Readers Brian and Elsie Jones emailed us about their dissatisfaction with their insurer’s service after they suffered a burglary. There were problems with the first two attempts at an evaluation of their loss, they said, and have been kept waiting seven months for a third.
Here, insurance expert Philippe Schreinemacher, (pictured), who specialises in arranging French insurance with an English-speaking service, explains the ins and outs of French insurance for theft.
Of the five basic covers often found in a house insurance policy (fire, water damage, theft, glass and civil liability), the cover for theft is the most likely to cause dissatisfaction and frustration.
To be insured against it, the police report must state that a door, window or shutters were broken to enter the premises.
Be aware each company will have different requirements relating to shutters and window bars, the number of locks and even an alarm system as well as when and how it must be used.
If the conditions are not met when the theft occurs, the cover could be refused.
When a theft occurs, by definition the items are gone, which is why theft is difficult - there is no evidence of the damage done.
How can you prove the existence of your belongings? You can take pictures of each wall of each room (sometimes you will have to take several pictures of a wall to get the whole wall in) and several of the middle of the room.
This will give the loss adjuster proof of what was in your house, although not proof of value - but the amount needed to replace stolen items can be discussed with the loss adjuster.
Contents are divided into three categories: common furniture, valuable objects and jewellery. You will find the definitions of these in your general terms and conditions booklet.
Pictures are very low quality evidence of valuables, which is why the loss adjuster will ask for receipts or valuations for these categories.
Valuations should be less than two or three years old, although even old valuations will help.
There are good expert companies in France which can assess your belongings.
You can also ask a well-known jewellery shop to clean and carry out maintenance on your jewellery.
They will then give you a written report of what they have seen and its current value.
Photos and valuations of valuables should be kept in a secure place, not in your home, so these documents cannot be destroyed by a fire either.
Another important point to remember is that valuable objects and jewellery often have very high sentimental value (grandmother's jewellery, wedding ring, etc.)
However, when it comes to a valuation, you could be surprised by the value announced.
Valuables do follow the market and can go up as well as down in value.
On top of that, you will in any case never be able to replace their sentimental value.
It is less common for people to have cash in the house as nowadays most things are paid with credit cards and cheques.
This is why the cover on cash (if any) is very low and difficult to activate.
How can you prove you had not spent the cash between the time you withdrew it and the date of the burglary?
You should therefore only keep a very small amount of cash in your house.
What can you do if you have an important claim, and you feel the loss adjuster's report does not give you enough compensation?
There are expert companies called expert d'assuré who only work for insurance company clients to ensure that the insurer pays the right compensation after a claim.
You could describe this person as your “loss adjuster solicitor” who will fight the company's loss adjuster.
The cost for his work will be between 5 and 8% of the total claim.
Due to the pricing structure, they will not act in cases of small claims.
With good quality companies, this fee is most of the time included in the policy in case of fire - in the table of cover this is called honoraires d'expert.
It is seldom included in theft cover. However, in case of disagreement with your insurance company on an important theft claim, you can always ask for such an expert's advice.
If the expert's action makes you regain important sums, then the fee is worth
