House Insurance

[oldexpat]

Out of 3 years I have had a house in the UK I have claimed off my house insurance 2 times already. Once for a buglary and once for a damaged door. They have put my premium up but I am starting to worry that they will refuse me if I have to make another claim. What should I be careful of or aware of?

[JackDanielsU]

they cant refuse a claim if youre paying your premiums and have adhered to the t&c

3 claims in 5 years though will flag up. Insurance companies dont like people claiming.

[gsr600]

i think you should be aware of your neighbourhood & move,
i have lived it the same street for 17yrs & NEVER had to claim (touch wood)
but there has been a few break ins in the last year or so very close to me,
i wish they would give me a no claims discount like they do on cars.

[woozer]

Ok - before everyone starts ranting at me about insurance being a con -
1. Yes, you can claim for anything and everything that you pay your premium for.
2. In no way am I implying that Oldexpat is makiing small claims that they could really afford to absorb themselves.
BUT insurance is basically designed to be there for you to cope with disasters - not small events that you could/should really absorb yourself - the premiums are calculated on the basis that most people will just sort out the odd broken pane of glass or minor damage. If you want a contract that is designed to pay out endlessly for small events then you will find that it costs a fortune or doesnt exist.
So if you decide to claim for every single thing that you can no matter how small the insurers will decide you are not the average that they base their premiums on and they will either load your premiums - or decline to offer you renewal of your policy.
If you have a policy in place and an insured event occurs they cannot refuse to deal with your claim.
But, they can decline to offer renewal of your policy and that could severley limit the number of insurers who will offer you cover in the future.
Generally, it tends not to be the multi thousand pound claim that causes problems with the insurers it is the tendency to claim for the odd couple of hundred here and there on a regular basis that really causes the problems.