Which? member survey finds 12% of household and 5% of car insurance claims blocked
Insurers are using “spurious reasons” to reject car and home insurance claims, according to consumer group Which?
Of 4,796 members surveyed, more than one in 10 had a household insurance claim wholly or partly rejected, while around one in 20 of car insurance claims were wholly or partly rejected.
Some examples cited by Which? included one member whose insurer refused a household claim because they had not regrouted their bathroom tiles every year. Another said their insurer would not pay out for freezer contents without a receipt.
Which? also saw many cases of car insurers only agreeing to pay half a claim even when the driver believed they had strong evidence that the car accident was not their fault, meaning they would have to pay an excess and could lose their no-claims bonus.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “We found examples of home insurance claims being rejected for some spurious reasons, and consumers unhappy with way their claim was handled. While most claims are accepted and paid out in full, a minority are not, and if your claim is rejected it could prove costly.”
Rejected claimants have recourse to take their complaints further, reflected in the latest Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) figures.
In May, it reported a 20% jump in non-PPI insurance complaints to 33,172 in the year to 31 March 2013.
The FOS said: “This is the highest number of insurance complaints we have received in any year since we were set up in 2000.”
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