insurance payouts!!!!!

[arbmark]

I am just wondering if we can get some insight into how often and how reasonably the insurance industry is paying out. How do we know they are giving us what we are paying for? We are expected to have it and so far i have paid year after year without claiming (touch wood)

 

I want us all to feel that we are COVERED!!!! And i dont feel i get all the answers from my insurer - it seems the only proof is at crunch time when i come to make a claim.

 

The way i see it, simply put, insurance companies make their money by receiving premiums and getting out of payouts. Premiums should be subject to market competition, hoping that companies arent working hard to make their policies incomparable to others.

 

So what are peoples experiences when it has been time to make a claim?

 

Were the policies lightening clear and everything seemed fair?

 

Have you been surprised to find that they wouldnt pay, when you thought they should?

 

To avoid actual naming and shaming in person, I was wondering about a poll to see a distribution of how outcomes of claims tend to go or a poll of which companies seem to pay out, maybe a 'they paid out!' thread! Would be good to get skeleton details of the claim, if people are willing!

 

Any thoughts peeps?!?!

[ChunksBigBro]

we had to claim for a broken window ( a huge one!) caused by stone from strimmer a year back.

 

First question from insurance company...did the user have a risk assessment?

 

us.....of course he did!

 

insurance.......ur not covered then, youve done all you can so we wont cover that.

 

us.....so if we hadnt done a risk assessment?

 

Insurance......well thats in breach of H&S so your policy would be invalid

 

us.......well that bull ****

 

the long and the short, after argueing that all of what we do is risk assessed so ill cancel my policy if ull never pay out, after a month of argueing they paid out....minus vat and excess!

[Andy Collins]

I've made two claims on separate policies in 16 years. Both have paid out more than I ever contributed. One is a sickness policy, the other an accident policy. So my experience is that insurance is there for when things go wrong, and is efficient. Neither of these policies attempted to find a way out of paying out, I just filled ut the claim forms and they paid.

[arbmark]

I've made two claims on separate policies in 16 years. Both have paid out more than I ever contributed. One is a sickness policy, the other an accident policy. So my experience is that insurance is there for when things go wrong, and is efficient. Neither of these policies attempted to find a way out of paying out, I just filled ut the claim forms and they paid.

 

Glad to hear it! Esp the sickness one.

 

thanks for the replies.

 

Not sure i'm going to get any brightly coloured bar charts out of this thread!

[roseyweb]

Claimed of trust last year, was fantastic in everyday, no hassle and stopped my sleepless nights so naturally I went with them a again this year

[arbmark]

Claimed of trust last year, was fantastic in everyday, no hassle and stopped my sleepless nights so naturally I went with them a again this year

 

great - a recommendation, even better

[likeitorlumpit]

I dread to think whether we would be covered in the event of a claim. I would have to get a claim expert in to do the phone conversation. And do a written risk assessment before I allowed him to phone.

[TrustInsurance]

Thank you Roseyweb for the positive feedback..

It's good to hear that our policies deliver.

[adrian007]

umm, don't normally declare this to the outside world, but I'm an IFA.

 

Most of the well known insurers are reasonably good at paying out, but there is a certain amount of 'you get what you pay for', so shop around, but stick to well known names.

 

If someone is dirt cheap and says they are part of another, well known insurance company, it's a fair bet the cheaper policy has the odd extra bit of small print included...

 

Most of the illness and sickness policies are straightforward to claim on, unless you have filled the application form in wrong - declare everything, even if they don't ask. If they accept you warts and all, they can't refuse to pay out so easily.

 

Oh, and if you have a particular concern, phone the claims hotline, or underwriting helpline and just ask - I had a mountain bike that was a tad over the standard values - I called my home insurance company and they would not let me store it locked with an audible alarm to a wall anchor in my locked integral garage, but it was OK to store it padlocked to the lampost at the bottom of my drive. Muppets.

 

I called the next one, discussed my circumstances and they were perfectly fine.

 

I'm currently doing a project for one of the insurance companies - dealing with the complaints that come in from PPI claims companies. So, I spend some time investigating policies that have been sold/missold. It's quite surprising, in a reassuring kind of a way, to see just how many of the polciies have paid out.

 

Adrian

 

And, if you want to complain about your PPI - just phone the lender and say 'I want to compalin about my PPI' - please don't use a claims firm.