On the subject of insurance - cannot get my head around this..

[Marcochezzi]

Look, I'm no stranger to getting confused, but this one has me properly stumped..

I'm insured through CIB Vertex, home, cars, contents, business (small) etc etc, probably close to 15 years now, maybe more..

Got a call from my 'agent' this morning that CIB Vertex want to come around and look at all my content - however she did say that I should not worry - they won't really open each and every linen or rods draw - in order to confirm that I am not under insured..

They will come, take photo's, document serial numbers etc etc...

"Who the fk are 'they'.." I asked...

"No", she retorts in an upbeat way, "its their agents / subcontractors, don't stress, they are very professional and you should have no concern"

I told her to tell her subs to go buy a farm, fk off basically, firstly, they probably would not understand half of the old shite I have in these 4 walls, and they certainly will have jack shite way to attach a value to these items.. Secondly, telling me I 'should' have no concern is not exactly committing to my sense of extended calm or satisfaction, so to say..

There is no way on the good Lords green earth that I am letting some stranger in brandishing a camera of sort expecting trust because he has a tie and glasses..

Is this the norm, has it happened to anyone else out there, did you go with it, or did I just wake up in a 7th state of extended dimension this morning

Surely this is all wrong in every possible way..

[RobH]

My insurers did this for my father a few years ago, no issues even though I was sceptical at first.

You are guaranteed to be under-insured, I think we all are.

[Nys]

Look, I'm no stranger to getting confused, but this one has me properly stumped..

I'm insured through CIB Vertex, home, cars, contents, business (small) etc etc, probably close to 15 years now, maybe more..

Got a call from my 'agent' this morning that CIB Vertex want to come around and look at all my content - however she did say that I should not worry - they won't really open each and every linen or rods draw - in order to confirm that I am not under insured..

They will come, take photo's, document serial numbers etc etc...

"Who the fk are 'they'.." I asked...

"No", she retorts in an upbeat way, "its their agents / subcontractors, don't stress, they are very professional and you should have no concern"

I told her to tell her subs to go buy a farm, fk off basically, firstly, they probably would not understand half of the old shite I have in these 4 walls, and they certainly will have jack shite way to attach a value to these items.. Secondly, telling me I 'should' have no concern is not exactly committing to my sense of extended calm or satisfaction, so to say..

There is no way on the good Lords green earth that I am letting some stranger in brandishing a camera of sort expecting trust because he has a tie and glasses..

Is this the norm, has it happened to anyone else out there, did you go with it, or did I just wake up in a 7th state of extended dimension this morning

Surely this is all wrong in every possible way..

Ask you broker for an inventory list.

Go form room to room and fill it in.

Submit and they can confirm the photos you need to submit. I will not let strangers take photos of my house.

[Marcochezzi]

My insurers did this for my father a few years ago, no issues even though I was sceptical at first.

You are guaranteed to be under-insured, I think we all are.

Sure we are all under insured, same way we never will have enough retirement, I get it, but taking photo's and walking away into the blue yonder, got to be cracked man, plus Max Verstaffie might feel uneasy too....

[LegoDawie]

I'm with you on this one. If they want to come into my home with a camera, they can kiss my business good buy!
There are plenty other insurers and brokers out there.

[280iNyati]

Look, I'm no stranger to getting confused, but this one has me properly stumped..

I'm insured through CIB Vertex, home, cars, contents, business (small) etc etc, probably close to 15 years now, maybe more..

Got a call from my 'agent' this morning that CIB Vertex want to come around and look at all my content - however she did say that I should not worry - they won't really open each and every linen or rods draw - in order to confirm that I am not under insured..

They will come, take photo's, document serial numbers etc etc...

"Who the fk are 'they'.." I asked...

"No", she retorts in an upbeat way, "its their agents / subcontractors, don't stress, they are very professional and you should have no concern"

I told her to tell her subs to go buy a farm, fk off basically, firstly, they probably would not understand half of the old shite I have in these 4 walls, and they certainly will have jack shite way to attach a value to these items.. Secondly, telling me I 'should' have no concern is not exactly committing to my sense of extended calm or satisfaction, so to say..

There is no way on the good Lords green earth that I am letting some stranger in brandishing a camera of sort expecting trust because he has a tie and glasses..

Is this the norm, has it happened to anyone else out there, did you go with it, or did I just wake up in a 7th state of extended dimension this morning

Surely this is all wrong in every possible way..

Nice detailed inventory list for affirmative shopping

[Karol]

something like this deserves an emailed locked pdf letter signed by the head huncho.

Just a call won't suffice.

very unprofessional if legit

[Fluffy]

No matter how you slice the pie.

You have to allow them reasonable access and means to assess what they are insuring.

If you don't, they have no obligation to pay out in the event of a loss.

[Die Rooi Lorrie]

My insurer for the last 8 years also sent an assessor about a year ago to do an inventory.
They were very professional.
I didn't mind it as half the stuff in my house I won't be able to prove when or where it was bought initially.
Now they documented it, so there will be no dispute if I ever have to claim.
They also confirmed with a complete list with replacement values in writing.

Household content insurance is cheap, so no big issue to increase the cover amount.
Much better than only having 50% of your claim paid due to being under insured.

[Karol]

Just out of interest sake, is total house burglary still a thing? how often does it happen ?

Like coming home to an empty house, everything gone.

[Fluffy]

My insurer for the last 8 years also sent an assessor about a year ago to do an inventory.
They were very professional.
I didn't mind it as half the stuff in my house I won't be able to prove when or where it was bought initially.
Now they documented it, so there will be no dispute if I ever have to claim.
They also confirmed with a complete list with replacement values in writing.

Household content insurance is cheap, so no big issue to increase the cover amount.
Much better than only having 50% of your claim paid due to being under insured.

We took the route of drastically over insuring with no inventory. Essential we take the risk for underinsuring.

Inventories are OK for a ballpark figure, but it's the inventory at the time of a loss claim that really counts..

Besides inventories are not static. In the last few months alone, I have done major expensive upgrades to IT infrastructure/laptops, large OLED TV's, new dual compressor main double door fridge/freezer, battery powered lawnmower, machine tools, extra Lithium batteries, you name it.

[Fluffy]

Just out of interest sake, is total house burglary still a thing? how often does it happen ?

Like coming home to an empty house, everything gone.

More common than it used to be. Thief's are more organised with access to trucks/vans and distribution networks.

[Oppies3800]

Just out of interest sake, is total house burglary still a thing? how often does it happen ?

Like coming home to an empty house, everything gone.

Pretty common. Arrive with a moving companies truck and most neighbors won't even question it.

[Marcochezzi]

More common than it used to be. Thief's are more organised with access to trucks/vans and distribution networks.

And comprehensive detailed lists of goods by room, in addressed households...

See where I'm going...

[Karol]

More common than it used to be. Thief's are more organised with access to trucks/vans and distribution networks.

I guess pre orders or demand test via facebook market place is a good tool too.

[Fluffy]

And comprehensive detailed lists of goods by room, in addressed households...

See where I'm going...

Eish Conspiracy theory 101.

There are literally millions of records with insurance companies that contain detail lists of households with goods per room.

You don't need a list of what's in a house to ransack it. In a general sense all houses in a given neighbourhood occupied by people of a similar LSM with have a similar list of loot to lift.

You are going to get more loot out of a house in Rivonia than a shack in Alexandra.

[Jouko]

End of 2022 we run into trouble with our insurance company. It turned out that they require invoice for every item insured. Our valuation and pictures are not sufficient. I asked the broker what then. We have very few invoices for our furniture etc. Most of the quality furniture is 2nd hand. After a while he did come back and said there is a professional company that does professional valuations. Those valuations are accepted by all insurance companies. February 2023 two people did come from company Fenwick& Jacobs Valuators. They went through everything. Took pictures listed items and issued reports for the content and the property. I sent those to our insurance broker.

At that time there were only 2 insurance companies that did such evaluations on their cost. We had to pay.

"The two companies that provide this service as part of their package is MUA Acceptance and Old Mutual Elite."

At that time I paid R 8 200.00 for 3 valuations. R 3000.00 for house valuation, R4000.00 for main content and R1000.00 for business content.

We were correctly covered excluding the house. Reason for that was our under valuations for fees:
Demolition and Clearance 5%
Professional fees 12%
Municipal fees 1%

All three are on the house value. Insurance value before fees is twice the selling price.

Total insurance value for the 3 line items is in millions.

I paid that invoice with pleasure. We will not have an issue with claims.

If the insurance company is willing to do the valuation on their cost I would just ask them that the valuators are genuine and sent by them and put a red carpet out for the valuators.

There is so much fraud that insurance companies are clamping down. House robbers come and take few electronic items with a replacement value R30 000.00. The first issue is do you have proof that you had them? Next comes the assessor. You content is R2 milj but you are insured for R500 k. Insurance company pays R 7500.00 less first portion IF you had proof of ownership.

Everybody is free to have conspiracy theory. Not on this. Just check that they are legit.

[Marcochezzi]

End of 2022 we run into trouble with our insurance company. It turned out that they require invoice for every item insured. Our valuation and pictures are not sufficient. I asked the broker what then. We have very few invoices for our furniture etc. Most of the quality furniture is 2nd hand. After a while he did come back and said there is a professional company that does professional valuations. Those valuations are accepted by all insurance companies. February 2023 two people did come from company Fenwick& Jacobs Valuators. They went through everything. Took pictures listed items and issued reports for the content and the property. I sent those to our insurance broker.

At that time there were only 2 insurance companies that did such evaluations on their cost. We had to pay.

"The two companies that provide this service as part of their package is MUA Acceptance and Old Mutual Elite."

At that time I paid R 8 200.00 for 3 valuations. R 3000.00 for house valuation, R4000.00 for main content and R1000.00 for business content.

We were correctly covered excluding the house. Reason for that was our under valuations for fees:
Demolition and Clearance 5%
Professional fees 12%
Municipal fees 1%

All three are on the house value. Insurance value before fees is twice the selling price.

Total insurance value for the 3 line items is in millions.

I paid that invoice with pleasure. We will not have an issue with claims.

If the insurance company is willing to do the valuation on their cost I would just ask them that the valuators are genuine and sent by them and put a red carpet out for the valuators.

There is so much fraud that insurance companies are clamping down. House robbers come and take few electronic items with a replacement value R30 000.00. The first issue is do you have proof that you had them? Next comes the assessor. You content is R2 milj but you are insured for R500 k. Insurance company pays R 7500.00 less first portion IF you had proof of ownership.

Everybody is free to have conspiracy theory. Not on this. Just check that they are legit.

They are legit, I understand the insurance companies need to draw a line in the sand re the value of your goods, there is still no way some arbitrary person is coming to my place and documenting everything in pics, no way.. We live in what must be one if the most criminally laden countries with the single most useless crime fighting stats out there in by far the majority, no way I make it easier for them.. conspiracy theory or not.. How the hell do the insurance companies ensure that the data is not sold on… cracked, sincerely..

[Andrew Leigh]

They are simply ensuring that they have minimal risk for the cover they offer, and that whatever risk they may have is taken care of by your premiums. They valuation is simply a means to upping premiums and increasing revenue.

If they revalued today, and you have a theft tomorrow, I will almost guarantee that you will still be underinsured.

You don't often see insurers go broke.

[GroenHoender]

Ask you broker for an inventory list.

Go form room to room and fill it in.

Submit and they can confirm the photos you need to submit. I will not let strangers take photos of my house.

This. Best approach to do it.

I never had any stranger call me, wanting to get into my house for photos.
Nor will I gave them any access.

What I did was to complete the inventory list, and for each and every expensive item, I take a photo (including serials, if any) and add it to the list (for example, inverter, bicycle, you name it).

For valuable items, such as rings, an antique family clock, etc, simply get an valuation quote from a reputable dealer, and add it to the inventory list (with photos as well).

Only problem is that it involves a bit of personal effort every year, updating this to retain value (and avoid depreciation).