House insurance claim - settlement offer

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dubdub123

Registered User
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Would greatly appreciate any support with this!! Have been suffering badly with anxiety and don't have the same capacity for stuff right now, so any guidance much appreciated.

I purchased a multi year house insurance policy some time back.
There is now a leak in bathroom and after getting in my own assessor, the outcome is
- insurance company have provided settlement offer
- based on VaR Value at Risk calculation they are stating my home is under insured so settlement is being reduced.

The breakdown covers the following (then VAT of 13.5 % on top)
- interior protection and furniture relocation = 100 euro

- Disconnection and Reconnection Electrical 8 hrs work at 45 euro per hour = 360

- Disconnection and Reconnection of heating system by plumber = 300 euro

- bathroom demolition including removal and disposal of floor tiles, wall tiles, plywood floor , bathroom suite, disconnect rad = 600 euro

- kitchen remove and dispose
-- ceiling 12 sqm 108
-- wall plaster 12 sqm 108
-- remove extractor fan 180
- remove kitchen units and store off site = 350 euro

- skip 300 euro

- multiple dehumidifiers for 2 weeks = 860 euro (I believe this is 2 in bathroom and 2 in kitchen)

- treatment of joists with boron paste = 150

- reinstatement of bathroom including Supply and fit
-- wall tiles 21 metre squared = 1680
-- floor tiles 5 metre sq 400
-- tanking 150 euro
-- marine plywood floor 5msq 210
--refit bathroom suite 250
-- supply and fit new box section ?? 360
-- reconnect radiator 42
-- paint ceiling 42.50
-- paint door , frame , architrave 65 euro

Kitchen reinstatement
Supply and fit
-- New ceiling and plaster skim 12 sqm 390
-- wall plaster and plaster skim 12 sqm 360
-- refit extractor fan 180
-- refit kitchen units 350
-- paint ceiling 136
-- paint walls 328 euro
-- paint skirts 56
-- paint door , frame, architrave 65 euro

Clean up ie removal of protection, relocation of furniture, cleaning , dusting all rooms
- 2 cleaning ops 4 hrs at 25 = 100
- 2 labourers to put furniture back 4 hrs at 25 = 100 euro

Builders insurance etc 500+

For all the above including VAT is approx Euro 10,500

Do some of these appear low, for Dublin?

Has anyone pushed back on settlement offer? If so what may be needed ?

As they are stating house is underinsured I would get around 6k , after paying assessor but in reality no plumber will do this specific work and I'll probably need to do full renovation.

Any pointers appreciated
 
If you have your own assessor can you let him deal with your insurance company to get the best possible deal for you. It is great that your insurance company gave you a detailed breakdown of how they came to their final figure but as you say in reality you would probably be hard put to get a skilled workman for those rates in the current environment.

But look at it in the round, you will have some contribution to paying off the final bill when the work is complete, and you are probably best getting a home improvement load to cover the cost (if you can afford it in the meantime), rather than arguing about every single item individually.

So sorry you are going through all of this stress.
 
@Clamball is correct. Your assessor is best placed to deal with the insurance co. Always a good move to have one for house claims.
 
Agree. Have the assessor deal with the insurance company. What % did the insurance company say the property is undervalued?
 
Thank you. I asked the assessor for the breakdown and he provided the above and also let me know that any settlement will be reduced by nearly 30% due to under insurance.

Should I go back to the assessor and call out that I feel sone of the numbers are low? Would I need to get quotes.

I can do without any big ordeal and to just get this closed out to be honest but a bit if effort or info might increase the offer that would be great, as I know realistically no one will take on this work and I'm looking at a full refit.

Appreciate the info, any further guidance appreciated. Thanks
 
Can you explain the multi year insurance - how many years ?
- was your valuation correct in yr one?
- did the insurance company index link the value each renewal?
-If so, how did the under insurance arrise?

What I am getting at is, is there any way the insurance company are partly responsible for the under insurance?

If, so, it gives you a better negotiation position

Speak to your assessor about this.
 
Excellent feedback, thank you.
I will go back and check the details, but I feel it wasn't index linked.
Thank you.
 
Hi
So I've looked back on the policy and the related figures
- policy was taken out in Sept 2021 and is a 3 year policy. I realize now that it is NOT index linked.
- I believe that I estimated rebuild cost based on an average 3 bed semi in dublin based on figures on the SCSI website (or similar source). It appears that I used 2021 figures, as the site may not have been updated with the 2022 figures (policy was taken out in Sept 2021) . Basically I just took rebuild cost × avg size of 3 bed semi in dublin i.e
2,290 x 98 sqm to get 225, 000 as rebuild cost
- the insurance company came back with current rebuild cost based on 98sqm × 3,074 per sq metre AND 5000 for rebuilding boundary walls AND 5000 for rebuilding patio (it's basically a few slabs nothing special) , so rebuild cost comes in at around 314,000

A couple of things on this
- I've just done a rough measurement of the internal size of house and it's more 89/90 sq metre so I'll flag that with assessor... This should bring down the rebuild cost
- should I call out the 5K for patio?? I believe that's not something that's explicitly called out in the SCSI site.. or does that seem OK?
- Should I flag concerns that policy was NOT indexed link and they had not contacted me to flag possible under insurance?? I feel if I'd purchased a yearly policy I would have checked the rebuild costs but having multi year policy, it was not on my radar (appreciate that it should have been)

Any feedback really appreciated. I'm gonna take a look at the estimates again later, if anyone has a source for labour and/or materials, would appreciate if you post it here please. Thanks
 
Public Loss Assessors, the people who work for you, as opposed to Insurance Co Adjusters, tend to have a very high spec and thus a high price. Even with a reduction in the settlement due to underinsurance, if you do the painting and cleaning yourself, you save €750, less cost of paint and brushes.
 
dubdub123 said:
- should I call out the 5K for patio?? I believe that's not something that's explicitly called out in the SCSI site.. or does that seem OK?
Click to expand...
SCSI site note that the estimate should be increased to include any paths, walls, sheds, etc.

Definitely use the internal measurements for the area and highlight same to the assessor. I haven't seen index linking offered in policies here, the insurers are pretty careful to call out that it is your responsibility to ensure you have sufficient cover, so it's unlikely you will have any joy there.
 
Thank you @Ravima and @Leo ! I had a further look at the Zurich website ( ref https://www.zurich.ie/home-insurance/underinsurance/ ) and it does actually mention index linking.

Should Zurich "make an allowance for the impact of inflation when assessing a claim" as mentioned below? Would this mean that if house was adequately insured (ie not underinsured) when policy was taken out, it's considered to be adequately insured at time of claim? So no need for a reduction?

Does Zurich Insurance have any safeguards in place to help prevent my home becoming underinsured?
Your policy is index-linked which means in times of inflation and in line with your policy terms and conditions, we will adjust your buildings and contents sums insured at renewal to take account of inflation.

We also monitor inflation throughout the policy period and in line with your policy terms and conditions. When applicable, we will not adjust your buildings and contents sums insured but instead we will automatically make an allowance for the impact of inflation when assessing a claim under your policy. This allowance will be made at no extra cost to you.

It is important to note that index-linking is not specific to your property and relying on index-linking alone may not be sufficient to protect you from underinsurance, especially at renewal or during the policy period if you have made changes, additions or upgrades to your home. It is vital that you review your sum insured regularly to ensure you have adequate cover to meet your needs. For more information on index linking, please refer to your policy booklet.
 
Perhaps they did index link, but index linked the figures you initially gave them?
 
I'm a former Zurich customer and I can recall that they have a clause that states they accept claims that have no more than a 15% under insurance figures.
 
The problem here is that you have an excess to pay , normally higher on a burst pipe claim , you have under insured your home and you are paying your assessor most likely 10 percent plus vat . Assessors are generally only worth while using on larger claims . The rate used by the insurance company to calculate the correct sum insured also looks low . Your house is pretty small at circa 90m2 so you don’t get the economies of scale when rebuilding . I think they were very fair using the rebuild rate they used .
 
dubdub123 said:
I'm not sure where they got that rebuild rate actually. It does appear to be higher.
Click to expand...
The latest SCSI published rate from September is slightly higher then the one they quoted! I wonder are they maintaining an internal rebuild rate?

I would be pushing them on the indexing though.
 
Leo said:
they
Click to expand...


Thank you. Yes I'm not sure about that rate, but yes could be an internal one.

I've emailed the assessor outlining my expectation that this policy is index linked abd as it was fully insured when I took it out that there should not be a reduction. Let's see what he comes back with.

I have huge concerms now about these multi year policies. Going forward I will stick with yearly policy and can check rebuild yearly abd maybe add a slight loading myself.

I thought I was doing the right thing purchasing this . However if they are not standing over the index linking that's a huge issue on the case of a big claim.

Really appreciate all the feedback on this. I'll post updates / outcomes or if i need further clarification

Thanks so much
 
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