Insurance claim denied

[marigold34]

Myself and my husband have always had home insurance since we bought 7 years ago and have never had to claim...until now.
We had a gas leak a few years ago and we weren't covered so we ended up after to fork out a few thousand to get it repaired. We understood why we weren't covered and accepted it as bad luck.
My car hit the side of the house when coming into the driveway and impacted the brick. Our home insurance declined our claim on the basis that I did damage to my own home however our policy states we're covered for impact damage from a vehicle.
They claim had it been a someone visiting our home in a car and their car impacted our house we'd be covered.
My argument is we have had insurance with different companies over the years and would have been covered with these companies but we went through a broker last year and suddenly we're not covered for the one thing we need cover for. Has anyone any advice please?

Shamefully bumping hoping someone might help please 😊

I think they are right, sorry.

Not sufficient info 're gas leak, what did you try to claim for? Gas leaks don't normally result in damage and the cost of a new boiler would fall under general maintenance.

With regards to the impact damage, you need to look for exclusion under this subheading, but I wouldn't be surprised if damage is only covered if caused by a third party (is not you).

Yes, you need to read your policy ts&C's very carefully. The booklets can be quite confusing, but Happy is probably right.

Can you claim on the car insurance

@GreenTulips no that was my first port of call but my house and car are insured by the same company.
The gas leak was apparently under our floors but they couldn't pin point where and the insurance company were straight upfront when I rang them to say gas wasn't covered on any policy which is fair.
I've been advised to seek legal advice from somebody in insurance but I'm just wondering if anyone has ever gone down this road before. It's going to cost us thousands and we just don't have it. The fact is the broker never pointed out to us that our new policy was less than our previous policies plus to add insult to injury all other insurance companies I've looked at from high end to budget companies would have covered us without any issues.

I don’t think the broker thing is relevant. It’s the insurance company who provide the cover, the broker just helps you find the best deal.

I doubt you would have been covered with the other companies, except possibly if you’d paid extra for accidental damage cover, which you could have done with your current insurers if you’d chosen to.

I love the way you say “my car hit the side of the house” when what you really mean is “I drove my car into my house”. There are some daft actions you just can’t insure against.

@HeddaGarbled whilst it may seem daft to you you weren't there when it happened so please don't speculate how it happened as I had my newborn in the car with me I didn't go out of my way to hit the side of my house and potentially seriously injure me or my newborn.

Did the broker advise you to take the policy you did, rather than any other? Or did they give you an analysis of the policies they found for you, comparing one against the other? I think you may have a claim against the broker, depending on the detail, e.g. What service you asked for, how you were advised, and how they represented their service to you.

@Tolleshunt no they didn't advise any policy over the other. One example is this year I took my engagement ring off the policy as it was increasing it but I was fully aware of that so had my ring been lost or stolen I know that would have been tough. The person I spoke to feels confident we have a strong case due to the wording in the policy booklet which is very vague and not in line. I suppose I won't know more until I speak to a solicitor. Thanks anyway for all your replies

The person you speak to (if you set it up on the phone) can't possibly go through every single term and condition when giving a quote. And that's pretty much what they would be doing if you think they should have told you about this specific situation.

Fair enough if you asked about this and they told you the wrong thing but it doesn't sound like that happened.

If you want to look into everything like this you just need to make you get the quote document/policy booklet before you take the policy out

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Please send your policy wording and we can perhaps inform better.

From the information given, you would have needed trade and access cover for the first claim. Some insurers do offer this as an extra, did you ask for the additional cover? I don't know if it would extend to a gas leak or is restricted to a water leak mind

Who is your home insurance provider?' Your policy booklet tells you what they provide cover for and also where the exclusions apply. What does your policy state?

Your broker provides the best deal at the time and should offer to help with your claim. What have they said? They however cannot be expected to provide a full breakdown of the policy and it's exclusions against every possible eventuality of loss / damage !