Home Insurance Claims - Claims Forms
(Or The Lack Of Them)

It is now estimated that only 50% of insurers still require a written claim form to be submitted, those that do will send you a form to complete. Some will complete it for you on their computer system during the initial telephone call, but you will still need to sign it. Insurers will submit details of the claim to national anti fraud registers and they need your signature on the form in respect of the Data Protection Act. If you don't sign the form, they will not deal with the claim. To avoid delays, make sure you complete the form as fully as possible.

For those insurers that do not require a claim form, your conversation with them will be recorded. They are required to read out a statement to you in respect of the Data Protection Act and the recording they make will be the evidence that they have complied. The big benefit for insurers relates to complaints. If you complain about the way you were spoken to or the service provided during the call, they can produce the recording for any arbitrator to listen to. So where they say that 'calls may be monitored or recorded for training purposes' whilst this is true, it is not the main reason for doing so. There is some benefit for you where calls are recorded. You will get a faster service. Your insurer does not have to wait until the signed claim form comes back before springing into action.

As for claims on Internet insurers, they seem to be split between combinations of the above two methods combined with completing the claim form on the Internet.

As with all insurance matters, the more information that you can supply, the quicker the claim can be dealt with. Answering all questions fully will lessen the chance of the company having to contact you for further information.