Advice needed PLEASE re after effects of the floods,

[jeanettethree]

Hi there this is my 1st post so please be gentle with me ,

My mum was a victim of last years June floods, her house was under water, and so was her garage,

We claimed from her Insurance company no problems, and got the work done, and the money paid out for the contents in the garage,

Her insurance was due for renewel last September, her insurance company sent her a quote and she stayed with them for another year, even though it had doubled

in price, ,

Heres where the problem starts, This year at renewal time she has recieved a letter saying that they will not cover her this year !, I have rang them and their excuse is

she has had too many claims...

1 - Feb 06 claimed for freezer contents £112.00

2 - June 07 claimed on buildings and contents for flood £3750 for buildings and aroun £15,000 for contents for house and garage,

 

I told them I think they are just using it as a excuse not to cover because of the floods,

 

anyhow I have been phoning round loads of companys and I cant get her any cover... they wont touch her because she has had a flood claim ??

 

Has anyone else suffered this and if so can anyone please point me in the right direction, I need to get her some cover before the 28th od Sept,

 

Thanks for reading, Jeanette.

[Mossycat]

Any Insurer can turn you away or refuse to offer a renewal if they feel you have had too many claims or you are a bad risk (by that I mean the address is liable to flooding or other peril).

 

They may well be using it as an excuse not to cover you as a result of the floods, and they are within their rights to do so, you cannot force anyone to give you insurance.

 

Based on the information you have given I think you will find it extremely hard to find an insurer who would take on this risk

 

Sorry, I know it's not what you wanted to hear

 

Mossy

[jeanettethree]

No its not,

To be honest I do think its a excuse not to insure my mum

Im really at my wits end, and she is very worried, how can she go on without the house being insured ?

 

Im hopefully going to try ringing round some local brokers and explaining the situation to them and see if we can get any joy from the that,

The irony of the situation is she doesnt even live in a flood risk area, when you check on the enviroments website its says 0.1% chance of flooding...for her address,

It was a freaky thing that it happened in the first place, after the heavy rains we had last June the old folks bungalows at the top of my mums lane started to flood and the fire brigade pumped out the water onto the main road, and the first place that the water started to run was down my mums lane, she lives in the end bungalow so all the water ended up at my mums property !

[Mossycat]

I hear what you are saying and I can only sympathise.

 

Insurers base their premiums on 2 major factors, frequency and severity.

 

Frequency is not unduly high in your mum's case ie 2 in 2 years but the severity of the claim (ie the amount) is.

 

Look at it this way if we average it out, the computer shows us that your Mum makes 1 claim every 12 month and claims an average of £9000 per claim. This is the high-end average and only takes into account the last 2 years but you should get the picture as to what the problem is. IF we take a 3 year average there is a 66% chance she will claim and an average of £6000 will be claimed.

 

Hence why they see her as a bad risk, if we do a 4 year spread she has a 50% chance of making a claim and an average of £4500 would be anticipated.

 

That's it in very simple terms, there are other factors but hopefully you will now understand the problem cause.

 

Mossy