claiming on house insurance

[liamm]

I managed to lose my torch today.....

I am hoping to claim on the house insurance as I have personal posessions covered away from home. I think ill be covered , does anyone have experience of dealing with home insurance for dive kit?

[MATTBIN]

My home insurance policy excludes cover whilst the kit is in use, so you might have to say you just lost it somehow during transit from home to the divesite, maybe it fell out of the car when you filled it up with petrol (the car not the torch). There will be an excess on the policy too. Its possible in that case that it will only be worth claiming if it was an expensive torch. Insurers can be very difficult to claim from sometmes, although when I broke my glasses they paid out over the phone, so you may be lucky.

Matt

[Gav]

Unfortunately the majority of Insurance Companies, whilst covering diving equipment whilst its away from home (assuming you have cover for items away from home within your policy) do not actually cover it whilst you are using it! This is a common clause in sports equipment. I even had to get my insurance company to confirm in writing that they would cover the equipment whilst it was in use and it took them two attempts to get the wording right!

[Daz217]

Originally Posted by Gav

Unfortunately the majority of Insurance Companies, whilst covering diving equipment whilst its away from home (assuming you have cover for items away from home within your policy) do not actually cover it whilst you are using it! This is a common clause in sports equipment. I even had to get my insurance company to confirm in writing that they would cover the equipment whilst it was in use and it took them two attempts to get the wording right!

Can't you argue you were NOT using it. it was on the boat and fell in. Or just be economical with the truth i.e. it was on the boat you came to get it at the end of the day and it was nowhere to be seen aka lost. ?No lies involved

[David G]

Whether or not you decide to be "economical" with the truth, it might be worth bearing the following in mind.

I had my garage burgled 14 months ago.

I had to pay the excess on my policy; the claim amounted to about £1300 of power tools and my underwater camera kit.
The excess was £75.

Subsequent to having to pay the excess my premium then went up at renewal time (August), my excess also went up (£100).

I voted with my feet and discovered that the majority of Insurance companies were not prepared to offer a quote as I had made a contents claim within the last 12 months.

All this adds up, so consider the TRUE cost of claiming.

The problem, as I see it, is that a vicious circle exists:

Premiums high so people 'over' claim.
Premiums rise because people 'over' claim.

Regards,

David.

[susanmac]

We're insured with Elephant. Individual items, outside the home, loss or damage. Dive computer popped off wrist in Sound of Mull while assisting another diver onto the boat. Conversation with Elephant went along these lines.

Me: It's a dive computer worth about £350.
Her: It's a computer?
Me: Yes, but you wear it on your wrist.
Her: It's a watch?
Me: No, it's a computer, it fell off into 40m of water.
Her: I'll put it down as a watch.

Cheque arrived 3 days later, who cares what they call it. Insured with Elephant ever since.

[zepp]

Another experience here. Had a new laptop and was using it on the bed when the stupid, dumb, heavy-footed Asbo, the Staffy Bull decided to jump up and land straight on it. Result was a banana-shaped laptop that still worked. Phoned the insurance company and offered to send a cheque for a replacement ...and still get to keep the original. Just for the record, this is the first time a claim has been put forward since starting with insurance companies.