Unfortunately we fell victim to someone whom we trusted to organise a covered porch. This resulted in the room being completely flooded many months ago when there was heavy rain. As we had put some things in the room damage occurred - and the person responsible was not even interested as he had got his money. Anyway we contacted our house insurance to make a claim and guess what they would not honour it - however there is a light at the end of the tunnel as an organisation called the Consorcio which we believe is a Government department took up the case and although it has taken over 4 months they have agreed to pay compensation for our damages....

why won´t it be covered. The majority of insurance covers you for water damage. Not doing too well at the moment Mitzipurr. Any news on the reckless driver?

Have no idea but rather feel the Insurance company have passed the book to the Conscorcio as perhaps that Department deals with water damage...

As for the reckless driver not heard anything - BUT have made an official complaint to his car insurance company which I am still waiting a response from them.....

Not a good start to 2007 but things must turn the corner soon - perhaps it was because we were in UK at Christmas so did not have the obligatory champers and grapes???

In Spain, there is a Government backed insurance scheme called: CONSORCIO DE COMPENSACIóN DE SEGUROS or "CONSORCIO" that acts as a sort of Catastrophic loss insurer and Insurers in Spain collect and pay to the "Consorcio" a levy on premiums they receive. In return, when a serious natural event occurs such as large scale flooding, insurers will involve "Consorcio". In your policy there should be a clause referring to this.
More stuff on: http://www.consorseguros.es

Hi Nige - thanks for that have put the link into my favourites to investigate later on...

I used an insurance company who is up your way who is part of Norwich Union for my insurance. I'm a bit wary of Spanish insurance companies after a colleague of mine who was in a serious accident with a spanish driver with spanish insurance company. The company went into liquidation rather than pay out the damages, he had one hellva fight on his hands to get compensation.

A small portion of every insurance policy is paid into a fund which covers claims paid out by the Consorcio. They are there to cover things which are not normally covered by your own policy, one of the main things being damage caused by exceptional weather for household policies and damage caused by other drivers if you hold insurance and they do not. It´s always easy to be see things clearly in hindsight and I would recommend whenever you take out insurance, particularly house insurance, that you make a list of the main things you are looking for in any policy. There are many large reputable Spanish insurers who produce policies and conditions in English as well as UK insurers who provide cover in Spain. It´s always good to ask friends or neighbours who they use and try and get recommendations from people who already have cover.

I was advised whan I came here to maybe pay a bit more for insurance and use a reputable company, so I went with Mafre for car and house. They are not the cheapest but I believe they have a good reputation ......... unless you of course know different

Mapfre are one of the largest insurers in Spain and yes, in most cases, they are more expensive than the rest. My main insurer is Zurich who I´m insured with and I´ve never had any problems, had a claim on my car insurance last year when someone hit me and had no problems with settlement. You´ll find that online insurers such as Linea Directa, Genesis etc offer cheap prices but can be a problem if you have a claim as it´s all done over the phone. Think people still like to be able to go and sit face to face with someone at this time.

Correct ...... unfortunately though when i do I find that we are both fluent, but regrettably in different languages

My insurance for the house is with Zurich and so far they have refused to payout on 2 occasions...

My car is with Linea Directa whom I have had a policy for quite a few years and can find no fault with them at all except as you say everything is done over the telephone