Insurance companies may reject a home burglary claim if the electric fence is not up to standard

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

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Electric fence insurance claim warning in South Africa

Insurance companies may reject a home burglary claim if the property's electric fence was broken or not up to standard, and if you forgot to arm your alarm before leaving home.

While insurance companies said claims are evaluated individually, several have told MyBroadband that non-functional or non-compliant electric fences and alarm systems would negatively impact payouts.
 
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This has been the case for some time. A friend who was a lawyer for an insurance company said that he did not add having an electric fence to his household insurance despite having one. He felt that this added significant risk to having claims accepted. I followed his lead and it made no difference to my policy since the minimum requirements were already met without this.
 
garyc said:
This has been the case for some time. A friend who was a lawyer for an insurance company said that he did not add having an electric fence to his household insurance despite having one. He felt that this added significant risk to having claims accepted. I followed his lead and it made no difference to my policy since the minimum requirements were already met without this.
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Me too.
Does your car have a tracker: Nope!
Even though I know very well I’ve got one.
Is there someone at your home during the day: Nope!
Even though I work from home.

I’d rather pay the extra 50 bucks in premiums per month than have a claim rejected for something trivial
 
I hate this stipulation.
garyc said:
This has been the case for some time. A friend who was a lawyer for an insurance company said that he did not add having an electric fence to his household insurance despite having one. He felt that this added significant risk to having claims accepted. I followed his lead and it made no difference to my policy since the minimum requirements were already met without this.
Click to expand...
Seeing that these insurance companies share information, I guess it is too late for me to go for another insurance company and claim that I do not have an electric fence installed? The buggers will decline me should I claim and say I omitted that I have an electric fence installed.
 
This depends on whether it was noted as a security feature at time of risk evaluation.

If you tell them you have an alarm.. then the premium is based on you arming the alarm when the house is unoccupied.

Same with the electric fence.
 
Dups! said:
I hate this stipulation.

Seeing that these insurance companies share information, I guess it is too late for me to go for another insurance company and claim that I do not have an electric fence installed? The buggers will decline me should I claim and say I omitted that I have an electric fence installed.
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You can say you don't have a working electric fence... they will price you accordingly..

Won't be much more, maybe R20-50 a month more.
 
garyc said:
This has been the case for some time. A friend who was a lawyer for an insurance company said that he did not add having an electric fence to his household insurance despite having one. He felt that this added significant risk to having claims accepted. I followed his lead and it made no difference to my policy since the minimum requirements were already met without this.
Click to expand...
This is solid advice
 
garyc said:
This has been the case for some time. A friend who was a lawyer for an insurance company said that he did not add having an electric fence to his household insurance despite having one. He felt that this added significant risk to having claims accepted. I followed his lead and it made no difference to my policy since the minimum requirements were already met without this.
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This is very timely advice, one length of my electric fence is managed by the neighbour and it seems to often either be switched off or non-functional and I have been wondering about what would happen come claim time.
 
If you have security at home never make it a condition of the policy - specifically in respect of electric fences and alarms.

Only allow it on your policy if you have to use that insurer and if they insist on that specific security. The same goes for tracking on motor.
 
garyc said:
This has been the case for some time. A friend who was a lawyer for an insurance company said that he did not add having an electric fence to his household insurance despite having one. He felt that this added significant risk to having claims accepted. I followed his lead and it made no difference to my policy since the minimum requirements were already met without this.
Click to expand...
I was told not to add my house alarm as it doesnt link up to armed response.
 
Insurance companies may reject a home burglary claim if the property’s electric fence was broken or not up to standard, and if you forgot to arm your alarm before leaving home.
Click to expand...
I told my insurance company that I have electric fence and alarm/armed response for family security and protection.
I very clearly requested that these facilities be excluded from policy conditions.
I did not get the "Electric Fence & alarm/armed response" discounts which is only a minor saving.
 
garyc said:
This has been the case for some time. A friend who was a lawyer for an insurance company said that he did not add having an electric fence to his household insurance despite having one. He felt that this added significant risk to having claims accepted. I followed his lead and it made no difference to my policy since the minimum requirements were already met without this.
Click to expand...

Reminds me, I must check with our broker if we have an alarm, electric fence, armed response listed on our policy and remove it if it is specified. I would rather pay extra than run the risk of a claim being rejected because of some arbitrary reason related to why the alarm didn't go off or electric fence was missing a sign. I learnt from my father putting underwriters in their rightful place when it came to trying to deny claims for absolute garbage reasons.
 
For me the worst thing about insurance companies.

Guy drives into my driveway, bashes both my cars. He was playing on his cellphone. Anyway my premium doubled 2 months later. Insurance company decided they wont ask him to pay for my damages.
 
Jam Sandwich said:
I was told not to add my house alarm as it doesnt link up to armed response.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of when armed response was first introduced in SA, my father asked for his broker and a representative from the underwriter to come explain how it would work at our home. They gave the usual spiel about how if the alarm went off the armed response would be notified and send a security crew to investigate. He asked them, specifically, what would the security crew would do when they arrived and was told they would secure the property, apprehend any intruders and make sure we were safe. My father asked how they would do that if they had zero access to the property as we had 6ft walls with another foot of electric fence and a main entrance gate made from solid wood that probably weighed a metric **** tonne. The broker and underwriter representative had no answer, my father told them he isn't signing any update to his contract to force him to use armed response until they sorted out the practicalities. Underwriters regularly have these brain farts without thinking all of it through and then we sit paying premiums and then have endless **** when it comes time to claim...
 
Corelli said:
For me the worst thing about insurance companies.

Guy drives into my driveway, bashes both my cars. He was playing on his cellphone. Anyway my premium doubled 2 months later. Insurance company decided they wont ask him to pay for my damages.
Click to expand...

I would have told them to go **** themselves and would move unless they could prove they couldn't recover the claim from the other party.
 
Neuk_ said:
Reminds me of when armed response was first introduced in SA, my father asked for his broker and a representative from the underwriter to come explain how it would work at our home. They gave the usual spiel about how if the alarm went off the armed response would be notified and send a security crew to investigate. He asked them, specifically, what would the security crew would do when they arrived and was told they would secure the property, apprehend any intruders and make sure we were safe. My father asked how they would do that if they had zero access to the property as we had 6ft walls with another foot of electric fence and a main entrance gate made from solid wood that probably weighed a metric **** tonne. The broker and underwriter representative had no answer, my father told them he isn't signing any update to his contract to force him to use armed response until they sorted out the practicalities. Underwriters regularly have these brain farts without thinking all of it through and then we sit paying premiums and then have endless **** when it comes time to claim...
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I cant really afford the monthly sub right now but the security company said i would have to give them extra keys for access... That kinda put me off it anyway...
 
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