Allsure Insurance’s Director Melissa Donaldson has a broad range of insurance experience and expertise, including claims. Today she’s going to share some of the more acCLAIMed (sorry) stories from our business over the years.
Insurance claims – they’re like a train wreck (actually in some instances, they literally ARE a train wreck.) They can be terrible, but they can also be terribly interesting.
I can’t tell you how many times in the insurance business I’ve heard that all we do is make a promise on a page (or a PDF, in this digital age). People pay for that promise, actually hoping they never need to call in the promise. Actually all parties hope they never need to call it in, because that means that nothing terrible has happened. But things can and do happen, as we all know.
But we can also LEARN from stories, so we thought we would share some of ours. Check out six of the stories we still talk about, the nominees for our ‘Hall of Claims’.
The revolving door claim.
A long term client came into our office to insure her brand new car – she was super excited about her purchase. Our dad sorted her out with a full, comprehensive insurance policy. She happily paid her premium, signed her paperwork and left the office.
Ten minutes later… She walks back in. Dad asks “did you forget something?” To which she said “well no, I just crashed my car.”
He then got busy submitting her claim!
Let’s go fishing.
A funny story, well, we all had a giggle anyway. A dear, elderly client of ours was taken out on a bit of a fishing expedition.
It had been a while since he’d gone out on a boat, and the waters weren’t as calm as he had hoped, and unfortunately he was stricken with a decent case of sea sickness…
Whilst releasing the burley, his false teeth let go too!
Lucky for him he had accidental damage cover, and we were able to replace his false teeth.
The time his singing sounded best in the shower.
They make amazing things today! Like, how about a set of superhuman bionic hearing aids, that can be blue toothed to your phone?!
They, as you can imagine, are worth a pretty penny! In fact, at least $10,000 a pair.
They are made so well, you wouldn’t even know they were there…apparently not even when you went to shower.
Top insurance cover meant his hearing aids were replaced, and he can clearly hear his wife nagging him again. 🙂
The claim that never was – sometimes you are actually not insured.
We see it all. It was one of those instances, where you think to yourself, that was a bit strange.
He rushed in, in a little bit of a panic, requesting to insure his contents. He was adamant in needed to be done right away.
A little later we found out a house was burned to the ground not far away…yes you guessed it was that man who set the fire, and then thought he best insure his contents!
Needless to say, he wasn’t insured.
The claims cycle.
We have some very keen cyclists as our clients. Having spent many years supporting and helping with the Tour De Cure, has meant clients with lovely bicycles.
A lot will strap them on the roof on their car when they head out to a training circuit.
One day, our client was coming back after a ride with his wife. He momentarily forgot the bikes were securely strapped to the top of the car, he flicked up the door on his garage, and drove straight in!
He heard the crunch, remembered the bikes, panicked and reversed out, but, unaware the bikes had actually been flicked off, he proceeded to drive over them.
Lucky he had a policy that covered this.
Tie my trampoline down.
This is a classic! It bring together all aspects of your household policy.
It was extremely windy and raining, and the kids got a new trampoline for Christmas.
I know, I know…as you expected, the tramp took off, smashed into the side of the house, broke a window, and sent glass, rain and debris into the lounge room, damaging the couch, carpet and the curtains.
But it wasn’t done! It was picked up again by the wind…then rolled along the corrugated iron roof, not missing a single sheet. Doonkkkkk-doonnkkk-doonkkkk!
Flying off the roof, rolling along the top of their front fence, it sent splintered wood everywhere. Next item up for destruction, the neighbour’s car!
Luckily, it finally came to rest without further damage. Insurance cover was used on contents, home and liability.
Lessons learnt.
Learn from the stories in our ‘Hall of Claims’ and give us a call, we can make sure you have the right insurance cover. Remember, ‘having the right insurance is no accident’.