Claim on 1 house insurance mean i lose no claims bonus on all our Properties??

its_me10

Hi All

Just looking for a bit of advice.

We have 4 houses - 3 rented and 1 our residence.

Just after Christmas, a boiler burst boiler damaged wood floors and boiler had to be replaced. We notified insurance company straight away. They in turn arranged for a loss adjuster to call and damage / replacement estimated €3-5K. I have carried out some repairs funded by myself. I have not agreed or settled on a claim with either insurance company or with loss adjustor.


The same insurance policy is up for renewal. I called them and they said as I had lost my no claims bonus, that insurance for this house would increase. Granted. However, on enquiring they tell me two more things which I am finding really had to verify.

1. As I have multiple houses and I have had a claim on one house, I lose my no claims bonus on THEM ALL. (I called the insurance federation and I felt that the response I got was not definitive... there was a lot of "I’d say..." and "surely they can't..." so I don't feel I can rely on that information.

2. I asked my current insurers if I decided not to proceed with a claim then I could protect my no claim bonus(es) on each of my properties - They have said because I notified them that there was claimable damage that there is records kept of damage on file with a note saying - claim not pursued.

Almost all of the insurance companies will now not take on any of our houses for 3-5yrs because I have had a claim (for water damage) so I am stuck with the current insurers for a renewal quote only.. which means that they can charge what they like as I can't get insurance elsewhere.

Does anyone know anything about this?? I really have to get working on this asap as the renewal date is Friday.

Thanks
me

jimoc

Did you have all the properties insured under one policy or are these 4 seperate and distinct policies?

If they are seperate then I cant see how they can remove the NCB from all of them, that would be like me losing my NCB on my car because my wife crashed hers!

its_me10

i agree jimoc.. but in the event of a claim down the road then i don't want them to tell me that my policies are void becuse of non disclosure...

any ideas where I could find out for sure what the situation is??

It does seem very unfair...

Funfair

Christ they have you by the balls..

Gangsterism by the insurance companies :mad:

its_me10

agreed :mad:

If what i found out is true, then technically they could decide to charge €2k for insurance next year and there would be nothing that I can do... Every insurance company i rang said they they wouldn't take on the house so its ball breaking!!

Funfair

What kind of % extra are they quoting you? You would think someone would quote you when you have 4 houses to insure.

Sometimes I wonder why we bother having insurance at all when they try everything possible to stop you claiming when you have a genuine claim.

Claims under say €5.000 should not have to be declared is the way forward and we should tell our Policitions that when they come knocking this week.

its_me10

each of the houses has a seperate policy. They are not linked either by insurer or renewal date.

On this policy, they are saying its 20% extra. Loss of NCB and regular increase. But more insurance increases to come next year!!

I was considering taking the hit on the damage (about €2.5k) and not doing everything the loss adjuster accounted for. But now maybe i should take every penny i an from them on the basis that I am going to be penalised = Insurance policy x 4 houses x 3-5 years .........omg.

Surely they be better off letting me forget about the claim, not paying me anything and reinsstate my NCB... GRR.

Did ya ever feel that everyone is out to get you!!!

Funfair

Claim for everything that was damaged e.g. the €5000 quoted. That 20% shouldn't add up to the €5000 in 5 years could it? Average house insurance price of say €500 plus 20% is €600 so should only be €400 extra to insure the 4 houses. That's only €2000 over 5 years and then you could move along to the next insurance company with a clean sheet .

That of course if your not paying Dublin 4 prices for your insurance already

oldyouth

Seems very strange. If they are on separate policies, only the one with the claim should be affected. If they are with separate insurers, there's no way you could lose the bonus off each. The incident is notifyable though to potential alternative insurers.

Get them to explain it in writing and present that to the Federation if you are not happy. It's hard for them to give solid advice from a phone call involving just one of the parties to the problem

pegasus425

its_me10, Did you get your insurance situation resolved or get a definitive answer on your question relating to no claims bonus loss on all houses?

I am in a similiar position. Had a claim for 8K at end of December 2010 (1st insurance claim ever) for burst pipes. The claim was on my rented property.

The renewal notice came a few weeks ago for my own property (principal residence) without penalty (same insurer - but possibly they do not know that I have 2 properties insured with them). Premium now paid.

I am in the process of buying a third house (to become principal residence) and when I made a general inquiry (not giving any name and address details) to my insurance company about this situation (3 houses), they said they would continue renewals on my existing 2 properties but would not insure me on the new house because of the claim. Also they seemed to suggest that both current properties would lose their no claims bonus (though I cannot say I got a definitive answer - the customer service rep had to ask a collegue questions a number of times and did not sound very knowledgeable in general). Obviously the rented property should lose it's no claims bonus, but should my own residence also lose it's bonus.

If I go to get online quotes from any other insurance company, you have to answer the question "have you or any other members..... had an insurance claim in the last 3 years etc etc" and then give details of the claim and claim amount. So it would appear that you lose your no claims bonus for all houses even though you only claim on one. Can this really be correct??? What if you had 20 houses?

Apollo5

I have same problem. Own a few properties and because of claim on one all have gone up. Broker said insurance companies link person to properties so all my insurance quotes have gone up. Had leak in 2 properties this year and had to cover cost myself which was in excess of 5,000 euro. Surely there has to be a way around owning multiple properties and not linking them with claims. Any ideas?? Help!