One in five home insurance claims are rejected, which is considerably higher than the number of travel or motor insurance claims that are. Confusion surrounding what’s included in home insurance policies and the process of making a claim may be behind these high figures. We have over 35 years of experience dealing with property insurance claims, in particular regarding historic and period properties, so whether you’ve suffered a flood, fire or subsidence problem we can take the stress of insurance claims off your shoulders. If you are making the claim yourself, here’s our advice to help you.
Report it
If the reason for your building insurance claim is that you’ve been burgled and your property has been damaged it’s important to promptly report it to police, as your insurers will need a crime reference number to proceed with your claim.
Should I make a claim?
For high value losses to your home or business, deciding to claim is a no-brainer as your priority will be to get yourself up and running again with as little inconvenience as possible.
But for lower value claims, and assuming that your insurance policy doesn’t require you to report the type of damage that you’ve experienced, it’s worth considering whether or not claiming will be worthwhile. This is because claiming will often increase your insurers perceived risk of you and push up your home insurance premium. Therefore, if the value of your loss is relatively low, claiming may not make financial sense in the long run.
Fill out required claims forms
Once you’ve decided it’s appropriate to make a claim in your situation you’ll need to contact your insurer and fill out all the required paperwork to ensure they have the information they need to accept your claim. Details of the event along with photographs showing the damage are usually required. You should also keep any items that have been damaged and refrain from cleaning the area straight away, as if your claim is substantial a loss adjustor may be sent round to confirm your losses.
After your claim
Once you’ve provided all the relevant information and your claim has been accepted your insurer will then pay you the required amount to replace your losses or send a partner company round to fix the damage. If your claim isn’t successful you can challenge this judgement and find out what more is required for it to be accepted. If your premium increases a significant amount due to your claim you can call up your insurance provider and haggle, or else consider switching providers.
What we can offer you
Making a claim can be a time-consuming process, so if you’d prefer to hand over the job to our experienced team then our four-step process can make it far simpler and less stressful for you.
Our building insurance claims process:
- Get in contact with us and make a consultation appointment.
- Discuss circumstances surrounding your loss and pass over to us any relevant information.
- We liaise with your insurers.
- We come to an agreement with your insurers and get your property back to normal as soon as possible.
We will keep you informed throughout the process and won’t agree to anything without getting your consent first.
We have decades of experience managing complex insurance claims throughout Oxford and the Cotswolds, so you can rely on our team to protect your interests. To make a consultation appointment to discuss your claim, get in contact with us.
