KEEPING AHEAD IN CLAIMS

Claims stories are never out of the press. Here we take a look at some making the news over the last few weeks.

Crime costs UK businesses £700m a year

According to AXA’s latest quarterly Business Crime Index, crime cost UK businesses £700 million in 2005. In the first quarter of 2006, the average cost of a crime-related insurance claim was £4,179, a rise of six per cent over the previous quarter.

History hotting things up

Remember the drought of 1976? The lack of water caused thousands of homes in London to heave and crack as the clay under their foundations dried out and shrank. More than £60million was paid out in insurance claims as a result.

Bars hit by false insurance claims

A study by Leicester-based independent brokers, Marsh & Company, shows that almost half of bars and nightclubs in the county are being ripped off because of false insurance claims from customers. It estimates that it is costing Leicestershire pubs and clubs £195,000 a year.

Six `home disasters' in a lifetime say insurers

Insurer, Churchill, analysed more than 21,000 claims made in 2005, and estimated that the average homeowner faces some sort of loss or damage every seven years and nine months, or around six times during their lifetime.

Data showed that around 3.2 million homes suffered accidental damage, burglary, fire or flood annually – that’s an average of six incidents every minute.