Would you expect this to be covered under an insurance policy?

[guesswhosbac]

I have a accidental damage policy on my fridge freezer bought last year and this morning my house rabbit got out and has chewed though the wire. They are umming and ahhing about it being covered. Would you expect this to be covered on an insurance policy that I pay every month for?

I'd need to see the exact wording and any exclusions but in the face of it yes, I'd say that this should be covered as accidental damage.

Intuitively I think yes, but there's only one way to find out

Have they given any reason as to why it might not be?

I hope the rabbits ok

I suppose they might argue that by allowing the rabbit to chew it you've been negligent, rather than pure accidental damage. Think they should pay out, as im sure most accidents have some sort of negligence at its core, but thats probably what they are thinking

My home insurance specifically states it doesn’t cover damage caused by pets, so it might not be covered.

This is the wording. The man on the repair line just said that accidental damage is something like breaking a drawer and therefore he didn't know if it would be covered under accidental damage

No exclusions I can see. I just need to know as if they aren't going to cover it I need to order a new one and they won't give me a straight answer.

Can the cable not be replaced rather than replacing the fridge?

Just replace the power cable, surely? Easy job for any half-decent DIY'er. Even getting an electrician out is probably far less hassle.

Rabbit is fine by the way, he's just not the most popular person in this household today

It's not actually the power cable it's another wire under the fridge.

This one.

I think it's knackered unfortunately

It's probably still quite easily fixable if the insurance company come back and say it's not covered. Might be cheaper to do that depending on your excess etc.

Hi OP

You need to look into your exclusions not the cover as it is all risks other than the exclusions so the exclusions are important.

It could be one of two things.

Damage by pets is sometimes excluded under household policies as it's an optional extra, I'm sure you can imagine the amount of dogs that chew and ruin expensive furniture so it attracts a higher premium.

Otherwise he might be getting confused with a standard policy exclusion damage by rodents / vermin etc which is to take out things not being stored correctly and being chewed through. This is excluded in most policies. I'd argue this isnt intended to include household pets though.

If they are saying it's not covered for sure then you need to ask them to explain what part of the policy wording it is excluded in. Saying 'it is intended to cover damage such as...' has been shown in court to be ambiguous and insufficient for insurers to rely on, if the intent of the policy is to insure x and y then they should be explicitly making this clear in the policy wording and excluding everything other than that. Hope that helps

Damage by pets is excluded in most, if not all policies.

Finally got through to someone at the insurance company who put me through to hotpoint directly where I spoke to a nice man who's says as Ive got an insurance policy they will send someone out to repair it so hopefully it can be sorted now. I will definitely buy from hotpoint again there customer service is great.

No. Damage from domestic pets is generally listed as an exclusion. You should be able to tell, from reading your policy, whether this is included or not.

I will definitely buy from hotpoint again there customer service is great.
If all you're interested in is customer service, then carry on. However, I wouldn't buy a tumble dryer from Hotpoint though because of their fire safety issues.

I would not expect it to be.

@Calmandmeasured1
It's not just their tumble dryers that catch fire, their washing machines do to

I think I'd give all the makes in the group a wide berth because of the fire issues.