Insurance claim

[trish266]

My policy is with Terri Scheer. Landlord and house.

The internal glass door exploded on our Glem oven recently and the tenant claims at the exact second it happened, he dropped a saucepan on the glass cooktop and cracked the glass and a piece of glass broke off completely.

I consider it would come under accidental damage but the Terri Scheer consultant said they would pursue the tenant. The excess on the landlord policy is $250. She then said I could claim under the household policy which has an excess of $500 and they wouldn't pursue the tenant.

We weren't there when it happened so have to take tenant at his word.
Although the oven is out of warranty, Glem are replacing the glass for the oven and we have to pay to have it installed.

What are your thoughts on what Terri Scheer is telling me?

Thanks.

 

[Paul@PFI]

Insurers have an innate ability to say no. That's how they make $. A policy is only as good as the claims department.

I would think the tenant has provided adequate grounds to have the matter considered an accident. A stat dec ??

 

[vaughan]

Accident or not, why isn't the tenant paying for the repair? Great that the manufacturer will only charge installation: get the tenant to pay.

A claim on your policy will follow you around for 5 years.

 

[Jamie M]

Keep in mind that if you make the claim under your LL policy - your premium will likely go up.

Happened to me recently - made a claim for a mistake made by the tenant. My premiums have gone up quite a bit since.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[trish266]

Vaughan - I would have thought fixing the exploding oven door was my/Glem's responsibility. It is out of warranty by six months and the fact that Glem have offered to replace the glass is an indication to me they are aware of this problem. I am a bit confused, why should I make the tenant pay?

Jamie M - the consultant at TS said my policy wouldn't increase. I guess I should get that in writing.

Cheers

 

[vaughan]

Vaughan - I would have thought fixing the exploding oven door was my/Glem's responsibility. It is out of warranty by six months and the fact that Glem have offered to replace the glass is an indication to me they are aware of this problem. I am a bit confused, why should I make the tenant pay?

... the tenant claims at the exact second it happened, he dropped a saucepan on the glass cooktop and cracked the glass and a piece of glass broke off completely.

Oven doors don't just explode. I'd say the saucepan was dropped on the door and broke it. Whether or not it's accidental, it was the tenant's problem.

Glem just want happy customers. There most likely isn't a problem with exploding oven doors, if there was there would be a recall and you'd know about it. (At most it's a $30 piece of glass for Glem, getting it to you and installing it is the expensive part.)

Either way, avoid making a claim on your insurance. Get the tenant to pay the installation cost, or go halves, or pay it all yourself, whatever.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

Oven doors don't just explode.

It's quite a common occurrence.

 

[Kinnon Bell]

the consultant at TS said my policy wouldn't increase. I guess I should get that in writing.

Cheers

It won't increase now but just wait for your renewal....

 

[TMNT]

It won't increase now but just wait for your renewal....

What Ido if the premium goes up is to cancel the following year and go with someone else and then go back to it the following year

 

[Kinnon Bell]

What Ido if the premium goes up is to cancel the following year and go with someone else and then go back to it the following year

They still ask the question about if you've made a claim in the last X years.

I've only made one LL insurance claim and at the time of submitting the claim I asked how much it would impact my premium by in the future then weighed up if the amount I was getting back with the claim would offset the increased premiums in the future.

 

[Jamie M]

It won't increase now but just wait for your renewal....

Exactly. Mine jumped up by a considerable amount when they sent me the automatic renewal notice.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[brettc]

It won't increase now but just wait for your renewal....

Not all policies will automatically increase due to a claim, particularly a small one, unless of course there is a no claim bonus involved. I would think it unlikely that a Terri Scheer policy would increase due to something like this, although in saying that as they are now owned by a major insurer a lot of things are changing in the way they do business compared to before.

Certainly with our products we do not increase automatically due to a claim, it is based more on the overall portfolio perfomance for loss ratio, although increases can occur on state by state or regional basis, but we are talking about fairly major loss ratio issues there, certainly not individual claims.

 

[Kinnon Bell]

Out of interest Brett, does EBM have flood cover yet?

 

[Sez]

Oven doors don't just explode. I'd say the saucepan was dropped on the door and broke it. Whether or not it's accidental, it was the tenant's problem.

Glem just want happy customers. There most likely isn't a problem with exploding oven doors, if there was there would be a recall and you'd know about it. (At most it's a $30 piece of glass for Glem, getting it to you and installing it is the expensive part.)

Either way, avoid making a claim on your insurance. Get the tenant to pay the installation cost, or go halves, or pay it all yourself, whatever.

Actually happens fairly regularly, coming from a PM point of view .

 

[Peterw]

Sorry, not in my experience. I cannot recall the last time.