Home insurance claims

TopBanana

TopBanana

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Tim
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We were unfortunate to have a fire at home on Wednesday night (everyone was safe by the way). An external utility room went up in smoke big time, destroying everything in it. The insurance inspector described it as 'completely decimated' and I don't think he was wrong, with the exception of the washing liquid, fabric softener, and box of home grown potatoes under the sink along with a big pile of paper which only seem lightly toasted round the edges! My bike on the other hand didn't stand a chance and just melted away, and you'd never guess that a child seat was on the back of it as there's no sign of it at all.

Anyway does anyone have any experience of how the process works. Someone form the insurance company came round yesterday to do an initial assessment. He said we need to make a list of all the things that were in there. They're taking care of rebuilding the roof etc but does anyone know how it works in terms of picking the new worksurface&cupboards? And will they just offer a settlement amount for all the contents, or try and replace it for us? I know that I'll eventually get all the information I need from my insurance company but I was wondering if anyone here at any experience to share so I know what to expect.

For those interest, here are some pictures:


 
Who are you insured with
 
Sorry for short reply. On phone. Glad all ok.
 
Insurance is with Tesco, and underwritten by some other Tesco company (I think they use 3 other companies for underwriting as well). Tesco have appointed a local company to do all the assessment and they said that Tesco was a good company.
 
right back at home on a proper pc - bloody hell made a good job of it. Fortunate (if you can be) that it is detached.

Different insurers will work in different ways and I cannot comment specifically for Tesco. Details will be in the policy. It is not unusual for them to replace white / brown goods using a third party supplier, given their buying power is immense. E.g. They might prefer to replace your washing machine themselves as for the same model that will cost you £400 at currys, they can probably source for say £250. Multiply that up several times for many claims and the savings are huge.

Generally contractors will be appointed to do roof etc, worktops etc, leaving you without the hassle of sorting. Again, generally regional / national companies... Aviva prefer to use homeserve/asprea (they own them both) and can therefore control the costs more.

Sorry cannot be of more help but I don't know how Tesco works. (I could tell you how NFU Mutual do it but that isn't much help!)

Good luck with it and sorry for your loss.
 
Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply. It certainly is a mess that it's left.
When it comes to things like the new kitchen do you think the contractor will have a catalogue for us to choose from or something similar?
 
TopBanana said:
Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply. It certainly is a mess that it's left.
When it comes to things like the new kitchen do you think the contractor will have a catalogue for us to choose from or something similar?
Click to expand...

who knows? Each insurer works in a different way......

I can only assume they will appoint a loss adjuster who will say £x for the kitchen bit, £y for that - keeping in line with approx similar quality but no experience of tesco.... so i really don't know.

give em a call tomorrow and ask them
 
if it is tesco's you can approach two ways get a contractor in yourself and get a full assesment and estimate to do the job if you know some one who is in the buisness ie a good friend you can get a better job done half the time

we had a water leak destroying a full cealing wrecking wall paper and loads more carpets etc
we put the quote in from father in law he is a builder and a friend who is a decorator put both quotes in a they accepted from start to finish was a little over 8 weeks and i could arrange times to suit me not we will be here at this time regardless and was left with a few £ extra so got a better quality carpet out of it

as for utilitys jsut let them sort it i claimed for a tv a few years back we paid £800 for it only a year before the claim and they offerd us £250 as that was a like for like which was utter BS as the same tv was still in comet at £700 they said because it had the same spec thats all they were willing to offer but the tv was £350 the one they were offering so easier to go with them for utilitys

if you want no hassle or little hassle let them sort it out
 
Cause ? Washing machine or tumble dryer ?
 
How awful for you!
When we had a major flood, our insurer (Aviva) appointed a loss adjuster who at first tried to argue we were under insured, then told us our kitchen wall cupboards couldn't be replaces as they were fine (yes, but we kind of liked the matching kitchen look) and finally, happily, went off sick.
They appointed a company to come and rip out all the knackered stuff (aka our ground floor) and they appointed the firm to do the building work (although I think we could've pushed to find ourselves).
They had suppliers they wanted us to use, but we (too late) found out we didn't HAVE to use their recommended suppliers (by which point I'd already had a shouting match with the carpet fitter from Allied).

So, check your policy and if they are making you use a supplier, or do things in a way you aren't happy with, question them as to other options - don't necessarily just accept what they say

A
 
Oh, and do list EVERY SINGLE THING that was in there. When it's a lot of stuff, you get tempted to go 'oh well, that wasn't worth much anyway'. All those things can add up to quite a bit.

A
 
wegotitugetit said:
if it is tesco's you can approach two ways get a contractor in yourself and get a full assesment and estimate to do the job if you know some one who is in the buisness ie a good friend you can get a better job done half the time

we had a water leak destroying a full cealing wrecking wall paper and loads more carpets etc
we put the quote in from father in law he is a builder and a friend who is a decorator put both quotes in a they accepted from start to finish was a little over 8 weeks and i could arrange times to suit me not we will be here at this time regardless and was left with a few £ extra so got a better quality carpet out of it

as for utilitys jsut let them sort it i claimed for a tv a few years back we paid £800 for it only a year before the claim and they offerd us £250 as that was a like for like which was utter BS as the same tv was still in comet at £700 they said because it had the same spec thats all they were willing to offer but the tv was £350 the one they were offering so easier to go with them for utilitys

if you want no hassle or little hassle let them sort it out
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info, very helpful. We don't really know any tradespeople so it's probably best for them to sort it out for us. We've been lent a washing machine which is now plumbed in the kitchen so there's no urgent hurry.
 
Ruffy said:
Cause ? Washing machine or tumble dryer ?
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Not sure, both were used the day before so the firemen said it was most probably one of those. We often see a hedgehog round there so it may have chewed through a cable or something.
 
Sorry I haven't had a claim other than a laptop through household insurance, but just wanted to say thank god it was not your home and just an out building, looks a nightmare! Good luck with the claim hope it all goes through easy for you
 
Headless Lois said:
How awful for you!
When we had a major flood, our insurer (Aviva) appointed a loss adjuster who at first tried to argue we were under insured, then told us our kitchen wall cupboards couldn't be replaces as they were fine (yes, but we kind of liked the matching kitchen look) and finally, happily, went off sick.
They appointed a company to come and rip out all the knackered stuff (aka our ground floor) and they appointed the firm to do the building work (although I think we could've pushed to find ourselves).
They had suppliers they wanted us to use, but we (too late) found out we didn't HAVE to use their recommended suppliers (by which point I'd already had a shouting match with the carpet fitter from Allied).

So, check your policy and if they are making you use a supplier, or do things in a way you aren't happy with, question them as to other options - don't necessarily just accept what they say

A
Click to expand...

Headless Lois said:
Oh, and do list EVERY SINGLE THING that was in there. When it's a lot of stuff, you get tempted to go 'oh well, that wasn't worth much anyway'. All those things can add up to quite a bit.

A
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Anna. We've been making a list of all the things that were in there. There wasn't anything particularly expensive, but as you say, it would cost quite a lot to replace everything. I keep thinking of new things too, like when I needed a mop this afternoon and then realised we'd lost that in the fire!
 
stormienam said:
Sorry I haven't had a claim other than a laptop through household insurance, but just wanted to say thank god it was not your home and just an out building, looks a nightmare! Good luck with the claim hope it all goes through easy for you
Click to expand...

We're very much praising God that no one was hurt - it really could have been much much worse!
 
Headless Lois said:
How awful for you!
When we had a major flood, our insurer (Aviva) appointed a loss adjuster who at first tried to argue we were under insured, then told us our kitchen wall cupboards couldn't be replaces as they were fine (yes, but we kind of liked the matching kitchen look) and finally, happily, went off sick.
They appointed a company to come and rip out all the knackered stuff (aka our ground floor) and they appointed the firm to do the building work (although I think we could've pushed to find ourselves).
They had suppliers they wanted us to use, but we (too late) found out we didn't HAVE to use their recommended suppliers (by which point I'd already had a shouting match with the carpet fitter from Allied).

So, check your policy and if they are making you use a supplier, or do things in a way you aren't happy with, question them as to other options - don't necessarily just accept what they say

A
Click to expand...

Good old Aviva..and Homeserve. We had an Escape of Water claim when I worked for them and was insured via them.. they wanted to rip the kitchen to bits in order to put a new ceiling in... (despite there being a good 15" between top of cupboard and ceiling...) ""we can't get a cordless screwdriver in there...." and also wanted to do the whole asbestos thing... (push the cost / profits up) sent them on their way and got a guy who I know through golf to do it... £700 instead of an estimated £11,000
 
Regardless of who your with, you have a right to request who carries out the work
 
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