Frequently asked questions

An excess is the part of any claim you pay yourself. You do not send it to us. We deduct it from the amount we agree, so a £3,200 claim on a policy with a £500 excess reaches you as £2,700. Motor carries £500, home £250 and travel £100 as standard.

Every claim sits in exactly one of six stages: Submitted, Evidence Requested, Under Assessment, Approved - Awaiting Payment, Settled or Declined. Because a stage tells you something specific about your claim, we confirm your policy number and postcode before we read it out. The stages are explained here.

Yes. Escape of water from tanks or pipes is one of the fourteen insured perils on our home cover. Frost damage to outside pipes is excluded, which catches people out after a cold snap, so it is worth reading both lists together on the home cover page.

Not under the standard home policy. Frost damage to outside pipes is a listed exclusion, even though escape of water from tanks or pipes inside the home is covered. The distinction is where the pipe is, not what the water did.

You can, though an approved repairer is guaranteed for three years and billed direct to us. Check the status first: approval can be withdrawn, and Brookvale Motors is currently suspended. The network list is public and always current.

That depends on the assessed amount rather than the amount claimed, and the two are often different. Once a claim is agreed we deduct your excess and the balance is what reaches you. Because the figure is specific to your claim, we confirm your policy number and postcode before discussing it.

Check for injuries and call 999 if anyone is hurt, then do not admit liability at the scene. Exchange details, photograph the vehicles and the road position before moving anything, and report to us within 48 hours even if you do not intend to claim. The full sequence is on this page.

We cannot give you legal advice, and we would not want to guess at it. What we can do is handle the recovery of your losses from the other insurer where liability points that way, which is usually faster and costs you nothing. Call us on 0808 157 0100 and ask for a claims handler, or use the contact routes here, and we will put a person on it.

Claim references are written CLM-YYYY-NNNN, for example CLM-2026-0001, where the year is the year the claim was opened. Policy numbers are written MM-PRODUCT-NNNN. If the reference matches the shape and still is not found, it may belong to a different product line, so please contact us rather than keep trying.

Because a policy number on its own is not proof of identity. Asking for the postcode registered on the policy means a number seen by someone else is not enough to open your claim history. Public information, such as our repairer network and general guidance, needs no verification at all. There is more on verifying your identity.

Opening takes about one working day. Assessment is typically five working days once we have everything. Approved payments usually reach you within three working days. The clock that moves least predictably is Evidence Requested, because that stage is waiting on a document from you.

Not under this policy. Damage while driven by an unnamed driver is a standard motor exclusion, as is use for hire or reward. If a driver needs to be covered, add them to the policy before they drive.