water damage insurance claim

[jaspercarrot]

i put a claim in to my ins company for water damage to my bathroom and kitchen they sent their own surveyor he took photos and made a list of repairs to be done, the insurers wanted their own contractors to do work but i had option to use my own contractor which i did and sent his estimate, the insurers phoned with an offer that their contractors would have charged but it was well short of my contractors estimate so i have to borrow money to pay the difference, i have made a complaint to bank insurance, they told me that their contractors prices are competitive, i told them that the amount i was awarded would barely cover materials to do repairs let alone labour cost, the reply i had was that their contractors if underestimated they could invoice bank for the extra cost but my contractor couldnt do that, surely this is an unfair system as their surveyors estimate will always be cheaper than your own contractor if they can add on later. do you think they should increase their offer to a more realistic amount?

[Buenchico]

By law, a company must always put the interests of its shareholders first. The insurance company is obliged to keep its payouts to a minimum.

Obviously, the insurance company also has a contractual obligation to you, but that obligation is simply to ensure that you can have the damage repaired. They have offered to get the damage repaired by their own contractors but you've rejected that offer. They will know that their contractors occasionally 'under quote' but their experience (and the knowledge that the contractor doesn't want to lose a major part of their business) will tell them that they'll generally 'get a good deal' from the contractor (and thus satisfy their obligation to their shareholders).

The insurance company will also be aware that the first question many independent companies ask the householder is this one: "Is this an insurance job?". (It's amazing how many companies will suddenly inflate their quote if the answer is "Yes"). Because of this, insurance companies are wary of engaging the services of independent contractors and there's definitely no way that they'd consider effectively 'writing a blank cheque' by allowing them to increase the bill at a later stage. (As I've indicated above, they'll permit their own contractors a certain amount of flexibility because they know that the contractor won't 'try it on', as to do so would result in the contractor potentially losing a major contract).

Your best option would be to ask the insurance company if the offer to use their own contractors still stands. If it does, accept it. If it doesn't, you might be better placed to seek an increased offer from them.

Chris

[Ethel]

I agree with Chris - I have always had excellent experiences with insurance supplied contractors - they don't want to botch the job and risk their contractual relationship with the insurance company.

And the insurer acts as an 'overseer' so if there are problems, they sort it out for me,