Hi,

Was burgled yesterday and had quite a lot of things stole and need to claim on my contents insurance. I have a few reservations I hope you can help me with:

1) Will they ask for proof of purchase/ownership? I have the boxes of things that were stolen, but definitely not all the receipts as some things were gifts or are past their warranty.

2) Are they likely to value my goods at less that what they would cost to replace? For instance I had a brand new wii + 2 full controllers costing £250. Can I expect only getting back a fraction of this?

Also, I had an item stolen that wasn't mine, but was in my house at the time. Is this claimable?

The last thing is that its a rented accommodation, and is a house share between myself and two of my friends - again, would there be any issues arising from this?

Sorry for all the questions - first time burgled and still slightly ****ed off about it all!

Thanks

First of all sorry to hear about this-its not a very nice experience.

It is usual that you will need to show some evidence of the items you want to claim for,whether it be receipts,photographs etc.

Much of the info you are asking for-should be detailed in your policy docs.

The shared occupancy scenario would prob come into question if you had not declared this when taking out your policy.

Hopefully others will be around to add more here.

Thanks for the support! I'm thankful that it looks like an opportunistic burglary by some kids. It really could have been so much worse considering I car share and my car keys were on the coffee table right next to where most of the items were stolen, and that I'd gone out the back and taken the back door key/back gate key with me. Given where we live we've vehemently kept the blinds closed around the house to minimise what can be seen.

Still, it very much sucks! The policy is from Endsleigh who specialise in shared tenancy contents insurance.

Ah ok.

If you have not got the policy details at hand-you should be able to view them online.

From what I can gather I only need to provide some form of valuation for items exceeding £1000.

Can't weedle out any answers to my other queries as yet.

In regard to the shared tenancy occupancy of the property, as long as you have declared this to Endsleigh, then that should not be a problem.

Insurers will always look for as much proof of ownership as possible, so they have a chance of working out the loss value. This could be operating manuals for electricals, photo's, bank statements showing purchase etc. It is up to you to work with the Insurers assessor, to help them help you. What assessors really hate are people just moaning about what they can't do. Try your best to help. People that are difficult with assessors, tend to set alarm bells ringing that the claim or amount being claimed are not right, so this just leads to investigations/delays.

For policies that are described as valuables e.g. jewellery, the policy terms will state that proof of ownership will be required. Insurers are normally strict about this.

If the policy is new for old, then Insurers will settle for the cost of replacement, less the excess. Insurers may opt to arrange replacement of certain goods themselves, rather than settle by cash. Under a new for old policy, things like clothing and linen are subject to wear and tear deductions.

For the item that was not yours, it depends on what this was and the arrangement. Speak to the Insurers and their assessor.

I'm a bit concerned with that fact that I have 2 PS3's, one is a slim one (which i have the box/receipt), but the other is the original (which i have the box).

Again, I also had 2 digital cameras, one of which being a gift (which I have boxes, no receipts).

I'm hoping these are not issues due to the shared tenancy :/

Fortunately I always keep boxes of things in storage so nothing that was taken is without the box it came in - so this should go some way to providing evidence to the insurers.

The 2 PS3's and digital cameras will not be a problem, if you have some proof of ownership i.e. the boxes.

BUT, the Insurers must have been aware of the shared ownership. You stated in a post that Endsleigh specialise in this area, which is true, but only if you declared this and they have underwritten the policy on this basis.

If you have not declared the occupancy, Endsleigh could decline the claim and make your policy void. If the happened you could of course appeal this with them and go to the FOS if necessary.

Its been declared as shared tenancy (as that was the basis upon which the policy was taken out), so that shouldn't be a problem.

I've got a crime ref. no. to supply them with as well.

when you say opportunistic burglary, was it forced entry? or window door left unlocked??

Hi Pertinky, Ive recently had dealings with loss adjusters. Admitedly, mine was a shed burglary but well over £5000 of fishing tackle stolen.

Most of my equipment had been bought from ebay or from tackle sales so I had very little in the way of receipts.

The loss adjuster asked to see my ebay account, my wife had deleted everything a few weeks previously so there was just a few recent things showing.

He looked at the shed but never went in it.

His only concern was that he was under the inpression the policy was quite new - it wasnt, it was originally taken over from Norwich Union by Aviva. When I pointed this out, he called me less than an hour after leaving here stating he was happy with the claim and would recommend it be paid out.

Insurance on the shed was capped at £2500 but I wasnt too bothered about that because fishing tackle devalues very quickly when bought new - and I did manage to replace all my stuff with far better equipment and still have a fair amount for myself:)

The only reservation I had is that the insurance company have their own tackle supplier so I had the choice of a £2500 coupon to shop there, or a reduced payment of £2150 in cash - this figure they say is less the discount they could get from the supplier.

I took the cash and got myself a much better deal.

Just my experience of loss-adjusters. Hope it helps.