Answer: When you drop an iron on one and need to make a claim.

Ridiculous as it may seem flooring is only flooring if it goes wall to wall.

Otherwise its a 'set' and the insurance company will only pay to replace the damaged tile and not the whole 'set'!

Be warned this also goes for a set of a three piece suit or a set of a bathroom suite.

So just check if your policy states that "the insurer will not pay the cost of replacing or repairing any undamaged parts of the buildings which form a pair,SET,suite or part of a common design or function when the loss or damage is restricted to a clearly definable area or to a specific part"

Fortunately there is hope.

After speaking with the Financial Ombudsman Service, who apparently deal with this type of situation regularly, they have come to a compromise and if you are unable to match or replace the item then you are entitled to receive 50% of the entire bill.

The insurance company WILL be aware of this fact.

This is pretty much standard practice for most home insurance policies.

there is, however, something I recall in motor insurance, though whether it wold apply to home insurance I do not know. It is a case that I handled.

A car owner had one of his alloy wheels damaged. He wanted a replacement alloy to match the remainder. The alloys were discontinued and none could be found. the insurer then offered the cost of one alloy, claiming that this was indemnifying him. The owner complained to me, and I agreed with his argument. So do the FOS when I was barred from doing what he wanted, resulting in a complaint to them.

Like I said, whether this would apply to the OP circumstances I don't know. It would really peeve off the insurance industry if it did. So if any working in claims could call the FOS helpine and put it to an advisor there to confirm, about 90% of the population would be very pleased!

I had a very similar case today where a customer rang discuss renewing her policy and wanted to know if we would replace the whole bathroom suite if just one of the items was broken and couldn't be replaced. I checked our policy wording and it says that its not covered and we would only offer a settlement for the cost of the item from our suppliers.

Apparently some companies are offering 25% towards the cost of replacing the whole suite if this happens (This is the customer telling me this so how true it is i don't know).

DA