Lost an insured item on house insurance and want to get the claim right.

Aran

As it says really, I did loose an item last weekend which is worth several thousand Euros. I had the item insured on my house insurance especially so that I could take it out of the house and it would still be insured.

I know that insurance companies will use any excuse not to pay up so I don't want to say the wrong thing and have the insurance company refuse my claim (it happened before with a genuine claim and it was really annoying).

The circumstances are a bit odd so here's the story.

I was in Paris and was brought to a bar with 30 types of Absynthe which I had no experience of before. Basically it's really strong liquor and I had a complete black out and came too, on my own I don't know where in Paris without my insured item.

For the life of me I really don't know what happened but still had my wallet and passport but not my item.

I'm not sure if I'm covered outside Ireland, whether it was loss or theft (so did not report to any police).

So I have 3 question please if you can help.

1, Am I insured under these circumstances?

2, where can I find the small print of my policy? (I have the policy document and there is not a lot of small print on it so I know there is more somewhere)

3, Is there a story that is fail safe to be remunerated for my loss (this is a genuine loss that I'm rather upset about)

Thanks for reading.

ferga_com

Ask your insurance company to send you the Policy Conditions booklet - that will tell you all the exclusions, including geographical.

dotsman

Not reporting it to the police could be your biggest problem.

As far as I know, claims such as this need to be accompanied with an official Police report.

Ask your insurance company to send you out a claims form and a policy booklet/terms and conditions etc to confirm.

oldyouth

Firstly, the item would need to have been insured under the Specified All Risks section of your cover. Basically, that means you need to have named and valued the item seperately from your general contents and this cover includes accidental loss outside the home. This will be on the policy schedule in the area with your name, address, period of cover etc. and is usually attached to a pre-printed book

Secondly, you need to check the Territorial Limits. This states the countries where this section operates. Usually it states Ireland, UK and Mainland Europe or similar. There may be a stipulation that cover abroad only operates for no more than 30 days in a year.

As one poster commented, not reporting it to the police could be an issue. Do it a.s.a.p.

The best advice I can give, is to explain it accurately to your Insurers. I have often seen genuine claims turned down because the insured tried to embelish the circumstances, where the actual truth would have seen no problem with the claim. Insurers have heard them all before and they stick out a mile. I'm disappointed that the general consenus is that insurers start out with the intention of repudiating every claim, when that is not my experience for the last 30 yrs. Not everything can be, or is covered, by insurance but if it is insurers generally pay up promptly

Aran

Thanks for the great advice.

I have ordered the policy booklet today so will read it with great care when it arrives.

I had an issue a couple of years ago with an adjuster trying to trick me and put words in my mouth, to try and negotiate down the claim. Just one bad experience I suppose.

I did take out a special insurance on this item for outside the house and paid extra for it.

Aran

At this stage I can't see how I can report my loss to the police in Paris and I don't want to go down the road of inventing something for the Irish police as that would be mad.

Does accidental loss cover complete negligence and stupidity?

oldyouth

Aran wrote: »

At this stage I can't see how I can report my loss to the police in Paris and I don't want to go down the road of inventing something for the Irish police as that would be mad.

Does accidental loss cover complete negligence and stupidity?

Reporting a claim to police is one of the safeguards Insurers use to ensure a claim is not fraud. Any would be fraudster will think twice about doing so. Never invent circumstances to Insurers, tell them the exact details and they may ask you to formally write to the French Police as a matter of procedure

And yes, the Accidental Damage/All Risks section covers stupidity. The only real exclusion would be a deliberate act

ferga_com

No Reason why you wouldn't report it to the French police now.