Household insurance claims

ocad

I have suffered recent fire damage to my house and am unsure what to do about making a claim, someone told me that no matter what happens my insurance company will not pay me enough to fix my home, what should I do

Duiske

How recent ? Get onto your insurance company straight away. There should be a claims dept contact number on your policy. Never had a fire myself, but had a couple of claims due to flooding, and the work was done quickly, and paid for in full by the insurance company.

Jo King

Hire a loss assessor! They charge approx 10% of the claim but are worth it. Get one involved before you go to the insurance if possible. They will make the claim and negotiate on your behalf.

PeakOutput

dont hire a loss assessor

why pay them 10% when the insurance company will do it for free :rolleyes:

the insurance company are not out to screw you. ring them up register a claim and then organise for their (independant)engineer to come out and look at the damage. he will tell the insurance company how much it will cost to repair at todays labour and parts rates etc. if it is with axa insurance then they will offer you the option of using their "approved repairer" which they will pay directly and who will do it for the cost the engineer has advised. if you decide to use your own tradesman they can charge you whatever they want and that is where the difference comes in between what the insurance company will pay and what it will cost you.

also if your insurance company does not offer their own tradesman you should go about getting 3/4 quotes/estimates for the work yourself after the engineer has seen the damage and that way you know roughly how much you should get offered(also you will be obliged to use the cheapest quote)

Jo King

PeakOutput wrote:

dont hire a loss assessor

why pay them 10% when the insurance company will do it for free :rolleyes:

the insurance company are not out to screw you. ring them up register a claim and then organise for their (independant)engineer to come out and look at the damage. he will tell the insurance company how much it will cost to repair at todays labour and parts rates etc. if it is with axa insurance then they will offer you the option of using their "approved repairer" which they will pay directly and who will do it for the cost the engineer has advised. if you decide to use your own tradesman they can charge you whatever they want and that is where the difference comes in between what the insurance company will pay and what it will cost you.

also if your insurance company does not offer their own tradesman you should go about getting 3/4 quotes/estimates for the work yourself after the engineer has seen the damage and that way you know roughly how much you should get offered(also you will be obliged to use the cheapest quote)

Clearly someone who works for the insurance industry. The "independent engineer" is a loss adjuster appointed by the insurance company. The insurance companies do no appoint people to spend their money. It is up to you to prove your claim not up to the independent adjuster to tell you what to claim for. I have been through insurance claims a few times and I wouldn't dream of doing what is advised above!

PeakOutput

Jo King wrote:

Clearly someone who works for the insurance industry. The "independent engineer" is a loss adjuster appointed by the insurance company. The insurance companies do no appoint people to spend their money. It is up to you to prove your claim not up to the independent adjuster to tell you what to claim for. I have been through insurance claims a few times and I wouldn't dream of doing what is advised above!

that is obviously up to you but in general you are wasting your money.


i worked for motor claims not property claims and the only thing i will change about what I said above is that "MOST insurance companies" are not out to screw you. I have not worked in insurance for over a year but sure you can make up your own mind about weather i have a vested interest or weather I am just giving out advice based on personal knowledge

flanzer

Jo King wrote:

Hire a loss assessor! They charge approx 10% of the claim but are worth it. Get one involved before you go to the insurance if possible. They will make the claim and negotiate on your behalf.

+1. I'd a bad leak from the waste pipe in the bathroom whick took down the ceiling underneath and was pleasantly surprise by what the claims assessor got for me. Only had to let him into the house twice. 1st on his own to make the assessment, 2nd time with the insurance company's lost adjuster. They did all the arguing and dealings. Well well worth it IMO

Victor

ocad wrote:

I have suffered recent fire damage to my house and am unsure what to do about making a claim, someone told me that no matter what happens my insurance company will not pay me enough to fix my home, what should I do

Why does he say they won't pay enough? It sounds like a story that lost its message along the way.

Insurance is there to get you back to the position you were in before the indicent. That said, you need to have aenough insurance and not all policies will give 'new for old'.