Please click on each of the questions below to reveal the answer underneath.
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Who underwrites Paymentshield Buildings & Contents Policies?
Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc underwrites our Buildings & Contents Insurance policies. DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company Limited is the underwriter for Home Emergency Cover and Legal Expenses Cover.
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What's the difference between buildings insurance and contents insurance?
Imagine your customers packing up all their belongings and moving house. Everything that they would take with them as their belongings would be covered under Contents Cover, whilst everything that remained, i.e. the building itself, the fitted kitchen, the bath, the sink, the wallpaper, the doors etc would be covered under Buildings Insurance.
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How much should my customer insure their home for?
To know how much Buildings cover is sufficient, your customer needs to know the cost of rebuilding their home. This is normally on the lender's valuation or can be provided by a surveyor.
For Contents Insurance you should encourage your customers to think about everything they have within their home and how much it would cost to replace each item new today. Encourage them to walk through each room of their home and record all their contents with the current value. Having an inventory of their home contents will help them enormously in the event of any claim.
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What are your limits on cover?
We offer the following cover limits:
- Up to £300,000 Buildings Cover, increasing to £500,00 with our Buildings Extra Cover
- Up to £40,000 Contents Cover, increasing to £60,000 with our Contents Extra Cover
- Up to £10,000 Personal Possessions Cover, increasing to £15,000 with our Contents Extra Cover
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What are the single item limits?
If specified on the certificate of insurance, we will pay up to £15,000 for any individual item. Where individual items are not specified we will pay up to £5,000 unless the item is a high risk valuable such as jewellery, gold and silver articles, furs, clocks, watches, pictures and other works of art, sculptures and collections of stamps, medals or coins, in which case we will pay up to £2,000 per item.
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What is a valuable?
Paymentshield consider valuables to be items composed of precious metal or precious stones, jewellery, watches, furs, curios and works of art, computer equipment, money or portable electrical equipment other than televisions or radios. The most we will pay for valuables is £15,000.
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Do you offer any free periods of cover?
Paymentshield provide two product options for your customers:
- 'BestQuote' which, as the name suggests, provides our lowest premium
- 'FreeFirst' which allows your customer to not pay any premiums for the first two months following the policy start date. This may be particularly beneficial to first time buyers or home movers.
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What no claims discount can I offer my customers?
For residential Buildings & Contents Insurance, we can transfer the no claims discount from a previous policy if your customer has held continuous insurance for the period they are claiming the no claims discount.
However if there has been any break in cover of less than 2 years, the customer will still be entitled to the no claims discount they previously held, provided they have been claim free during this period.
If the break in cover is longer than two years, we would allow the customer to have the introductory no claims discount (2 years) on the policy (provided there hadn't been any claims within the break of cover period). We also offer First Time Buyers an introductory no claims discount of 15% (2 years).
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Will my customer have to pay extra to pay monthly?
No. Our policies are provided on a monthly basis, therefore we only accept payment by monthly direct debit and there is no charge for this facility.
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What excess will my customer pay if they make a claim?
Paymentshield's standard Policy Excess is £100 which can be reduced for a slight premium increase or increased for a premium saving. Escape of Water or Oil claims carry a minimum excess of £200. Subsidence claims carry a minimum excess of £1,000.
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Will you charge my customer if they want to make amendments to their policy?
No. We will not charge your customers if they wish to make a mid term adjustment to their policy. They will simply pay for any adjustments in premiums that may occur from them adjusting the cover on their policy e.g. adding Accidental Damage, increasing the Personal Possessions cover.
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What does "New for Old" mean?
If an item has been damaged and cannot be economically repaired, we will replace the item with a new one of similar quality or at our option we will pay the replacement costs of a new item of similar quality.
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Does Paymentshield cover accidental damage?
Yes. We allow you to add accidental damage cover for either buildings, contents or both when producing a quote for your customer using Inertia.
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Is my customer's mobile phone covered on their home insurance policy?
Mobile Phones can be included under the 'Optional' Personal Possessions section of the policy which you must select if required when producing a quote for your customer using Inertia. Mobile Phones are covered up to £250 under the Personal Possessions section.
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If some of my customer's personal items are stolen from their hotel room when on holiday, would they be covered?
If your customer has Personal Possessions cover selected on their policy, their personal possessions are covered when travelling anywhere in the United Kingdom or Europe, or for up to 60 days if travelling anywhere else in the world.
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Are my customers' daughter's/son's belongings covered whilst they are away at university?
Contents which are temporarily removed from the home into an occupied private dwelling are covered for a period up to 90 days at a time.
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Are my customer's personal belongings covered if they take them on holiday?
If your customer has Personal Possessions cover selected on their policy, their personal possessions are covered when travelling anywhere in the United Kingdom or Europe, or for up to 60 days if travelling anywhere else in the world.
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Is my customer's money and credit cards covered?
If your customer has Personal Possessions cover selected on their policy, we cover them and their family against loss of personal money (up to £250) or the unauthorised use of credit cards (up to £500) occurring anywhere in the United Kingdom and Europe.
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Can my customer make a claim at 2am?
Yes. A 24 hour helpline is available and the helpline number will be shown on your customer's policy schedule. When they call they will be advised how to proceed with their claim.
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If my customer can't live in their home because of a fire, will their policy cover the cost of room and board at a hotel?
If their home is made uninhabitable by an insured event, we will pay for agreed accommodation expenses, incurred by your customer and their family, until their home is restored to normal living conditions, including agreed accommodation costs for any pets living with them.
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If the food in my customer's freezer was spoiled because the electric power into their home was cut, does their home policy cover this mishap?
Yes. Your customer would be covered for the cost of replacing food in their freezer if it is spoilt by an accidental change in temperature, e.g. an accidental power cut.
Unfortunately we would not be able to help should the loss or damage be caused by a deliberate act of any public electricity supply authority or by a wilful act of negligence or the continued use of damaged or faulty apparatus.
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Are the contents of my customer's shed or garage covered?
Yes. We will pay up to £2,500 per theft claim for contents stored in their outbuildings.
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Are my customer's covered if they work from home?
Yes. Any business equipment in your customer's home is covered if they or a member of their family work from home.
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If my customer's fixed domestic water or heating installation pipes froze and burst resulting in Escape of Water while they were on holiday, are they covered?
Yes. As long as the property has not been left unoccupied for more than 60 days.
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What does Home Emergency cover?
The Insurer will arrange to deal with the home emergency by selecting a qualified person to come to your customer's home and make any necessary repairs as a result of the home emergency. This cover is limited to £500 including VAT for the cost of the qualified person, chosen by the insurer, to deal with the emergency. This includes the call out charge, labour and any materials used to carry out the emergency repair.
In the event of the property becoming uninhabitable and remaining so overnight we shall, at your customer's request, arrange for their overnight accommodation and/or transport to such accommodation up to £100 including VAT.
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What types of things are classed as a home emergency?
A home emergency is an unexpected event in the home, which might cause damage or further damage or has left your customer's home unsafe, un-secure and therefore requires an immediate repair, e.g. failure of main heating systems, damage to plumbing and drainage systems, roof damage and loss of domestic power supply.
If your customer's home is left uninhabitable, then home emergency cover will cover the costs of agreed alternative accommodation. Please refer to the Policy Terms & Conditions for restrictions and exclusions.
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What work will be carried out in the event of a home emergency?
The purpose of home emergency cover is to quickly arrange for a tradesman or qualified professionals to make an initial repair such as boarding up a window, fixing a burst pipe or agreeing alternative accommodation (up to £100) if your customer's home is uninhabitable overnight following the home emergency.
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Would a Home Emergency claim affect my customer's no claims discount, or would they have to pay an excess if they make a claim?
Home emergency doesn't affect your customer's no claims discount when making a claim and there is no excess to pay. However should they need to make a claim under the buildings and/or contents section of their policy following the home emergency, this will affect their no claims discount and an excess may apply.
For further information and definition of key words, please refer to full Policy Terms & Conditions.