Holiday posts on social media - insurance

[afrikat]

I keep hearing about people invalidating their home insurance if they post on social media that they are on holiday. If you have high privacy settings, i.e. you have to be accepted as a friend to see your socials, how would insurance know you have posted?

Have you read your policy?
My policy has no such clause.

Good point I'll check. Still interested in the answer to my question though

Do you mean you keep hearing the urban myth or you actually know someone that this has happened to?

I don't know anyone who posts when they are actually ON holiday, everyone seems to be so massively security conscious that they are convinced they would be burgled, so they all post their holiday pics once they are back home.

A bit like the postcard arriving two weeks after you've got back.

Urban myth.

I know quite a few who do.

There is an active MN thread at the moment about people posting on holiday and lots of people on there are bringing up this insurance thing so trying to figure out how that's actually possible if your settings are private

But surely..I mean, how can it invalidate your insurance? You might have left a house full of your relatives behind? Just posting that you are on holiday doesn't mean the house is empty and available to be burgled/have water damage etc, does it?

Stop reading false news would be my best suggestion.

I post while I'm on holiday. Burglars are welcome to try and get past my dogs and the ex-Army sitters who are in my house though LOL, they'd be better waiting until I got home.

https://press.gocompare.com/news/summer-break-blunders-a-third-could-be-putting-their-home-at-risk-by-posting-on-social-media

There does seem to be info out there suggesting it's true

That article is heavily caveated, anyone could right about things that possibly could happen but in reality never have. I'm not sure who it's aimed at but the tips are like a 1970s information film 😁

I do like the try not to post on social media though, the struggle is real

Of course its not true, use your common sense

My personal favourites are people who post on Facebook spotted groups about wanting a taxi to get to the airport on a certain date.

There used to be a local woman who had an amazing house, posted about holidays, taxis and gave fairly decent stuff away. Her house was a glaring target as it was in the sticks. Obviously I used to stalk her profile thinking she was an idiot.

To answer your actual question about how insurers know if people have posted on social media - simply they have social media accounts they use if they need to investigate claims etc - not under the insurers name obviously - but this is used a lot.

I work in insurance and whilst it's not recommended or ideal to post on fb anyway until you're back home there's no actual exclusion or policy conditions that means a claim can be turned down purely on the basis you've posted a few holiday pics and statuses.

Thank you! I wondered if anyone would ever answer the question 🤣

OP it's like the myth that you aren't "allowed" to drive after a c section

Are there actually any documented cases of this happening?

Not that I know of but there is a live thread elsewhere on the boards and there are loads of people on there insisting it happens. Seems to be a commonly believed myth, if it isn't true