Hi all!

Just a quick insurance question on behalf of my mother.

A while ago she was on holiday with my dad in The Netherlands and unfortunately her brand new camera that she got for christmas was stolen from her bag whilst walking around town. Fortunately however she had taken out a one off Travel Insurance policy through Mondial Assistance through the KLM website when the flight was booked.

Anyway, she came back and submitted a claim to the travel insurance and after a few weeks she got a cheque in the post which more or less perfectly covered the camera, a case and a memory card. A surprisingly painless process and we thought that was everything over and done with. That was back in March or April.

Today however, she received an e-mail from the travel insurance company saying that they had been trying to contact her because they needed her Home Insurance details. We called them up querying this and they said that they were entitled to contact the Home Insurance company for a contribution towards the claim, due to an agreement in the ABI.

Now obviously we're not too keen on giving them the home insurance details. The last thing we want is this showing up as a claim on the home insurance company. Are they really entitled to this? Can they ask the home insurance company for a contribution towards the claim? If they are will this show up as a claim on the home insurance policy which would damage premiums/no claims bonuses?

Any advice is as always very much welcome and I thank you in advance!

Yes Travel Insurers seeking a contribution from Home Insurers is perfectly normal. The Home Insurers will just note this as a contribution claim if they have cover away from home. This will of course have a slight impact on premiums, but probably not as much as a direct claim on the Insurance.

Really? It seems a little strange to me that the home insurance company can be expected to make a contribution. We paid the premium to the Travel Insurance company, not the Home insurance company. I'm not even sure if my parents home insurance has any kind of 'away from home' cover. It also seems strange that they would ask for this information more than a month AFTER they've already sent out the cheque.

Surely if the premium was paid entirely to the travel insurance company, then the responsibility to pay out is entirely on them? The entire reason travel insurance was taken out seperately was to ensure that other insurance policies wouldn't be affected with claims/premium increases.

So what would happen if they didn't have home insurance? Or if they refused to disclose the details to protect their home insurance premiums?

Really? It seems a little strange to me that the home insurance company can be expected to make a contribution. We paid the premium to the Travel Insurance company, not the Home insurance company. I'm not even sure if my parents home insurance has any kind of 'away from home' cover. It also seems strange that they would ask for this information more than a month AFTER they've already sent out the cheque.

Surely if the premium was paid entirely to the travel insurance company, then the responsibility to pay out is entirely on them? The entire reason travel insurance was taken out seperately was to ensure that other insurance policies wouldn't be affected with claims/premium increases.

 

So what would happen if they didn't have home insurance? Or if they refused to disclose the details to protect their home insurance premiums?

If they don't have Home Insurance or away from home cover, the Travel Insurers won't be able to claim a contribution.

When people take out Insurances, I would suggest that they read ALL of the policy wording. If they did, they will see that it states that in the event of a claim, the Insurers have the right to claim a contribution from ANY other Insurance that may also cover the loss event.

This contribution claim back is written into all polices, as far as I am aware.

Yes very annoying and I can see your point. If you don't like a clause in an Insurance policy phone them up and see if they will delete it, subject to an additional premium.