Dan of Rambures Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Can anyone help? My insurers have refused to pay followng a burglary to my house and caravan. The Gendarmes attended, I went to the local gendarmarie and filed the required report, contacted the insurers and informed them of what was missing ec. after many letters, e-mails and various other forms of communcation they sent an "expert" to view the scene 18 months after the incident and decided not to pay out on my caravans contents insurance even though the policy states clearly I have 3000 euro's contents cover. Can they do this? Is there an Ombudsman as in the uk? Hope someone can help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 "Can they do this?" Depends why they decided not to pay out. Did they tell you? Maybe they think you did not fulfil the terms of your insurance for the caravan. Without knowing the terms of the policy and reason for refusing the claim it's a bit hard to give even an un-expert opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 In my (limited) experience, insurance companies seem to completely delegate decisions regarding payment to these "experts". When I had the need to claim they sent an expert (quite a few months after the event). He decided he could not decide so they would send another expert 5 months later. He failed to arrive so I chased up and a few months later another expert appeared. He was only interested in reading my policy to see what he could get out of (and found very little there - but it was good for my French trying to follow and then arguing against him). The builder than had a blazing argument with the guy and he left without any decision. I then chased up and eventually, another expert came who decided the bits of work that the previous two experts had apparently approved should not be allowed. He was very clever as he made this decision without even looking at the damage or my policy. I then had something of an argument with the insurance company and they had agreed to pay.As Cassis says, depends on why they are refusing to pay. Only you can judge the reasons and decide if its worth arguing the issue. So far I would say you have a typical French Insurance company experience.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan of Rambures Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Their message to me was that as the caravan had plastic windows they felt it was inappropriate to store items in it. The caravan was alarmed, locked and the theives broke in through the door as stated on the police report and witnessed by them and two friends. The house has electric gates which cannot be opened, they broke in through a hedge at the back, crossed the garden and smashed a house window to enter the house, then moved on to the caravan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 If they broke in through the caravan door, then the windows being made of plastic seems to be immaterial .I am not a caravan owner, but are plastic windows normal or has the caravan been modified? If its the latter, I suppose they could try and use that as an excuse not to pay you.Have a good look at the terms and conditions ( which I expect you have already) and see if there is any clause that you might have missed. Were there any un caravanny type things you were storing in there that may have aroused their suspicions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan of Rambures Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Thanks Ian, for the response. It does sound like French insurance, but I'm realy peeved. I try to do everything to support the French, have had my house re-built by local artisans etc and do my best to not be a typical holiday/retirement home owner and all has been fine apart from this. I just feel that getting anything from any insurer French or English is like pushing water uphill! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan of Rambures Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Thanks for the suggestion, the caravan is a large and not cheap twin axle job, unmodified and caravans stopped having glass windows about 20 years ago to reduce weight.I've contacted 50 Million Consommateurs in the hope they can point me in the right direction. In the meantime, thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Good luck with pursuing this. Sounds like a typical insurance cop-out. Even I know that caravan windows are plastic (polycarbonate?) these days, so that can't be a legitimate reason to refuse the claim unless it says something specifically about it in your policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Maybe ask the insurance company to justify how having the standard material used for caravan windows for the last 20 years made the caravan any less secure. Also ask them how plastic windows made it easier for the caravan to be broken into (when the windows were not touched. However, their comment about a caravan being an "inappropriate place to store [valuable] items" might be more difficult to argue. If they commented that it was the plastic windows that made the caravan inappropriate then maybe there is something o argue. However, if the "plastic windows" comment was not directly related to the "inappropriate place to store ..." comment then it might be harder.Do check your policy excess, limits on payments for different aspects (e.g. max value inside a caravan, etc. as even if they do finally admit some liability you might be surprised about how little they end-up paying.My impression is that most people regard French insurance companies as more of a form of tax than anything we might consider insurance.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan of Rambures Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 Having just got back in from a long walk in the rain with the dogs, your comment about people seeing French insurance as more of a tax than anything else made me smile.I think you're probably right. I shall take it on the chin and simply advise clients who's builds I manage never to use that particular company - at least it will make me feel better about the whole sorry affair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan of Rambures Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 Thanks for your support - I'm taking Deimos advice and letting it go..........I think! Now I just need to sort out the shop that sold me this keyboard where the letter T works one time in three! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 There's only one 'T' in 'three' so working one time in three should be okay. [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boiling a frog Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Presuming your caravan was in your garden or nearby I can understand why the insurance coy will not pay out Did you leave a TV/DVD, three piece suite etc in your caravan you say you were storing items in it It is not a storage shed these items should have been in your house I leave very little in the caravan when not in use but if I was away on holiday that would be a different matter and I would then expect to be paid out if someone broke in and stole say the TV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan of Rambures Posted October 29, 2006 Author Share Posted October 29, 2006 No three piece suites or anything like, but the awning for a Conqueror 640 is about £1,700 without mentioning things like bug zappers etc.I kept an air rifle in the caravan to keep it out of the way of friends children when they were visiting, about £800 worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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