Home & Contents
The average clause: how underinsurance shrinks a small claim
If your sum insured is short by a third, an insurer may cut a claim by a third — including a claim for a fraction of the total.
Bao Tran
Motor writer, Insured and Ready
Bao writes about vehicle cover, valuations and the arithmetic of an excess.
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18 articles
Home & Contents
Theft claims and the words forcible and violent
Many policies only pay for theft where entry or exit involved force. A thief walking through an unlocked door can fall outside that.
Home & Contents
Working from home changes what you must tell your insurer
Home policies are written for domestic use. Clients through the door, stock in the spare room and business equipment all sit…
Home & Contents
Landlord and tenant: who insures what in a rented home
Two policies are needed and neither covers the other side. The gaps sit in fixtures, liability and rent.
Motor
Comprehensive is often cheaper than third party, and that is not a mistake
The counter-intuitive pricing of motor cover levels tells you something real about how insurers read a quote.
Motor
What a telematics box actually measures
Usage-based motor policies price you on recorded behaviour, and the metrics they use are narrower and more specific than most…
Motor
Every modification must be declared, including the ones that reduce risk
A modification is any change from manufacturer specification, and the obligation to disclose does not depend on whether it made the…
Motor
A courtesy car is an add-on, not a right
Replacement vehicle cover is one of the most assumed and least checked benefits on a motor policy, and it usually stops exactly…
Motor
Your no-claims discount is a percentage of a moving number
Years of accumulated discount can coexist with a rising premium, because the discount applies to a base price the insurer resets…
Home & Contents
Personal possessions cover follows you; contents cover stays at home
A contents policy insures things inside the house. The moment they leave with you, a different section of the policy has to respond.
Home & Contents
Locks and alarms become conditions the moment they earn a discount
Security discounts are not rewards for good habits. They are priced on the assumption that the security is specified, working and…
Motor
Driving other cars is a crumb of cover, not a second policy
The extension some motor policies carry sounds generous and is deliberately thin. It usually leaves the car you are driving…
Motor
GAP cover pays the hole a total-loss valuation leaves behind
A motor insurer pays what the car was worth on the day it was written off. What you owe, or what you paid, can be a different…
Motor
Salvage categories follow a car for the rest of its life
A written-off vehicle is recorded against its identity, not just against the claim. That record changes what it is worth and who…
Motor
Theft with your own keys is the hardest motor claim to make
Vehicles taken without a broken window put a policyholder in an awkward position. The insurer starts by asking where the keys were.
Motor
Credit hire: the free replacement car with a bill behind it
After a non-fault accident somebody will offer you a car at no cost. The cost exists; it is simply pointed at the other insurer.
Motor
Electric cars ask questions motor policies answer awkwardly
The battery, the cable and the charge point sit between three different policies. Deciding which one responds is not always obvious.
Motor
Convictions and past claims have a longer memory than you do
The questions asked at quotation reach back years and are checked against shared databases. Forgetting is treated much like…