Massive Insurance Premium hike.

[Wowbagger]

My daughter has just had her annual insurance renewal notice from Aviva. Last year her annual £434. They've just bumped it up to £933.

Under normal circumstances she would just wave goodbye and go somewhere else, but she is part way through a very large claim, which has been made much more expensive for the Ins Co because they appointed contractors who appointed subcontractors who did the work all wrong and they had to do it all again - including digging the bathroom floor up twice. The waste water excess has been increased to £450.

My understanding is that the drainage work has now been done satisfactorily, but of course at great inconvenience to her. Furthermore, the damp and possible subsidence caused to her kitchen has yet to be addressed. (One guy who came along blamed the massive amounts of damp on condensation from the fridge...)

She's going to have strong words with the loss adjuster.

Has anyone any experience of changing ins co part way through a large claim? And would any other company still charge her vast amounts? Thanks in advance...

[rafletcher]

I’d say stick it out.  The extra £500 this year will be a drop in the ocean compared to having to fix the issues herself. Then shop around via broker next year.

[Canardly]

Is there not a case for a claim here via no win no fee which should provide an independent surveyors report. Poor workmanship, rework, inconvenience, dampness impact on health, mental anguish, additional catering costs etc? An award would help with any premium.

[rafletcher]

Is there not a case for a claim here via no win no fee which should provide an independent surveyors report. Poor workmanship, rework, inconvenience, dampness impact on health, mental anguish, additional catering costs etc? An award would help with any premium.

But who’d carry the can, the insurer, contractor, subcontractor etc. etc..

[Canardly]

The employer is presumably the insurance company.

[ian]

Gripe a lot, but as ever, insurance works by shifting the costs from non-claimees to claimees, so they can discount heavily and win new customers while passing along the bill for that.

[Pedaldog.]

After my recent claims for the garage raids and stolen bikes they've hiked my excess to £500.00 for any claims.  If it weren't for the bikes I have I would shop around, unlikely to find anything cheaper with such a big claim though.

[Wowbagger]

One of the reasons the claim is so big, and is ongoing, is because of the incompetence of the cowboys appointed by Aviva or their contractor. If they'd done their job properly they would have found the second broken pipe(this was found by Dinorod, whom my daughter brought in specially because she didn't trust the cowboys) and the hugs pool of effluent rotting her kitchen joists wouldn't have happened either. She reckons she is going to have to be rehoused for 4 weeks when they take up the kitchen floor and re-board it. That's a massive amount of stress and pain, with implications for getting her kids to school and herself to work, not to mention the every-present Covid risk of getting people into the house or moving around to different properties.

[Shreds]

Insurance ombudsman.

But don’t change companies mid claim. Otherwise she may get nothing. Plus all ins. Companies share info, getting declined by one could result in not being able to get building insurance.

Also check whether the total insured value is correct using BCIS online calculator, but never under insure. Better slightly over.

[Wowbagger]

Developments; daughter has lodged an official complaint, primarily about the really bad way her claim has been handled, but also about the hike in the premium. They are about to be rehoused for a second time as a result of the insurer paying a contractor to do the work, the contractor taking a cut, and then handing it down the line to a cowboy who did a shit job. It's got to the point that there is now damp in their dining room wall because the whole mess has taken so long to sort out.

They are going to a self-catering place in Oxford for a fortnight, paid for by the insurer, whilst the place is sorted out.