Homeowners are being hit for damages totalling £246m every year due to neighbourhood botches, according to Direct Line.
The insurer’s research has found that neighbours cause a wide range of woe, from smashed windows and severed electricity supplies to flooding.
During the last five years, 9% of homeowners have suffered damage at the hands of their neighbours, with each incident costing an average of £541.
Perhaps surprisingly, the most common type of mishap is not a smashed window but a severed utility, whether electricity, gas, phone lines and water.
Property damage, such as garden walls, garden ornaments and smashed windows, was the second most common.
Naturally, the more serious incidents can damage relationships, and 7% of those affected have turned to the courts, but 10% now say they are closer to their neighbour following a mishap.
Direct Line’s Matt Owen has emphasised that most people do get on well with their neighbours, and stated that once the situation is resolved matters need not escalate.
Specialist home insurer Hiscox has urged homeowners to ensure that their home contents insurance is up to date and affords them appropriate levels of protection.
Recent years have seen the value of gold and platinum rise, and with Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching couples up and down the country will doubtlessly buy one another expensive gifts of jewellery.
Hiscox home insurance expert Austyn Tusler said that people who receive expensive jewellery gifts ought to inform not just their friends but also their insurer.
Independent jewellery consultant John Benjamin explained that a number of factors, including high commodity prices, the VAT rise and a florushing global market, had combined to create an exceptionally strong jewellery market.
Benjamin went on to warn that people who had not had their jewellery revalued in the last two to three years ran the risk of being under-insured.
Last year Hiscox revealed that wedding presents had a total value of up to £12,000 and made an increased level of home contents coverage essential.
Last week, Sacramento, California’s city council approved a proposed crash tax that would be imposed on out-of-town drivers who get into accidents in the city.
The state capital’s officials say the proposed fee would fund the local fire department’s resources and would be imposed regardless of fault.
“It is questionable that this ordinance will generate the projected revenue,” Sam Sorich, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies, told Insurance Journal. “Moreover, if insurance policies are required to cover the response fees, consumers will pay the price because insurance costs will increase.”
City officials say the new program could generate as much as $500,000 annually. Read more…
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has published new guidance on Extended Warranties, Guaranteed Asset Protection insurance and service contracts.
The Association is hopeful that insurers and retailers will do more to help consumers understand the benefits and exclusions of all three forms of insurance, once they have swatted up on the new Good Practice Guidance for Providers.
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House-swapping as an alternative to the traditional family holiday looks set to take off this year, according to new research from Lloyds TSB Insurance.
A recent study suggests that 1.6 million Britons have arranged a house swap in 2011, twice the number estimated for 2010.
However, Lloyd’s suggests that proper planning is needed, particularly in the area of potential damage to property or possessions by the incomers.
Almost two-thirds of house-swappers questioned had run the risk of invalidating their home insurance policy by failing to tell their insurer about the exchange. <
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Hiscox has reported that most of the “significant and expensive” catastrophes of 2010 occurred in areas where the insurer had deliberately reduced exposure, due to weak rates.
The firm estimates net claims arising from the UK winter freeze during November and December at £16 million, but says its UK household business remains on track to make a healthy profit.
The net estimate for Chile, Xynthia and the New Zealand earthquake combined is around £115 million, including estimated net claims for the New Zealand earthquake of approximately £37 million.
Meanwhile, the insurer’s position on the Australian floods is still evolving, but looks to be “underweight”.
During the January renewal period, the group’s London Market division saw an average rate reduction of -1.5% on renewal business, while its Bermuda open market reinsurance business saw an average rate reduction of -7.5%.
Howeve
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