Why Dont They Never Wanna Pay Out

[tezmand]

got burgled yesterday our garage, stole my hubbys lambretta scooter which he had brought as a wreck and spent about £1500 doin up to pristine condition stole 2 lots of golf clubs ,golf gear, karcher pressure washer, tools etc and guess wat the insurance only pay out £250 for stuff stolen from garage or sheds and need receipts . minus the £50 excess is it worth claiming knowing premiums will go sky high , blummin golf clubs alone worth more than that, insurance doesn annoy me they take ya mney but dont want to pay out, bet the insurance for lambretta gonna take the p too , grrrrrr

[Old_Geezer]

Sorry to hear of your burglary.

I guess the alternative is to not bother with insurance, save yourself the premiums.

[pixie373]

I'm sorry to hear about that. Insurance companies are generally happy to take your money and reluctant to pay back. I only have insurance when legally obliged to. I did work out with a friend that we'd saved more than £10,000, by not paying insurance premiums. I suppose it's a gamble and I'd rather save it, than pay a company that i might not get it back from.

[ummmm]

Could it be because it was the garage?

I was burgled and the insurance company paid out no questions asked.

[factor-fiction]

I think the scooter will only be covered on his motor cycle insurance rather than under the household policy.
The policy will set out limits for cover for stuff stolen from garages and sheds. A limit for sheds is understandable since they are generally pretty insecure, but I would have assumed items in a locked garage were covered in the same way as those stolen from the house.

[EcclesCake]

I can understand your frustration but what level of cover did you have on your garage?

[murraymints]

My insurance will pay up to £5k on things in sheds etc

[boxtops]

I understand how you feel, but the terms and conditions are very clearly laid out in your policy - why keep valuable items like golf clubs in the garage? - and were they not listed separately under sports equipment on your cover?

The Lambretta will be insured under the theft section of the vehicle's cover, don't try to claim for that on your household policy!

It depends what it says on your policy as to whether your premiums go up - some household policies let you have a claim or two (particularly for burglary) without affecting your bonus.

Check your policies for the appropriate wording. Sorry if this doesn't sound sympathetic but I used to work in insurance claims many years back, and it's amazing how many people just aren't familiar with the small print on their policies.... and could cover for things if they only declared them to the insurance company in the first place.

[gsr600]

Sorry for your loss tezmand - scumbags (I meant Insurance people)
a nice Christmas for someone - thieving gits.


as murraymints £5k in secured outbuildings, BUT will they pay, hope I don't have to ask,

[Hymie]

When I was very young – the concept of insurance was explained to me thus:-

10 farmers each have 10 pigs, as insurance against loss, each farmer gives the insurance-man one pig.

During the year, one farmer suffers swine-fever and looses his entire number of pigs.
The insurance man pays out to the farmer 9 pigs and has one pig as profit/payment for his work.


Now this is actually how insurance works:-

10 farmers each have 10 pigs, as insurance against loss, each farmer gives the insurance-man one pig.

During the year, one farmer suffers swine-fever and looses his entire number of pigs.

The insurance-man makes some feeble excuse as to why he should not compensate the farmer who lost 9 pigs (refusing the insurance claim) – the profits of the insurance-man goes towards the cost of a large shiny company headquarters, with a CEO on a salary upwards of £1 million.

This is how the concept of insurance should be explained to our children.

[factor-fiction]

The insurance-man makes some feeble excuse as to why he should not compensate the farmer...

As this is Insurance rather than Chatterbank/Jokes I'd be interested to see an example of a 'feeble excuse'. It's a contract and if the insurer gives a feeble excuse that doesn't fall within the policy terms, or is an unreasonable term, there are fairly simple steps that can be takem

[ummmm]

I've had 4 claims in my life. Only 1 had to be argued and that was a blocked drain...

[Hymie]

Feeble excuses coming up:-

Many years ago, my brother’s insurance company refused to pay the cost of repair to the water-main on his property, because he did not have locks on the house windows.

[bednobs]

if the price of the policy was based upon him having window locks, it seems reasonable to refuse to pay out because he didn't have any

[bednobs]

the simple reason tez's insurance doesn't want to pay up is because she wasn't covered for what she had stolen. It's like asking a completely different ins co to pay your claim

[pixie373]

My first car insurance quote was literally doubled over the phone when i clarified that i worked at a Racing stables, not a riding school. When i asked why, they said, "well, you might have the next Shergar there". Still don't understand the relevance.
As factor says, it is in the small print, I'm sure, but often exclusions and conditions which don't seem to make sense.
Or with animal insurance, often they won't cover a condition or illness if an animal has had it before (colic in horses). So, that's helpful.

[Hymie]

Well, I would have to disagree with you bednobs.

Let’s say I have a house insurance policy that states that I must have window locks and my electrics inspected annually as being safe.

Now let’s say I don’t fit any window locks. If I was to be burgled, then it would be quite reasonable that the insurance does not pay out. But if my house burns down due to an electrical fault (and I have had the electrics inspected as per the insurance policy) – it would be completely unreasonable for the insurance company to refuse the claim because I had no window locks.

By refusing such a claim, the insurance company has skewed the risk totally in their favour. By not fitting window locks there is an increased risk that I will be burgled – but no increased risk that my house will burn down as a result of an electrical fire.

[bednobs]

it really really doesn't seem unreasonable to me that if you have committed fraud on your side of the contract to get an advantage (ie saying you have window locks when you don't to get cheaper insurance) that if the insurance company find out they either cancel your policy or refuse to pay out

[factor-fiction]

It may seem harsh but it does happen quite a bit, Hymie. For example people fail to disclose they have modifications done to the car and then they have a bump leading to a claim. The insurer may decide to reject the claim for non disclosure even though the modifications may not be relevant to that accident. I think it's done for the reasons suggested by bednobs.

[factor-fiction]

I do sympathise though if the non-disclosure is something very minor that occurred because you didn't see something hidden in the 'small print', but in such cases I think you may be able to appeal

[Hymie]

Not that long ago, insurance companies were refusing auto compensation claims based on the fact that motorists had modified their vehicles by adding a roof-rack, and had failed to inform their insurer of the modification.

The financial ombudsman told the insurance industry to f*uck off, and pay out the claims.