Flood victims slapped with huge insurance hikes
08:00 - 03-July-2008
Some Tewkesbury residents will have to pay treble the amount they did last year to insure their homes.
And they've been hit with spiralling excesses of up to £20,000 – a rise of almost 40,000 per cent.
Rachel Lennon says when she renewed her policy, she found the premium had doubled, from £600 to nearly £1,200, and the flooding excess had increased from £50 to £20,000.
With no other insurance companies willing to offer her cover in her flood-hit street, she felt she had no option but to accept the new terms from Prestige Underwriting Services.
She said: “Other insurance companies are just not taking on new business. No one else will touch me with a barge pole.”
For the 29-year-old, it is the latest misfortune to affect her during a nightmare 12 months.
Her home in Abbey Terrace was wrecked in the July floods. She and husband Will, and their two-year-old son Finlay, are living in rented accommodation while they wait for repairs.
As reported in Tuesday's Echo, the family lost almost everything when burglars stole £8,000 worth of items from their flooded house.
Echo motoring correspondent Zog Ziegler is waiting for his home at Haw Bridge, near Tewkesbury, to be repaired.
He was horrified to find his premium from Axa had risen from just over £1,000 to £3,000, and the flooding excess from £2,000 to £10,000.
After arguing his case with the insurance umbrella body the Association of British Insurers (ABI), he managed to get the premium lowered by £750. But he is still angry.
He said: “Some people's premiums haven't changed at all and yet others, like me, have got a horror story on their hands.
“Insurance companies took a big hit last year but they're insured against that.”
He added that he felt they were using the floods as an excuse to put charges up.
Jeanette and Richard Aldred, from Bredon, have seen their excess rise from £50 to £9,000 since their home flooded in July.
The couple, who had to leave their home for 10 months, say nobody other than their existing insurer Cornhill would offer them cover.
Mrs Aldred said: “When I got the letter from the insurance company, I couldn't believe it.”
Malcolm Tarling, for the ABI, denied that residents were being exploited.
He said big premium and excess rises were exceptional and reflected the high risk.
He said: “Insurance companies want to keep customers. But at the same time they've got to make sure, for the sake of potential claimants, that they offer insurance to reflect the risk.”
He added that companies dealt with four years' worth of claims in June and July last year. On average, he said, victims had been putting in claims of between £20,000-£40,000.
None of the insurance companies involved would comment.