Insurance pay-out?

Question

I was recently the victim of a robbery and had £7200 worth of jewerly stolen. All the stolen items were specified on my insurance policy.

Now the insurance company are offering me only £3780!! Is this normal and is there anyway I can refuse this payment and take them to court for the full ammount?

Please advise

Answer 1

rfclf is correct. Insurance companies are pretty fair.

What's happening is that you had your jewelry over insured. You have to remember that when you get an appraisal from a jewelry store, they are VERY inflated. They want you to think you're getting a great deal! If you could buy a 5k ring, for 3k, what really makes you think it's worth 5k then?

The insurance company buys jewelry wholesale. They will get a much better deal than you will just walking into a store off the street. I guarantee that if you ask them, they will show you that they are getting you the same exact quality and size jewelry you had, just at their wholesale price.

If they simply paid out what you had it insured for, why wouldn't everyone insure their jewelry 10x more than what it was worth and collect. Policies pay replacement cost. If they can replace it for 2k even though you had it down for 3k, you'll get 2k.

Answer 2

It depends if £3780 covers the cost of replacing the jewellery.  Before you start going to court ask them to set out in writing how they have come up with this amount as a settlement.  If you are not happy follow their complaints procedure and refer the matter to the financial ombudsman.

visit www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

In general insurance companies are fair in the way they settle claims.

Answer 3

I would get your solicitor to tell them to poke that offer and ask for more!

NEVER accept their first offer anyway as they always try to get away with paying less.