You may have seen the recent Stuff news article “Insurers don’t really pay 99.9 per cent of claims”, with Tower Insurance quoted as saying “around 20% of all claims made were withdrawn by policyholders”.
However, based on our experience this seemed a bit too high, so we decided to take a closer look at our clients’ fire and general insurance claims.
It shows a different picture. So far this year, 8% of the claims made by our clients have been withdrawn. Of those, 81% were because there was no damage, or the amount of damage was below the excess payable. The remaining 19% of these withdrawn claims (1.6% of the total claims lodged by our clients this year) were because the damage that occurred wasn’t covered by the policy.
Of course, to help protect your assets if the unexpected happens, one of the most important things you can do upfront is to make sure you have appropriate insurance. It’s equally important to do the same for your house so that if it’s destroyed you have enough cover to rebuilld.
AdviceFirst is committed to realising good outcomes for our clients. So, when it comes to fire and general insurance claims, we have some very clear guidelines for you:
– We advise you to notify your insurer as soon as an event occurs, as this means the insurance company can help assist with repairs or assessments of damage if required.
– If it turns out that there is no damage, or the cost will be under your excess, you always have the option to withdraw your claim. It’s usually a much easier process to lodge a claim “just in case” than to try and lodge one months later when you discover the true extent of the damage.
– Sometimes it’s not immediately known if your policy will cover the damage. In these cases, it’s best to lodge a claim so that the experts in the claims team can take a closer look at the exact circumstances to determine whether or not your policy will provide cover. Occasionally we get a nice surprise and find that something we didn’t think would be covered, is indeed covered.
– If in doubt, please talk to your insurance Adviser, but usually, lodging a “just in case” claim is the sensible thing to do.
With AdviceFirst, you can be assured that we only recommend insurance products and providers who meet our strict criteria to help achieve good outcomes for you.
When you’re planning your cover with your Adviser, you may want to weigh up different types of insurance policies such as replacement versus agreed value.
As always, it’s important you’re able to get knowledgeable advice from an expert who is on your side, so please be sure to contact your AdviceFirst Adviser for any help you need.
When planning your contents insurance, here’s a very helpful guide to help get you started:
