Home First time claim in 9 years - gutter problems

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D8Lady

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I have paid €400 per year for last 9 years in home insurance.

I put my first claim in ever but was very unhappy with the result.
The heavy rain we had a few weeks ago caused my back gutters to come down. Because wind was less than 50mph, it wasn't calssified as a storm, hence I wasn't covered!

Just wondering if this is a reasonable rate, could anyone suggest if there were any better deals out there.

Thanks.
 
A Bank of Ireland representative , told me last week that they are now doing great deals on home insurance .( we pay € 380 and he said BOI would be only around half that .)

We had never bothered to ask for a quote from anyone , just let it automatically renew each year ............definately a mistake not to shop around
 
D8Lady said:
I have paid €400 per year for last 9 years in home insurance.... Just wondering if this is a reasonable rate, could anyone suggest if there were any better deals out there....
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Who knows, it all depends on so many variables you haven't supplied like reinstatement costs of the house, policy excess, whether you have intruder alarms fitted, whether the area is prone to flooding, whether high-value portable items are included (jewellry, laptops, cameras), the value of home contents, etc, etc.

These days unfortunately there is no such thing as "home insurance" as every Tom, Dick and Harry broker seems to be flogging a unique policy under their own brand. This includes Bank of Ireland, PostBank, etc. Be careful when getting quotes my own experience is that no two policies will give you identical levels of cover, but over the phone they will tell you their policy is the best / cheapest / least restrictive and so on.
 
D8Lady said:
I have paid €400 per year for last 9 years in home insurance.

I put my first claim in ever but was very unhappy with the result.
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You can get your own Loss Assessor to do a survey of the damage for you. After all that what the insur
 
In the process of getting paid out and very pleased with the outcome. However, I did use a loss assessor (thanks to another AAM'er for the recommendation) and he more than paid for himself in my opinion.
Before you present a claim, you need to check the policy. The devil is in the detail. I wouldn't stick in a claim without a loss assessor unless it was something that was extremely clearcut. I would double check what they told you. Check your policy document and see if it states specifically re. 50mph.

By all accounts, the claims are coming in thick and fast as people are putting in claims for stuff they left on the long finger (whilst money wasn't a concern) and others putting in bogus claims cos they're stretched for cash. Thats why all the premiums have gone up and also why the insurance co's are doing everything they can to knock back claims.
 
Thanks for all the replies everyones.

It took €55 for materials and a few hours work for my Dad & me to sort out.

I'm still looking around for other policies though.

I had to pay a call out charge of €200 to a guy sent by the insurance company because roof work needed 2 people. He turned up by himself, stayed 10 mins & wanted a cheque made out to cash. No receipt!

After a phone call or two, he agreed to do the job for an extra €150. God knows what he was going to charge the insurance company.
 
I'd say a proper examination of your claim and the policy booklet would mean you may be able to put through a successful claim, but by claiming for €350, you may be shooting yourself in the foot. When you take into account your policy excess, loss of no claim discount and inability to shop around next year, you will probably be better off not claiming. Find a good broker next year who will shop around for you and advise on the claims process (I suppose I would say that as I'm a broker!) as independent advise when it matters can really help.
 
allthedoyles said:
A Bank of Ireland representative , told me last week that they are now doing great deals on home insurance .( we pay € 380 and he said BOI would be only around half that .)
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Absolutely Brilliant. With all the press and media reports you suggest trusting what someone from the Bank told you ? Insurance is worked out on percentages for amount of cover required. It reduces when and where the level of risk is lowered. Simple as that.

Anything that looks too good to be true normally is just that. Insurance is for Insurance companies - and in the main they are pretty good at it. Banking is for Bankers and look how good they are at that !!
 
D8Lady said:
<snip>
The heavy rain we had a few weeks ago caused my back gutters to come down. <snip>
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I have never heard of heavy rain causing gutters to fall down before.
Assuming they were cleaned occasionally and not full of debris and growth preventing them self-clearing and the outlets weren't blocked they should have cleared and stayed up.
It sounds more like they may not have been cleared any time recently and the weight of the debris plus the water may have pulled non-screw fixings from fascia boards which may also be rotten.
The usual cause for fascia boards rotting is missing misplaced, or rotten felt letting unpreserved fascias get wet and stay wet for long periods.
Overflowing or leaking gutters will tend to exacerbate this problem.
I hope you guys took the time to check the condition of the fascias and the joists behind them while ye were up there.

HTH

ONQ
 
If you have a problem with a claim again get an Insurance Loss Assessor to look at the damage first.
I am an Assessor and I have seem to many cases where Insurers and Loss adjusters have really chanced their arm.
 
onq said:
It sounds more like they may not have been cleared any time recently and the weight of the debris plus the water may have pulled non-screw fixings from fascia boards which may also be rotten.

I hope you guys took the time to check the condition of the fascias and the joists behind them while ye were up there.
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Gutters were clear, just old I guess, house is over 60 years and these were the cast iron original gutters. No other rotting problems observed. But thank for the tips.
 
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