Burgled in France
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 1
Burgled in France
Hi all I was robed during this year and I have advice on French insurance that will I hope help people to understand how it works.
I like most guys I guess just pay for insurance I buy the best, all singing all dancing then I'm covered! NOT SO. My garage was home to a life time of tool collection, gardening kit including a nice sit & ride. We are in early stages to be fair however it has quickly turned into a pants situation for me. Now I have no choice but to look at the contracts, I don't like what I see nor what they are saying. The opening salvo to date is neither the trailer or the sit & ride are covered, the policy states any self propelled items are not covered, so that's €3000 gone & it is in the T&Cs so I have no argument mores the pity. I will be updating this later as it gets more involved & the trailer is still in the wings. You have two choices in this case, get the bare minimum insurance, or every time you make a big ish purchase you inform them in writing, it becomes their responsibility to react.
In reading the T&Cs I see a paragraph that said, if your home is badly damaged lets say by fire, they will pay either the repair costs or the market value of the property whichever is the lowest. Thinking that through if you home is valued at €120k & to rebuild is €150 then you get only the €120k, assuming it dose actually cost €150k to repair then you need to find €30k? I have asked for conformation on this & will advise as soon as I know. I would welcome any CONSTRUTIVE COMMENTS please.
I like most guys I guess just pay for insurance I buy the best, all singing all dancing then I'm covered! NOT SO. My garage was home to a life time of tool collection, gardening kit including a nice sit & ride. We are in early stages to be fair however it has quickly turned into a pants situation for me. Now I have no choice but to look at the contracts, I don't like what I see nor what they are saying. The opening salvo to date is neither the trailer or the sit & ride are covered, the policy states any self propelled items are not covered, so that's €3000 gone & it is in the T&Cs so I have no argument mores the pity. I will be updating this later as it gets more involved & the trailer is still in the wings. You have two choices in this case, get the bare minimum insurance, or every time you make a big ish purchase you inform them in writing, it becomes their responsibility to react.
In reading the T&Cs I see a paragraph that said, if your home is badly damaged lets say by fire, they will pay either the repair costs or the market value of the property whichever is the lowest. Thinking that through if you home is valued at €120k & to rebuild is €150 then you get only the €120k, assuming it dose actually cost €150k to repair then you need to find €30k? I have asked for conformation on this & will advise as soon as I know. I would welcome any CONSTRUTIVE COMMENTS please.
Last edited by Jerseygirl; Dec 28th 2019 at 2:16 pm. Reason: Removed the bells and whistles
#3
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Hérault (34)
Posts: 8,883
Re: Burgled in France
I had great difficulty sorting it out!
In answer to the OP, I believe you should have taken out a separate insurance for your "sit & ride", since it's a self-propelled vehicle. Not sure about the trailer if you only used it on the sit & ride. - our trailer had our car registration plate on it and was included in the car insurance.
HTH
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2012
Location: Dépt 61
Posts: 5,254
Re: Burgled in France
Sorry to hear about your burglary. It's horrible, I know. I was burgled twice in the UK and like you I learned the hard way never to assume anything where insurance is concerned.
However, I do also accept that the more insurers pay out, the higher the premiums they will charge, so in a way I'm in favour of them being strict. Where there are two possible calculations I would expect them to automatically go for the lowest. And I wouldn't hhonestly expect them to randomly pay out 3,000 for a single item that I had never told them about.
Now I am going to play devil's advocate not to be argumentative, but in the hopes that it will stop you feeling so badly treated. Dwelling on it doesn't help, you need to learn from the experience and then put it behind you and move on.
"if your home is badly damaged lets say by fire, they will pay either the repair costs or the market value of the property whichever is the lowest. Thinking that through if you home is valued at €120k & to rebuild is €150 then you get only the €120k"
to be fair... most people would probably agree it doesn't make good economic sense to spend 150k on something that's only worth 120k.
I have also heard it said many times that all motorised vehicles such as sit n rides need to be insured separately so I guess DMU is correct on that. Anything that needs its own insurance policy isn't going to be covered by a household policy.
Your car policy covers your trailer when it's being towed behind your car, and I believe your car insurer will add damage/theft insurance for the trailer for a small extra premium.
But if you pursue it further, do keep us updated, it'll be useful.
However, I do also accept that the more insurers pay out, the higher the premiums they will charge, so in a way I'm in favour of them being strict. Where there are two possible calculations I would expect them to automatically go for the lowest. And I wouldn't hhonestly expect them to randomly pay out 3,000 for a single item that I had never told them about.
Now I am going to play devil's advocate not to be argumentative, but in the hopes that it will stop you feeling so badly treated. Dwelling on it doesn't help, you need to learn from the experience and then put it behind you and move on.
"if your home is badly damaged lets say by fire, they will pay either the repair costs or the market value of the property whichever is the lowest. Thinking that through if you home is valued at €120k & to rebuild is €150 then you get only the €120k"
to be fair... most people would probably agree it doesn't make good economic sense to spend 150k on something that's only worth 120k.
I have also heard it said many times that all motorised vehicles such as sit n rides need to be insured separately so I guess DMU is correct on that. Anything that needs its own insurance policy isn't going to be covered by a household policy.
Your car policy covers your trailer when it's being towed behind your car, and I believe your car insurer will add damage/theft insurance for the trailer for a small extra premium.
But if you pursue it further, do keep us updated, it'll be useful.
#5
Re: Burgled in France
Oldandugly...you will note that I have cleaned up your post as it was pretty unreadable. The problem arose when you tried to use bold and colour to highlight your post. Unfortunately if you miss out/accidentally delete one character it messes the whole thing up. I suggest in future, you refrain from using the ‘bells and whistles’, and stick to the plain old black font.
Top tip: After posting please read through your post to ensure it is OK. If not please edit or delete, you have a 2 hr window to edit or delete.
Top tip: After posting please read through your post to ensure it is OK. If not please edit or delete, you have a 2 hr window to edit or delete.
#6
Re: Burgled in France
Hi perhaps Oldandugly should change his name to older and wiser
Seriously, every sympathy with your situation.
Insurance companies know and understand their policies but we are just amateurs.
They know how to save money on claims.
You may find that rebuilding costs are less than market value.
We recently had a surveyor value our UK property for insurance / rebuilding costs.
In the UK, for a given type of property and location there is typical rebuilding / refurbishment cost per square metre.
This may not exist in France but the rebuilding cost was less than the market value and was used for our insurance.
There are similar exclusions for all types of insurance.
Thanks for your post and keep us up-to-date.
Welcome to the forum.
Seriously, every sympathy with your situation.
Insurance companies know and understand their policies but we are just amateurs.
They know how to save money on claims.
You may find that rebuilding costs are less than market value.
We recently had a surveyor value our UK property for insurance / rebuilding costs.
In the UK, for a given type of property and location there is typical rebuilding / refurbishment cost per square metre.
This may not exist in France but the rebuilding cost was less than the market value and was used for our insurance.
There are similar exclusions for all types of insurance.
Thanks for your post and keep us up-to-date.
Welcome to the forum.
#7
Re: Burgled in France
Hi perhaps Oldandugly should change his name to older and wiser
Seriously, every sympathy with your situation.
Insurance companies know and understand their policies but we are just amateurs.
They know how to save money on claims.
You may find that rebuilding costs are less than market value.
We recently had a surveyor value our UK property for insurance / rebuilding costs.
In the UK, for a given type of property and location there is typical rebuilding / refurbishment cost per square metre.
This may not exist in France but the rebuilding cost was less than the market value and was used for our insurance.
There are similar exclusions for all types of insurance.
Thanks for your post and keep us up-to-date.
Welcome to the forum.
Seriously, every sympathy with your situation.
Insurance companies know and understand their policies but we are just amateurs.
They know how to save money on claims.
You may find that rebuilding costs are less than market value.
We recently had a surveyor value our UK property for insurance / rebuilding costs.
In the UK, for a given type of property and location there is typical rebuilding / refurbishment cost per square metre.
This may not exist in France but the rebuilding cost was less than the market value and was used for our insurance.
There are similar exclusions for all types of insurance.
Thanks for your post and keep us up-to-date.
Welcome to the forum.
#8
Re: Burgled in France
My wife works in insurance here in France, and I can't speak for all insurance companies, but they certainly try to help all their customers. There are times where she's very eager to help, but can't because of the fine details of the contract which they have to strictly adhere too. A lot of people get angry when they find they're not entitled to something, and I think she's at the limit of how much verbal abuse she can take. It's not to say mistakes aren't made. We had a claim for broken glass in a velux through another insurance company, with no excess and they messed up our claim - thankfully because of my wife's knowledge, she was able to correct them and we got full payment.
Really pays to read the small print. Garages and barns can be notoriously difficult to secure and insure properly. When it comes to possessions, if you don't have online records or receipts, often photographs can suffice.
Technically ride on mowers should be insured separately, but I think that's more to do with any accident you might have or inflict on a passerby or neighbour.
Really pays to read the small print. Garages and barns can be notoriously difficult to secure and insure properly. When it comes to possessions, if you don't have online records or receipts, often photographs can suffice.
Technically ride on mowers should be insured separately, but I think that's more to do with any accident you might have or inflict on a passerby or neighbour.