Having to hear countless tales of destruction and devastation to peoples’ homes can probably get pretty depressing for insurance claims handlers. But every once in a while a claim comes along that no doubt raises a smile. Here, we reveal some of the more bizarre home insurance claims.
Hot pants
Any claim involving underwear is bound to leave the policy holder red-faced – and this claim from the AA is no exception.
One man hung his boxer shorts to dry on a rail in front of a gas fire. In the meantime, he popped out to buy a newspaper locking the door behind him.
When he returned, he realised he had forgotten his keys and after some time elapsed he began to smell burning. When he finally managed to get back inside, he discovered his boxers had caught fire and caused significant smoke damage to the property.
Luckily for the man in question, the AA paid out for his claim.
It wasn’t the season to be jolly
For many of us, putting up the tree is one of the highlights of Christmas. But this tale of festive woe from the AA proves that it can go horribly wrong.
Going into the loft to retrieve the tree, one man put his foot between two joists and fell through the ceiling.
In a panic, he grabbed the nearest object to steady himself. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the pipe connected to the water tank, which unleashed hundreds of gallons of water onto the property and caused thousands of pounds in damage.
Christmas catastrophe
Another Christmas nightmare, this time from a family insured by the Co-operative.
Getting up on Christmas morning to get the dinner started, they lit the centrepiece which then burst into flames and set fire to the dining table.
Losing your mind
Moving across the pond, editors at MSN Money in the US have an amusing anecdote about a policy holder who made a claim for a human brain.
The grey matter was apparently a family heirloom that the person kept in a jar. Amazingly, the brain was then stolen in a burglary.
As it’s illegal to purchase a human brain, the claimant settled for a plastic replacement instead.
Pot policy
Another great example from our US counterpart is the man who made a claim for his stolen marijuana plants.
That might seem a daft thing to do, but it turns out he was legally allowed to light up in order to alleviate the pain suffered as a result of a chronic disease.
The claimant wanted to be paid the street value for his five stolen plants. However, the insurer said it would not pay out more than $1,000 (£620) as his policy stated this was the maximum coverage for damaged or stolen plants.
The world’s most expensive rubbish?
Throwing money away is never a good idea, but it still happens – as this claim received by Co-operative Insurance shows: “I gave my son £400 for Christmas who then accidentally threw it out with the rest of the rubbish!”
Explosive TV
TVs are expensive to fix, so it’s perhaps not a good idea to put a bullet through one. Yet that’s exactly what one man did.
No, it wasn’t an expression of outrage at the poor shows on offer. Instead, it turns out the claimant refurbishes old guns and didn’t realise the one he was working on was actually loaded.
A serious note
However humorous these claims may be, a number of them still resulted in hundreds or even thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Without contents insurance, these unlucky claimants would have had to pay out to replace or repair the damage themselves.
Source : MSN Money
