The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
‘Storage blaze ruined all we owned’
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Six-figure claim placed after involvement
Few policies offer full cover for goods kept away from home confirm the location of the household contents, acknowledging the “extremely difficult and distressing” time faced by the Meachum family. The firm agreed to honour the policy and the Meachums have now submitted a claim for just under £120,000, which is being processed. Mrs Meachum’s husband, Konrad, 54, said: “It has been extremely stressful, especially espec when the claim was denied. We W really had nothing, we had to move b back into our house with nothing but the clothes we had with us. Can you imagine what that’s like? My daughter, Channing, had a box that she put special sp memories in and that th was destroyed, my wife w lost the things her sister gave her before she passed away. Those can’t be replaced.” A spokesman for John Lewis Finance said: s “We sympathise with wi Mr and Mrs Insurance policies sold by storage firms can be much more expensive Some insurers limit the value of items covered when they are kept away from home Meachum. They did not inform us that their contents had been moved to an external storage unit, as had been requested during initial conversations about the planned building works, meaning their loss wasn’t covered by their existing insurance policy.
“However, as we were aware during subsequent conversations that works were ongoing, we believe we could have done more to check the situation with their contents. We have therefore offered them retrospective cover for their contents while in storage.”
Dr Matthew Connell of the Chartered Insurance Institute said consumers must take the time to understand the terms of their policies.
“Home insurance might not cover all of your possessions if they are in the care of a third party such as a storage facility,” he said. “It’s very important consumers check what is and is not covered in their policy.”
Brian Brown, of Defaqto, pointed out that insurers have a range of different terms and scenarios for covering household items away from home. Some will have time limits, 30 or 60 days for example, while others will have value thresholds, typically between £5,000 and £10,000 or 20pc of the total value.
Another option, if cover is not provided by a home insurer, is to take advantage of the cover provided by the storage facility. Shurgard said it requires all customers to have an insurance policy in place and that this can either be via the firm itself or another insurer. It said its own policies were “fully flexible” meaning customers can make changes if they add or remove items from their unit.
In August, Telegraph Money reported that insurance purchased from a storage firm is typically three times more expensive than policies available elsewhere. A third-party storage insurance policy for six months would cost around £40, while the same level of cover with a well-known storage firm is sold for more than £600.
Valentine’s Day always causes a spike in sales of rings and jewellery for loved ones, but a growing number of people are making purchases as an investment.
Investors have already been able to cash in by following celebrity trends. Art deco and belle époque jewellery has skyrocketed in value after being worn by celebrities such as the Duchess of Sussex and actress Scarlett Johansson. Prices of art deco jewellery have risen by 93pc over the past decade, according to the Knight Frank luxury investment index.
More people are turning to luxury goods after the recent stock market downturn, but experts have urged investors to ensure their collections are properly insured. Sharp price rises mean that pieces may need to be revalued or listed separately on insurance policies to ensure insurers will pay out if they are lost or stolen.
Steve Collins, of Cheffins auction house, said that anything worth more than £500 should be valued and listed separately on household insurance. He said valuations would have a full description of the piece, including its weight, and multiple photographs.
Unlike modern items, where the insurer will replace lost goods with a new equivalent, antiques differ because insurers pay out the cost of a comparable item of similar age and condition based on the valuation.
“Insurance companies will only look at the valuation you have,” Mr Collins warned. “So with any fashionable item, the owner needs to keep their eye on the ball to see if it is becoming more popular. If it is getting more valuable, then consider getting the item revalued.”