Get your insurer to pay out

New rules will force insurers to ask more relevant questions, so that they have fewer reasons for turning down claims.

Making an insurance claim can be a nerve-wracking process, but new Government rules may make getting a payout far easier in future.

Asking the right questions

The Government wants to tackle the number of claims turned down by insurers on the basis of certain information not being supplied to them at the outset. The big idea is to shift the emphasis away from you and me, and onto the insurer – basically, insurers need to start asking better questions before agreeing to the policy.

Incredibly, the laws covering insurance payouts haven’t changed much in the past 100 years. The Marine Insurance Act of 1906 placed the ball firmly in the court of the insurers, giving them the right to refuse a payout if the policyholder failed to disclose important information, even if they answered all of the insurer’s questions honestly.

The trouble is the insurer’s questions may have been sufficiently vague or unfocused that important information was not uncovered. And it only becomes an issue once it’s too late.

So the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Bill will bring our laws a little more up to date and force insurers to start asking more detailed and relevant questions.

More payouts

And this should all lead to far more payouts being approved. Estimates from the Law Commission suggest insurers may have to stump up £4.4m extra for life insurance policies, and between £5m and £20m on other policies.

Unsurprisingly, the Association of British Insurers has downplayed this, suggesting it won’t be quite such a substantial increase, but the fact is that more of us will succeed with our claims.

Making a travel insurance claim

An incident at home is bad enough, but if something happens to you overseas it can feel ten times more stressful.

It’s always a good idea to take your travel insurance details with you when you go away, as well as any emergency contact numbers you may need. In many cases the insurer will want to be contacted before you get any medical treatment. Indeed, failing to do so may cause them to reject the claim entirely!

One of the biggest reasons for turning down medical-related claims is that the patient has not been entirely honest about pre-existing conditions when taking out the insurance. Perhaps they didn’t mention a recent operation, or their current medication, as it meant the policy worked out a bit cheaper. The trouble is, lying in this way just means that should you need to make a claim, you won’t be able to!

If you have anything stolen while you’re away, be sure to get a police report. Your insurer is unlikely to pay out without it.

Keeping receipts for the bits and bobs you’ll want to claim for is also vital. So if you have to shell out on medication, or have to buy new clothes because your luggage has gone missing, you’ll need to keep the receipts as proof.

Making a car insurance claim

Detail is hugely important with car insurance claims, so get as much as possible together after your incident.

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That means taking a photograph of the cars involved if possible (thankfully with mobile phones these days most of us have a camera on hand at all times!). It may also be worth recording things like the weather, the speed limit and drawing the road layout, including where all of the cars were.

You’ll want to take a note of the other driver’s insurance details, as well as how many other people were in their car – there has been a significant jump in fraudulent claims for injuries which only serves to bump up our insurance premiums. Have a read of The whiplash scam that’s costing you £££.

When you actually make the claim, an assessor will come to check out the damage to your car and come up with a quote for the repair. However, don’t just accept their judgement – do your own research, particularly if the car has to be written off, on how much a replacement would set you back.

Around one in ten adults are believed to have made a fraudulent car insurance claim, so be as honest and detailed as possible. Keeping service history records and receipts can only help.

Making a home insurance claim

With home insurance, chances are your insurer will have some sort of 24-hour helpline that you’ll need to go through. It will be able to guide you through the claims process, but it will also probably have recommended tradesman to help you should you need to fix a burst pipe or repair some sort of damage.

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For larger claims a ‘loss adjuster’ will be sent to assess the damage. These are supposed to be impartial but given they are paid by the insurer it may be worth your while to appoint a loss adjuster of your own to provide a second opinion on how much you should be getting.

Honesty is absolutely the best policy here – the aim of the game with insurance is to get you back to the position you were in before the unfortunate event, not for you to make money. So don’t be tempted to add on a few ‘extra’ items that have been stolen or damaged. False information can cause the whole claim to be thrown out, even if it’s just a little exaggeration.

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If they still say no

Despite taking all of those steps, the insurer may still reject your claim. But that doesn’t have to be the end of the matter – you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you believe the insurer is being unfair. Firstly you will have to complain to the insurer itself and give it a chance to resolve the dispute.

However, should its response not satisfy you, you can then raise the issue with the FOS. The service is absolutely free, and it’s a route well worth trying. Check out our guide on how to complain and win.

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