House and contents insurance

[Physopto]

Hi everyone.

Input welcome from anyone but mostly any lawyer/solicitor as to legality of the insurance firms methods.

I have just been and looked for house and contents insurance to replace one that got prohibitively expensive. I insure for accident all risks.

This includes my astronomy equipment at home and away at Star Camps.

I thought I had my insurance sorted with a reasonable deal, until the last online page" agreeing and paying". On that last page it asked if I agreed with their terms and conditions. Up until that point I had told them everything including that my UPVC window levers were of the non locking type. (They had been there for thirty plus years).

I had never had any queries/rejections from insurance firms over the years, bar paying a slightly higher premium placed on my voluntary excess.

As usual I checked the terms and conditions before signing. Good job that I did, as this firm stated that any break in when there were no locking window handles, would make the insurance null and void, regardless of any questions that they had asked. As I have said they knew but never indicated at the question stage that it would "null and void the burglary insurance" bit.

They had been specifically informed about this in the questions asked and agreed to the insurance and had been prepared to take my money, but it would have been almost worthless to me in a burglary situation.

After answering all questions truthfully they had tried to sneak in a last minute clause null and voiding the burglary insurance.

I have now changed all these handles for the locking type, but please be aware if you don't already know that you may not be covered.

As they say check and recheck at all stages, even at the very last moment, before signing up!

Sneaky to say the least.

Derek

[Peter Drew]

A similar scenario with car insurance. I have "fully comp" like most of us these days so if my car is stolen and not recovered the insurers pay out. Not so!, in the small print it states that if the car isn't fitted with a tracker, you're not covered for theft. This is a household name insurer.       ☹️

[Gina]

Very wise indeed!!

[Pete Presland]

Cant imagine the people selling the policies would have a clue about the terms and conditions. Its all about commission and nothing else unfortunately. 

Well done to you for taking the time to check it for yourself.

[Physopto]

11 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

A similar scenario with car insurance. I have "fully comp" like most of us these days so if my car is stolen and not recovered the insurers pay out. Not so!, in the small print it states that if the car isn't fitted with a tracker, you're not covered for theft. This is a household name insurer.       ☹️

I have had trackers fitted on most cars over the past 15/20 years. Even my caravan had a Cobra tracker fitted. That is until recently, I was always quoted a slightly cheaper overall cost. But lately I began wondering if it was necessary with the better so called security systems on cars. Bit of a laugh really considering we are now informed, well over the last few years, that the criminals use electronic cloning devices to pinch the vehicles. 

If you use a tracker with gps it is negated very easilly by sticking the vehicle in a container or garage until the tracker is disconnected. The phone and sim types are not much better. Carry a Faraday case for your keys and maybe your vehicle will be safe-ish. 

But I have not heard of this insurance clause up until now!

To cap it all both my wife and I use the same insurer. Slight discount. But whilst my insurance went up by about £10 2.5%, this year hers has just been quoted at an extra £56 approximately about 20% increase. Does not make any sense to me at all.  Hey-Ho off to look around once more!

[JamesF]

I insure myself against car theft by driving the scabbiest car in the area.

My wife had to drive it for a few days recently when hers was at the garage.  She insisted on washing it.  I can't find it in the car park any more.

James

[Gina]

My car is always dirty - there is so much mud and bovine excrement on the country lanes round here.  You can't see the road for mud ATM with all the rain we've had lately!!

[Physopto]

Once went through the cow brown stuff with our caravan on the back. Took a heck of a long time to shift it once dried. No wonder they used it for the old plaster work, wattle and daube I think it was called.