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Home insurance terms and conditions for alarm

  • 29-12-2009 11:34am
    #1
    20goto10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭


    Hi there,

    I have just switched my home insurance and have been reading through the small print. Unfortunately I didn't write it down but it said something about keeping my alarm in fully working order while the house is unoccupied. I've heard people say you must keep your alarm on or you will not be insured but I never believed it before. Is this something they can enforce? Does it mean you must leave your alarm on or just that it must be working - as in not broken.

    I would never leave my alarm on while away out of common courtesy to our neighbours. Alarms are useful when you're in the house but I see no purpose in leaving an alarm on when nobody is home. There has been an alarm going off all through christmas in my estate. I pity the neighbours. I've had it happen to me and it is very stressful. The guards can do nothing about it either you just have to put up with it.

    This seems like a nonsense condition to me and one of the many ways for insurance companies to get out of paying up.


Comments

  • #2
    homer911
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭homer911


    Some Insurance Cos insist on your alarm being subject to a maintenance contract, others just insist that it is working order

    If you dont turn the alarm on, you might as well not have one at all. I'm sure if you were to have a break in, you would be asked again if the alarm was in working order and turned on at the time - the insurance company might decline to pay out if you are negligent, a bit like you leaving the front door open!

    Give a copy of your keys and alarm details to a neighbour you trust and turn it on when you go out - they may well do the same for you


  • #3
    20goto10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    homer911 wrote: »
    Some Insurance Cos insist on your alarm being subject to a maintenance contract, others just insist that it is working order

    If you dont turn the alarm on, you might as well not have one at all. I'm sure if you were to have a break in, you would be asked again if the alarm was in working order and turned on at the time - the insurance company might decline to pay out if you are negligent, a bit like you leaving the front door open!

    Give a copy of your keys and alarm details to a neighbour you trust and turn it on when you go out - they may well do the same for you
    I've yet to meet anyone who has called the guards when their neighbours alarm is going off, except to report a nuisance. Alarms are useful for when you are at home and more importantly asleep in bed. What purpose does an alarm have other than that? Does it scare away the burglers? Not at all.

    So basically is it common practice amongst insurance companies to consider not putting your alarm on as negligence and a means to refuse a claim? I wonder if this is legal, I mean if I have no alarm at all I do not get refused payment for not having a working alarm. Maybe I should put down no alarm in my application? Or does that count as lying and again a means to refuse a claim?
    Give a copy of your keys and alarm details to a neighbour you trust and turn it on when you go out - they may well do the same for you
    Those days are long gone! I'd never leave my keys with a neighbour unless they were close friends or family.


  • #4
    homer911
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭homer911


    20goto10 wrote: »
    Those days are long gone! I'd never leave my keys with a neighbour unless they were close friends or family.

    In that case leave the keys with a nearby relative and leave their phone number with a neighbour!


  • #5
    Toots
    Administrators, Business & Finance Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,957 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Toots


    20goto10 wrote: »
    I've yet to meet anyone who has called the guards when their neighbours alarm is going off, except to report a nuisance. Alarms are useful for when you are at home and more importantly asleep in bed. What purpose does an alarm have other than that? Does it scare away the burglers? Not at all.

    So basically is it common practice amongst insurance companies to consider not putting your alarm on as negligence and a means to refuse a claim? I wonder if this is legal, I mean if I have no alarm at all I do not get refused payment for not having a working alarm. Maybe I should put down no alarm in my application? Or does that count as lying and again a means to refuse a claim?
    As far as I'm aware, the insurance companies want you to have a monitored alarm system, as opposed to just one of those boxes that makes noise. They'd be about as useful as an alarm clock in a break-in. If you have a monitored alarm, most insurance companies will give you a discount for having it.As regards lying on the form and saying you don't have one, most if not all policy applications have a declaration piece that asks you to confirm that the information you provided is true and accurate.


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