Should I be penalised twice after making one claim with Hastings

[pjmunden]

Hello all

This is my first question on this forum.

I recently has a burglary which meant I had to claim for damage to my window (Buildings) and  items stolen (contents)

Hastings Direct, who handled my claim atrociously, then sent me a letter saying they won't be quoting me for my renewal. Even though the claim was a no-fault malicious burglary.

When inputting my details into insurance price comparison sites  I was asked what claims I had made in the past three years. It looks like I have to input that I had both a Buildings claim and separate Contents claim which then results in a very expensive quote as the systems think I have made two claims when in reality it was one incident.  In addition I also lose my no-claims bonus for both Buildings and Contents.

Am I wrong in my belief that I'm being unfairly penalised or is this just "The way the system works"

Finally, since the claim I have lost my car keys and whilst I have Key protection insurance with Hastings I wonder if I do yet another claim for replacement will this be a 3rd claim? if so it probably isn't wort it.

Thanks any help much appreciated

PJM

 

 

 

[honeybee13]

Hello, welcome to CAG.

I've moved your thread to our insurance subforum where people should be along later to advise. I'm also tagging @unclebulgaria67 who's great on insurance issues.

Best, HB

[Ethel Street]

If it is a combined buildings and contents policy and you submitted one claim under it for all the loss and damage from the  burglary then it is only one claim. One policy, one insured event = one claim.The fact that for internal claim allocation purposes Hastings split the amount paid between different sections is just for their statistical analysis. It doesn't turn it into multiple claims. So for obtaining alternative quotes it is one claim.  The key point is that all the loses arose from one event, the burglary.

Unfortunately online sites are not very flexible about this. What I'd di get the best 3 quotes produced by the comparison site then call te insurers (if they don't call you first!) a explain the issue and check they understand it was only one claim .

Your bigger problem may be that they have declined to renew your policy. Have they explained why? Having one burglary claim in a year wouldn't normally result in the insurer refusing to renew, just offering renewal at a higher premium. Have you had  previous claims under your buildings and contents policy in the last 5 years?

Does the no claims bonus clause have a definition of what counts as one claim?

 

[pjmunden]

Thanks Ethel

I've only had one claim in my seven years of house insurance so I expect the reason Hastings didn't want to cover me is that, I was so appalled at their claim process and customer service, I contacted their CEO and I expect they just want claimants to bend over rather than call them out at the highest level. 

I'll contact Hastings to confirm it is only one claim. That should be fun.

Regards

Patrick

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes only one claim event. When you add details to comparison sites or Insurers sites and note claims, you would enter the date of the claim event. So if it asked to list Buildings and Contents claims separately, because you entered the same date, it would be recognised as one claim.

But as already suggested, you should not just use online quotes, as you need to speak to Insurers, to ensure your quote is accurate for one claim event. And you should also contact local Insurance Brokers to obtain quotes.

Hastings not quoting at renewal time is not refusing or cancelling Insurance. It is simply declining to quote and therefore not something you need to disclose to other Insurers. It could be that Hastings purely for underwriting reasons do not offer Insurance quotes in your postcode area, where there has been a burglary claim. So it may have nothing to do with your complaint. I managed House Insurance underwriting teams years ago and we would get regular criteria lists of risks that we no longer wanted to cover or where we would need to apply terms/conditions to renewal quotes. So it is not unusual for Insurers to not offer renewal quotes.