Carry on claiming

Size matters
In August 2001, Claims Plus dealt with a claim for an expensive quadbike, which was stolen from the boot of a vehicle parked in a garden centre car park in Feltham, Middlesex. The odd thing was that the vehicle was a Ford KA, not the most capacious of cars at the best of times.

A grand second
Marrs Insurance Brokers experienced an expensive claim when a film production company it insured wanted cover for the launch of the new Mazda Xedos 9, the promotional film for which was to be shot at a stately home, Groombridge Hall.

The trailer with the vehicle arrived and a technician placed the vehicle in position and set about dusting down the inside. Inadvertently, he knocked the gearshift into reverse and the car shot backwards into the 16th century gatehouse on top of which was an extremely heavy concrete acorn. As a result of the impact, this acorn fell off its plinth onto the bonnet of the car, completely crushing it.

With loss of shooting time, plus damage to the car and the gatehouse, the claim amounted to £33,000. The period of time the car was in the client's control was, Marrs calculated, 32 seconds, a claim payment equating to roughly £1,000 per second.

Cruise control
Miller had an exotic claim from a cruise company regarding a tiger and a puma being used in a show on board one of its ships. Passengers had the opportunity to be photographed with the tiger. The stage was close enough for the animals to leap into the audience but, luckily, the animals behaved well and no drama occurred. After the cruise the client extended the cover for the animals being housed in the cruise company's offices. They were put into glass-fronted offices. Only then did one of the animals escape. It was found wandering along the corridors.

Full of hot air
Zurich Insurance had a claim involving a driver of a Land Rover Discovery, who was a bit shocked to see his car being struck from behind by a Peugeot 806. The Peugeot was being dragged along by a runaway hot air balloon at a church fete. Further inspection of the car revealed that damage was more significant than at first thought. The damaged vehicle was repaired promptly and returned to the owner.

Missing persons
Insurance broker Hill House Hammond (HHH) has experienced a series of funny claims forms. In one, a policyholder had recently been burgled and was making a claim on his contents insurance.

He was asked if he had suffered any other losses in the last six months. He replied: " Yes, my auntie and uncle."

In another claim, a couple, who had been looking after their grandson, made a claim for a new television after the rascal threw his drink at it. He didn't like the drink or the programme.

The claim form asked how they planned to prevent any future losses. They replied: "He won't be coming to stay with us again."

An HHH policyholder whose business had suffered from severe fire damage was asked to complete a simple form. One of the questions asked the nature of his business. He wrote "a whorehouse". Assessors inspecting the property later corrected this to "a warehouse".

Flukey footie
Miller Insurance Brokers insured Adidas Espana against a bonus payment to Raul Gonzalez of the Real Madrid soccer club. If he were to finish top goalscorer in the Spanish Premier League, La Liga, and win the Pirchichi title he would receive a payout. Raul scored two last-minute goals in the last game of the season to take the title. The market had to pay Adidas Espana to cover the cost of Raul's bonus.

Roasting presents
One person's efforts to conceal Christmas presents went horribly wrong in another claim on Zurich. The claimant said: "On Christmas Eve, several presents for my children were scattered around the house to be found the following day. I hid an anorak for my daughter in the oven. Unfortunately, I did not tell my wife of the hiding place. She rose first on Christmas day and switched the oven on ready for the turkey. She was somewhat surprised after five minutes by a strange aroma coming from the vicinity from the oven. On investigation she recovered a partly-melted anorak wrapped in smouldering Christmas paper. It was not the most auspicious start to an otherwise enjoyable Christmas."

Breaking the waves
GAB Robins recently dealt with a claim for water escape. This was for a woman who had hired a water pool for the imminent birth of her child. It was filled with a hose pipe. With all the commotion and joy of the birth, the water was left running for over two hours, subsequently flooding the kitchen and causing the ceiling to collapse.

Another claim from GAB Robins involved a practice of equine vets. Their building was partly demolished by a horse, which was being gelded, but woke up too soon from the anaesthetic and took exception.

A proper drama
Another HHH customer had his car stolen one evening. Later that same night the car was returned along with a full tank of petrol, an apology note and two tickets to the theatre. The man and his wife decided to make use of the tickets and spent a wonderful evening at the theatre. They returned to find that their house had been burgled.

Very safe and very sorry
A woman from the Midlands got into her car outside her home and, not realising the crooklock was still attached to the steering wheel, drove down the road. She discovered she could not turn or stop and consequently drove her car into the side of a neighbour's vehicle, causing considerable damage to the parked vehicle as well as to her own.

Hitting the roof
Claims Plus dealt with a claim where an elderly driver had reversed into his attached garage and hit the wall. Shortly afterwards the garage roof fell on the car. The council declared the house unsafe to live in until the garage (which formed part of the overall structure) was repaired.

It then turned out that the car was the only support stopping the garage from collapsing completely and further damaging the house. The car was a wreck, the garage was a shambles and the house needed extensive repairs.

Easy rider
Cornhill Insurance was amused to receive the following claims form about a couple who damaged a courtesy car: "We turned right into the middle of a carnival procession on Brighton seafront road. A security guard came up and said he would lead us to the first available exit.

As we were following him along in the procession, which was at walking speed, a stunt rider came alongside us with his bike and asked if he could ride over the top of the car. I said `no' and even if it was my car I still wouldn't let him do it. As we were moving he kept badgering us and we still kept saying no, explaining it was a courtesy car.

Then the procession came to a stop and he took aim and drove over the top of the car leaving tyre marks on the bonnet, smashing the windscreen and various other damages, leaving us both very shocked."

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hire
DAS Insurance was curious when a policyholder wanted to make his own arrangements for car hire following an accident. Their curiosity was aroused when he swapped a large executive saloon for an ageing small hatchback. A top-heavy bill for car hire set alarm bells ringing and detective work followed. The claims handlers discovered that the address of the `hire company' used was the same as that for the said policyholder.