Insurance claims

[Megan le Fey]

I just read Sweet 17's post about the Insurance Expert and wasn't sure whether to resurrect it or to start another one, anyway, here is the link http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1827985/ShowPost.aspx.

I have just had a similar experience.  We rent our house and we insure it for damage etc. tho' I relied on the letting agent and our insurance broker to sort out the details between them, small print in English is bad enough but in French it's a nightmare.

Last April I burnt some chenille processionaire (sp) and I had thrown a handful of pine needles on top to burn them more quickly.  A little while later I felt them and they seemed cold so I swept up the corpses off the drive in a plastic dustpan and the 'phone went.  I put the dustpan on top of the plastic bin and went to answer it.  Ten minutes later I heard this horrendous roaring sound, went outside, and found that the wind had really got up and the plastic dustbin was but on fire, up against the wall of our rented house.  I was just a tiny bit [:P] panicked so I picked up the dogs water bowl (big dog so big bowl) and chucked it onto the fire.  Bad move - it splashed melted plastic up and into the rendered wall of the house and onto the stone paving,  however,  it put out the fire.

Next move was to 'phone the insurance broker who told me to get a couple of devis.  I didn't know anyone so I told the landlady what had happened and asked her if she would be kind enough to find someone to quote.  Nothing happened for a couple of months and I was worried that the delay would cause the insurance to refuse to pay so spoke to the landlady again who said that she would try again to find someone.  Early this month, five and a half months after the incident, I had a registered letter from not my insurance but my landlady's, telling me that their Expert would call on 24 September (tomorrow) to assess the damage which (stressed) "I had caused and which was my responsibility".  This scared me a bit so I called my insurance who told me not to worry, someone would pay and the two insurances would sort it out between them and as my insurance was all in order  I would not be expected to pay anything.  Next was yesterday when the Expert from my insurers arrived to assess the damage.  He also told me that I was not to worry, that the insurers had it in hand.  Now I wait until tomorrow morning when my landlady arrives with her insurance Expert.

So, we have 2 people each paying insurance premiums to different insurances for the same property, both making a claim on the same damage, 2 Experts viewing the damage, 2 lots of administration and so on ............................. and with my very limited French, I believe they are telling me that this is the way it is normally done in France.  It seems to me as if the whole thing is costing twice as much as it needs to, or am I missing a point somewhere?[8-)]

 

[Chancer]

[quote user="Megan le Fey"]

 It seems to me as if the whole thing is costing twice as much as it needs to, or am I missing a point somewhere?[8-)]

[/quote]

No you have got the point, or should I say, le but (the goal) precisely.

[Megan le Fey]

[quote user="Megan le Fey"]

So, we have 2 people each paying insurance premiums to different insurances for the same property, both making a claim on the same damage, 2 Experts viewing the damage, 2 lots of administration and so on ............................. and with my very limited French, I believe they are telling me that this is the way it is normally done in France.  It seems to me as if the whole thing is costing twice as much as it needs to, or am I missing a point somewhere?[8-)]

[/quote]

OK, it seems that I have been "missing the point".  The Expert explained to me that the landlady insures the exterior and structure of the building and I insure the interior and my own stuff.  I also insure for personal liability/civil responsibility.  As the building is insured by the landlady, she must make the claim and her insurance deals with it.  As I was responsible for the damage my insurer pays her insurer for my liability.  As the meerkat says..............."seeemple"[:D]

[Chancer]

I still find it bizzarre that two experts should be dealing with this when clearly you have more experience in the art of displacing molten plastic onto enduit than anyone in France [:D]

[Megan le Fey]

[quote user="Chancer"]I still find it bizzarre that two experts should be dealing with this when clearly you have more experience in the art of displacing molten plastic onto enduit than anyone in France [:D][/quote]

Indeed, you are soooo right but it is men you see.  They just can't accept that one woman can do anything better than two men.  [:P][:D]