Is it worth claiming on the insurance?

[CaramelEmporium]

Looking for insurance claim advice please! We have never claimed on on our household insurance for anything previously in 20 years. Situation is this - ensuite bathroom, something is wrong with the walk in shower and the water appears to be draining thro the ceiling below rather than thro the pipes...causing water damage to the landing ceiling beneath and door to room beneath now won’t close because frame has swelled etc. Plumber has had a quick look, shower tray is wobbly, piping is probably disconnected but until shower tray comes up problem / extent of damage won’t be clear. Ceiling hasn’t fallen through (yet).

My dilemma is this. My perception, right or wrong, is that it’s ‘not worth’ claiming on the insurance because it means premiums the next year will be extortionate.

We were going to replace the ensuite anyway eventually (not because we thought there was a problem, just a bit dated).

So do we a) not claim on the insurance and swallow the full costs of ripping out whole bathroom incl shower and fixing up water damage downstairs given that bathroom was going to be done at some point anyway and keep insurance costs down in future - OR - b) report it to the insurance and hopefully get some ££ towards the en-suite renovation but see insurance premium sky rocket next year? Thanks for any advice.

It depends on your cover/excess and costs to fix

It depends, but it sounds as though the repairs might be costly and you’ll have to factor in redecorating costs too. The whole job could cost up to a thousand or more.
It’s unlikely that your insurance would go up but too much and you’ll keep your savings in the bank , apart from the excess.
In view of the fact that you’re not a regular claimer, I doubt that the increase will be too much.

When my , then toddler, son leaned on the open door of our washing machine, it promptly fell off and smashed. The hinge had worn, apparently.
We ummed and aahed , like you and I decided to call our insurers. They were fantastic. Said that it was our first claim ever ( quite a few years) and that there was no need for a valuer to come round and immediately ordered a washing machine of a superior quality to ours as our model was no longer available. The increase in our premium was negligible.

Again, when we had a slow leak in our bathroom that caused our hall ceiling to bow, a lot of plumbing work was needed as well as chasing the leak through our floor and walls.
The whole bill was nearly three thousand and, again, our increase in premium was small.

Just give them a call. You’re not obliged to accept their offer to respond.

Excess for escape of water is £350. Repair costs unknown yet.

I suppose what I’m asking is if we claim can I expect my premium to shoot from what I’ve paid this year - £334 - to something off the scale?

On what basis would you claim? They won't cover wear and tear.

It's not just about excess V premium increase. Are you actually covered for the damage? There is little point having insurance if you don't use it when you actually need it for fear of having to pay more in future. That's normal and if you get out more then you pay in your are winning.

If it's proven that you knew about the issue for a long while before claiming then you might pay your excess and they could decide not to cover it completely anyway.

If you only just noticed the issue and it was very clearly hidden from view for a while then it could be worth claiming.

Hi I have worked in insurance for 20 years I would always tell someone to claim. An escape of water claim is one of the most expensive claims to fix as the property must be dried out properly before works can start. It is always worth speaking to your insurers to see if you are covered. Just because you have claimed does not mean your insurance premium will jump up and you can always shop around at renewal. You have paid for this service please use it.

jgjg is asking the correct question to me. You need to be sure your policy covers this situation which sounds different to a spontaneous leak that causes immediate damage and would be covered. It might be unhelpful to make a claim then find you are not covered.

Good luck.

@jgjgjgjgjg

On what basis would you claim? They won't cover wear and tear.

We wouldn’t be claiming on wear and tear?? the shower plumbing is leaking downstairs. Were it not for the fact that we were intending to replace the en-suite anyway then I probably wouldn’t be questioning whether to claim on the insurance or not. The shower tray will need to come up which means taking out the shower tray, breaking tiles etc.

Someone else who works in insurance has already mentioned it, but repairs to the damage caused by escape of water will definitely be covered under the buildings policy.

We had a burst pipe which leaked through the ceiling and I bitterly regret not claiming at the time.

I’m not sure how I’ve given the impression that we’ve known or thought there was a problem for a long time?
Replacing the en-suite has been on the to do list since we moved in 5 years ago but we’ve been using it every day until Thursday last week when a massive stain appeared on the landing ceiling beneath.

Hi they won't cover the cost of the leak ie fixing shower tray but they may cover what we call, the resultant damage, which is the water damage to ceilings etc. If the door frame is swelling you may find the floor is also damaged therefore making this a bigger job than first thought. You may need dehumidifiers to dry everything out a dry certificate before you start to do repairs.

We recently claimed (first time in 20 years). Cost of claim was £700, excess was £250, the insurance company said the insurance would go up next year but wouldn’t be by much (paid £225 this year). Claim took about 2 weeks to settle (accidental damage that broke the TV).

OP, I didn't think you'd known about it for some time but my (incorrect) reading of your post was that this was a long-standing leak that was hidden. I've reread your post and can see this isn't what you meant.

To be fair it might be a long standing problem that has only become apparent/visible. Guess we won’t know until plumber rips the shower up. I’ll give the insurers a call on Monday I think. Thanks

Hi Op, I had this very same quandary about 18 months ago when we discovered the carpet was wet in our hallway at the bottom of the stairs, and all up the wall up to the ceiling. Turned out we had a leak in the hot water pipe on the bit that fed into the shower bar behind the shower panel in the cubicle in the bathroom directly above the hall. DH is pretty handy and took up the floorboards in the bathroom to try to sort (New Years Day!) but even though he isolated the water it was still leaking. We decided that given we had never claimed before and potentially the whole shower cubicle and panels (instead of tiles - these are quite expensive) might need to come off we decided to call the insurers and were glad we did.

We got an emergency plumber to come out the day after NYD who sorted the leak. In the end, the water had found its way down the light fitting in the hall and soaked the plasterboard ceiling as well as the walls. An insurance assessor came out within days and agreed the claim was valid. We ended up having to have the whole ceiling removed in our hallway, as there was old artex in it. The builders working on the job had to stop work and get the asbestos people out to check it all the next day and they had the results on the next working day. (Don’t know if you know this but some post war artex has asbestos in it). Anyway, that was all covered by the insurance, thank goodness. It was negative but I dread to think how much it would have cost otherwise, had we have been paying for it.

The insurance company initially gave us the choice of having a cash payment paid directly to us based on an estimate of the cost of the job for us to sort ourselves, by employing local tradesman - or them subcontracting a building firm to do all the work. We opted for the latter as it gave a two year guarantee on the work and they organised it all. We had to have all the wallpaper stripped off in the hall, landing and bathroom, then dried with industrial fans until the moisture monitor showed acceptable levels in the areas concerned. Only then could they redo the ceilings, plaster and then decorate. This was on buildings insurance and the claim for water egress had an excess on it which we had to pay directly to the building firm. We also claimed on contents for the carpet. At the time, we did consider changing our bathroom suite given it was dated and the whole room was being redecorated, new cubicle and new flooring. The man from the insurance said that we could do whatever we wanted outside of the claim, as long as the work they were doing was not outside of what was agreed. We opted to keep the same suite in the end as it was perfectly serviceable and we couldn’t really afford to get a new suite at the time.

At the beginning I felt bad that we were claiming but ultimately that’s what you pay your insurance for and when it’s a genuine claim they will see that. Our premium did not go up that much the following year, which I was surprised at. We stayed with the same company anyway. Hope that helps! Sorry for the essay!

Claim. Your premiums shouldn't increase for one claim after so many years and this could cost a lot to mend.

I had a claim for water damage a year ago it was about a £3k payout. My premium renewal has just come through for over £700 😥😥 not sure if it's worth trying to find another insurer

Eek @RoseLavenderBlue.

I’m being distracted that the fact that we were imminently replacing the en-suite. If everything was pristine I’d not be hesitating and the repair costs might escalate for all I know. I will call, thanks all.

Happened to me in kitchen , I claimed and while
Premiums didn’t rocket it was excluded on subsequent years cover at various insurers

@1Morewineplease

Whilst not being obliged to do anything, when we rang ours to enquire about a situation, we were told even the asking about it would stay on our records

Really @Mydiary? No wonder insurance companies get a bad rep. I know they have to be vigilant and weed out false claims but even so!

Different insurers but my car insurance did this, my car was broken in to and I rang my insurance. The excess was £350 and to get it repaired was only £150 more so I got it done myself. When renewal came through it had bumped right up. I left and when I got a quote from them a year later it was still on their records and will be until 3/4 years after I can’t remember which.

[quote Mydiary]@1Morewineplease

Whilst not being obliged to do anything, when we rang ours to enquire about a situation, we were told even the asking about it would stay on our records [/quote]
Yes , of course it would as the insurers need to weigh up the risk on your property and to weigh up the risk of further claims.
The insurers don’t want customers who claim over every single little thing that goes wrong, eg tv blew up in March, boiler packed up in April, subsidence in May and a burst water tank in June. Alas, some people , albeit a minority, claim for everything and that impacts on future claims and premiums.
Your insurer needs to know if there are problems, but if you don’t claim then you’ll be ok.

Insurers don’t have a bottomless pit of money to pay for everything that goes wrong in everyone’s homes.
And don’t forget, we can all change insurers quite quickly now.
Our insurance, despite our claims, is much lower now than ten years ago.