andy43 said:

If the premium more than tripled, I'm guessing the valuables weren't limited to a Samsung LCD and some Argos gold?
We had about 10 metres of drains scoped, unblocked and relined, supposedly 2k's worth and the insurance premium barely changed.

No, there was a lot of valuable gold jewellery stolen - police reckoned they knew the house was empty. Even so, that's what I paid the premium for - if some little st decides to take it to Gold'r'Us, I get recompensed.

[rupert the dog]

hidetheelephants said:

I think most insurers would weight your policy very heavily if they knew you owned any of Lizzy Duke's fine bingo clink.

Sod off!!

[Jasandjules]

Ah, we had to make two claims in three years. They don't like us anymore........

[rupert the dog]

Steve H said:

Have you been with the same insurer for the last 20+ years?

No

[andy43]

rupert the dog said:

hidetheelephantsfromthelossadjuster said:

I think most insurers would weight your policy very heavily if they knew you owned any of Lizzy Duke's fine bingo clink.

Sod off!!

Have you tried asking poorly concealed elephants for a quote?

[Kermit power]

fatboy b said:

We made a £5000 claim for subsidance a couple of years ago our premium rose £1.50 a month.

Different though, in that once you've had the work done - be it subsidence, drains or whatever - there's no reason to assume it's going to happen again.

Burglaries (with the burglar coming back a couple of months later knowing they'll be getting a haul of new goodies), living on a flood plain and other often repeatable events are things that the insurers will really load on.

[rupert the dog]

Kermit power said:

Different though, in that once you've had the work done - be it subsidence, drains or whatever - there's no reason to assume it's going to happen again.

Burglaries (with the burglar coming back a couple of months later knowing they'll be getting a haul of new goodies), living on a flood plain and other often repeatable events are things that the insurers will really load on.

Thanks, Kermit,I feel so much better now - but someone suggest a good insurer, I'm 9 days away from being uninsured, because I'm not staying with the current lot.

[Paul Drawmer]

Paul Drawmer said:

try this page for a good insurer.
http://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/reviews-ns/...

Did you look here?

[son of a vette]

I had the same thing, I was burgled a few years ago, I'd had the same insurer for 4 years, by the time the next policy came around it had jumped over 30%. That was bad enough, but the experience of claiming from these crooks was shocking, they argued over every single penny, and they had all sorts of tricks up their sleeves to get out of paying up.

I paid these people to take the risk for me, I kept my side of the contract paying them each month on time, and when it came to them keeping their side of the bargain I had two months of hassle before they finally compromised.

I used to take some peace of mind from being insured!

Horrific industry!

[Paul Drawmer]

o/p - you say your premium has tripled; are the sums insured the same as last year?

I'm surprised that such a large increase is due solely to a claim; has anything else changed?