watching the floods story on the news - 1 IN 4 households dont have house insurance

[nailpolish]

and they are calling on the government to help them out

if the government are willing ot help people out who dont have insurance, ie give them money i presume, then, er, why do i have insurance???

I don't anyone's suggesting they'll get these things replaced, in fact £1m on essential contents isn't going to go very far.

However, I wonder how you suggest society changes so that people feel less pressured to present a "normal respectable face" outwardly whilst scrimping on the things that are invisible, ie insurance. ? Peachy has a point, many people cannot get insurance, and also many people do feel pressurised to prioritise other things in a material society in the hope that "it will never happen".

haven't read the whole thread, but i live in Hull, the council(i think) at the moment are going round collecting donations of essentials on our freecycle to take to the people that have been flooded, i myself am insured, but was not flooded, but the cafe in the centre where i work was flooded and was not insured and a lot of stock was damaged, can't understand why not, as it is a council run facility!

It's interesting though, what you'd call a normal respectable face. To me, that is budgeting for smart, presentable clothes to wear to work; dressing DS in clean, ironed clothes with tidy hair; making sure the (old) car is reasonably clean inside and out, etc. And we definitely have insurance. I'm not sure what having the latest plasma screen telly has to do with a normal, respectable face tbh.

Hey J20Baby! (I'm not stalking you btw ) I used to live in Hull. That sounds just like Hull City Council to me (used to work for them lol).

have read a bit more, poor you ST, where are you staying atm, do you need anything?

i've got a dining room table on freecycle atm if you want it?

waves to twinkle

i know what you mean about hcc, our place of work has shut down for 5 months! got to drive right accross the city to get to a different site now, roll on my maternity leave!

I don't have a big TV much less so a flat one, I have more important things to spend the money on, like insurance.

However, it may be that we are judging the full segment of the flooded-not-insured population by a woman who opted for a big TV instead of insurance. I would bet that most of the uninsured affected are retired people who don't spend money they don't have in expensive gadgets.

Any other than them, they should have it.

BTW I lived in an area that was affected by floods a few years ago, and as far as I remember, it was not allowed for insurance companies not to renovate the contracts or deny covering areas that had been affected. The premiums may be more expensive now, but you can always insure for less in order to pay less per month. Not the best solution but at least you won't be left empty handed.

Coping j20, thanks. Eating off trays at the moment and sending the kids to their gran's a lot. I have heard that I might be able to get a hardship allowance from my insurers because we are still living in the house despite the conditions, going to investigate that on Monday. Let someone else have your table, they might need it more, thanks again though.

As for the 'government help' I repeat what I said earlier. It is not to replace all the fancy items, it is only bare essentials.

We have kids at school at the moment coming in borrowed clothes that are too big because families have lost their own stuff and now don't have laundry facilities (the local laundromat was flooded!) There was a lad on Friday who had buttered bread for his packed lunch ? the temporary accommodation his family are in doesn?t have a fridge so their food went off. There are families living 5 or more to a single room. Some of them would normally have a 5 minute walk to school, now they have a 30 minute taxi ride or more. It is confusing and scary for some of these youngsters.

DH & I are both developing chest infections because our house now has mould spores in it. My next door neighbour (E) has a 6 week old baby. They have been confined to the upstairs of their house for safety, but E has now got pneumonia and is in hospital. All because of the damp. There just isn?t enough spare accommodation for everyone to be moved out.

Yes there are uninsured people here. I agree, more fool them BUT they are not getting everything replaced by the government or the local council. They will probably have extra debt to deal with for years to come because they will be paying back credit for all those fancy TVs and stuff.

Please, if you want to get annoyed or angry about all this, come and live in Hull for a week and see how you would cope. And at least get your facts straight about what help is really on offer.

An illuminating thread. i have insurance and can afford it (though now wonder what it does cover), but feel desperately sorry for all in Hull/Doncaster/wherever who are flooded. I do feel government should pay for help pay for essentials eg fridge/oven/clearing out the place, but obviously no more: after all they waste money on a lot more and that's more of a scandal (as well as allowing building on flood plains). Society is unfair and always will be, we will always have a problem distinguishing between the "deserving" and "undeserving poor". I would hate to think in a civilised society we would leave people in rotting wet homes with not even basics of comfort. If there was an appeal set up (and why hasn't it been?) I would definitely give to it.

sanae - there is an appeal for South Yorkshire here.

East Yorkshire and Hull have local appeals for actual goods and services rather than money, so not so easy to donate too unless you are local.

donate to

ST do you know anyone that wants the table?

its awful about your chest infections, can't you stay anywhere, i got a tummy bug from being at work for 4 hours on Monday that wont go away! look after yourselves x

IsabelWatchingItRainInMacondo, I'm not sure insuring for less is a solution - I think insurance companies can refuse to pay up if you're 'under-insured'.

Will ask around j20.

Insuring for less is not always a good idea. Even on a 'new for old policy' if the Loss Adjuster decides that your total contents are worth, say £40,000 and your policy is for £20,000, they will only pay out 50% of your claim. You might only be claiming for £500 worth of stuff but you wil only get the percentange they reckon you are covered for.

KerryMum, the honours system works by the Loss Adjuster estimating what something is worth by looking at the current market. It means you may well only get Argos prices for Harvey Nicks goods.

They might be a bit more generous with clearly branded items. Not everything is branded though so that is when you will tend to lost out.

Just remember that if you ever have to claim, you have to stand your ground and argue if they make low offers. It is a bit like haggling to buy something at a knock down price, only with insurance you have to be pushing the price up not down

Please ignore typos, trying to type and watch Grand Prix at same time

Also, if you loo closely, insurers wriggle out of paying by limits on what they pay. These of course don't appear in their big flash adverts.

Typically you will see limits on individual items. Also they may segment it, so no more than X on electronics, no more than X for the items which are expensive, and so on.

A standard scam by insurers is to not have so many limits when you sign up for insurance, and then if you renew, quietly adding limits and increasing exclusions and the amount you have to lose (excess) before they pay anything at all.

Ever wondered why they are so keen on standing orders or direct debit ?
They don't want you to check terms.

St George - I feel desperately sorry for those of you in Hull and E Yorks (an area I love). I would never suggest that people shouldn't receive help with the basics from the government - everyone is entitled to that. I was referring to my lack of sympathy with those (probably a minority) that buy the latest gadgets then plead that they can't afford to have insurance. I didn't think for one minute that the government would be paying for those luxury items to be replaced.

I really hope you can get yourself sorted out as soon as possible and regain some normality.