Insurance advice please.

[tom a]

We have a static caravan holiday home and have had a bad water leak from the washer.

Covered for accidental damage and the insurers have sent a loss adjuster round to take a look.

I've got two independent repair assessments and they both agree that the van is worth £12000 but the cost of repairs will exceed this. Also the fitted furniture i.e. kitchen,wardrobes and corner units have got water ingress and they are no longer available due to the age of the van,it's a 2001.

Both repairers have said the van is a total loss but they haven't given an itemised breakdown of repairs because they can't get the bits.

I've searched through insurance documents and can't find anywhere that it says New for Old but this was specified when taking the policy out. It does state

 

"Static Holiday Home Sum Insured: £ Unlimited"

 

Also in the Summary of Cover it states

 

"New for old- we will decide whether to repair or replace the static holiday home. We will replace the static holiday home,with a new one,of the same make and model or nearest equivalent.The most we will pay is the sum insured shown in your schedule or the limit shown in your policy."

 

A new van of the same model is now £56000.Loss adjuster was very helpful but he seems to think the insurers will repair the van even though it's been classed as a write off.I'm waiting to hear from him. Approximately 2 weeks.

Sorry for the drawn out post but back to my question.

How do I stand with this insurance and does anyone have an idea of the outcome?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any replies.

[Mwynci]

You need to check the certificate of insurance or the policy schedule to make sure new for old was taken out. If you feel it was requested for and then mis-sold, you then have a case for a claim against the broker (unless this was a direct policy).

Caravan cover decreases in the amount of policies avaliable with new for old once the caravean gets over 5 years old.

If you do have the cover,well that really allows your insurer to offer reapir upto £56k, although they would be craxy to pay for repairs more than the market value (which appears to be £12K) as it's just a false ecconomy.

Before you get too excited at the prospect of having a new caravan, check through all your paperwork, and where possible carry out a subject access request, for the sake of a tenner it may be worth it.

[tom a]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I've read and re- read policy schedule and summary of cover and nowhere does it mention new for old or market value.

What would be the purpose of a Subject access request?

[unclebulgaria67]

Subject access request would be for all documents and data related to the policy. It could also include phone calls, if they have recordings. Could be a good idea, given the value of the claim. It costs a max of £10 to make the request.

[Mwynci]

It gives you the option of going in all guns blazing, - now I could have misread into your comment "I've searched through insurance documents and can't find anywhere that it says New for Old but this was specified when taking the policy out." - if you believe you asked for it (you may have to do some deep thinking), then you should make sure you did ask for it. In the grand scheme of things £10.00 isn't much of a gamble. You would be amazed how many people don't do this and fumble their way through a claim, it's your right to have this info. You would probably be best to do this to the broker, or whoever sold you the policy.

Good luck.

[tom a]

I'm 100% certain I asked for new for old and I'm 99% certain that's what we have,but has you say,the more info I've got the better.