We are semi-retired and have a house with a handcraft gallery attached, built six years ago. Originally we had difficulty finding an insurer who would cover a residence and business in one building. Now our insurer has declined our insurance renewal due to claims experience. This is now giving us difficulty finding another insurer as we have had home insurance declined.
We have made two claims in the past two years and in both instances, the insurer either tried to get out of paying or tried to avoid a large part of the claim.
1. We had a water leak 500mm under a concrete driveway that damaged two slabs of concrete. The insurance company only wanted to make a hole in the concrete and fix the leak, not replace the damaged concrete.
We are 75 minutes out of Cairns and the insurer separately send up 8 people to inspect the concrete (including the plumber who attended twice). The last was an engineer, who said the concrete was damaged by the water leak and then the claim was settled. The ultimate cost went from, I guess $1500 to fix the leak, to $23,938. This included $16,271 settlement + plumber + all the other guys attending property.
2. A chair was pushed under a workbench, on top of the foot control of a pendant motor (hanging drill). This caused the motor to spin at top speed, wrap around a string bag that was next to it, stopping the motor and causing the motor to burn out. The Insurer tried to avoid paying by saying the policy did not cover things caused by a motor burning out. I pointed out that the damage was caused by an accident, the chair being pushed under the workbench, not the motor burning out. The claim was $1020 - $500 excess. The insurer paid $520.
The first claim, the water leak, was not caused by us and the likelihood of it happening is probably similar to storm damaged. The second claim, is I guess, a small claim.
The insurer declining policy renewal seems to be more about the insurer trying to avoid paying and not getting away with it. Than ourselves being a high risk.
Now we have to declare that we have had insurance declined and are having difficulty finding an insurer.
Do these two claims constitute a valid reason to decline insurance due to claims experience, thereby making it difficult to obtain insurance with another insurer? Or is this just a case of, the insurer using this as a reason not to renew the policy?
Any assistance appreciated.
We have made two claims in the past two years and in both instances, the insurer either tried to get out of paying or tried to avoid a large part of the claim.
1. We had a water leak 500mm under a concrete driveway that damaged two slabs of concrete. The insurance company only wanted to make a hole in the concrete and fix the leak, not replace the damaged concrete.
We are 75 minutes out of Cairns and the insurer separately send up 8 people to inspect the concrete (including the plumber who attended twice). The last was an engineer, who said the concrete was damaged by the water leak and then the claim was settled. The ultimate cost went from, I guess $1500 to fix the leak, to $23,938. This included $16,271 settlement + plumber + all the other guys attending property.
2. A chair was pushed under a workbench, on top of the foot control of a pendant motor (hanging drill). This caused the motor to spin at top speed, wrap around a string bag that was next to it, stopping the motor and causing the motor to burn out. The Insurer tried to avoid paying by saying the policy did not cover things caused by a motor burning out. I pointed out that the damage was caused by an accident, the chair being pushed under the workbench, not the motor burning out. The claim was $1020 - $500 excess. The insurer paid $520.
The first claim, the water leak, was not caused by us and the likelihood of it happening is probably similar to storm damaged. The second claim, is I guess, a small claim.
The insurer declining policy renewal seems to be more about the insurer trying to avoid paying and not getting away with it. Than ourselves being a high risk.
Now we have to declare that we have had insurance declined and are having difficulty finding an insurer.
Do these two claims constitute a valid reason to decline insurance due to claims experience, thereby making it difficult to obtain insurance with another insurer? Or is this just a case of, the insurer using this as a reason not to renew the policy?
Any assistance appreciated.