One of the strangest questions that I have ever been asked
By Koalemos
@Asylum (47893)
Manchester, England
December 1, 2015 2:22pm CST
Further to my earlier post about telephoning around for home insurance quotes, I telephoned a company that had recently sent me a circular. After quoting my address and name I answered all the expected questions about the building, past claims, door locks etcetera.
Next we moved to a rather odd question of whether there were any rivers, streams or canals in the immediate area, to which I replied that there is a small stream further along the road. Despite this having no possible effect on my home, we then progressed to odd questions about the stream. First I was asked what the distance from my house was in metres, which I finally had to check via Google maps. The next question was absurd, what is the difference in elevation between my house and the stream.
How can they possibly expect me to estimate the relative difference in height between my house and a stream about a quarter of a mile along the road? When I insisted that the question was impossible for me to answer, I was told that the information was essential and that a policy could not be processed without it.
25 people like this
22 responses
@Marilynda1225 (91201)
• United States
1 Dec 15
It would seem like a logical question if you were here in the US. Most insurance companies are leery of flooding since we've had so much here recently. However, most insurance companies should have all that information at hand when they get your address (or so you would think)
3 people like this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
2 Dec 15
@Asylum I would have to get my phone out, start up GPS (and make sure I had a good signal with at least 7 or 8 visible satellites) and walk down to the stream. Even then, I wouldn't trust the height measurements, though the distance is usually accurate to within a few metres.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Dec 15
@owlwings It was the relative height that totally stumped me, which is why I could not believe that I had been asked such an impossible question. They may as well have asked me how many people walk past my house every day who know the capital of Burkina Faso.
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (24119)
• United Kingdom
1 Dec 15
Insurers have been hit pretty badly over the last couple of years and since the recent decisions to build houses on the flood plains. I think the environment agency have a map sort of thing which shows if your house is at risk. I would have thought the insurance companies could check it out immediately just by popping in your postcode. Tell them to do their job properly as they should know instantly as soon as you give your postcode!
2 people like this
@Inlemay (17712)
• South Africa
1 Dec 15
water and flooding I suppose - we had a woman that had a leaking water drain pipe under her home which caused a sink hole and her lounge collapsed. THEY DID NOT PAY OUT = Water weakens structures. They ask that of us in SA if we live anywhere near flowing or drainage water
1 person likes this
@Dragonairy1 (1722)
• Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
2 Dec 15
I do mine online, and I think the standard question is, is there a river within about quarter of a mile. They are flood obsessed 
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Dec 15
@Dragonairy1 When I openly admitted that I had no idea of the relative altitudes, I was informed that the policy could not be processed without that information.
2 people like this
@Dragonairy1 (1722)
• Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
2 Dec 15
@Asylum No lol, I actually ignore the great big river about half a mile from my house because it's down a really big bank with lots of grass and plants to soak up any water long before it gets to me.
1 person likes this
@antonbunot (11146)
• Calgary, Alberta
2 Dec 15
@Asylum . . I used to be a salesman for life and non-life insurance policies. What they are doing is they are trying to ask all those questions from you . . and all information you give them will be the basis of your future claims. This insurance company should send an assessor. I suggest you find another company.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Dec 15
@antonbunot Thre is no risk of flood due to the stream, so that would not constitute a problem to me.
1 person likes this
@antonbunot (11146)
• Calgary, Alberta
2 Dec 15
@Asylum But if you have a flood-coverage, they may not pay you if you made an inaccurate description of the elevation, distance, and so on of the stream from your home. We seldom find an insurance company to FIND A WAY TO PAY YOUR CLAIM. . Most insurance companies ALWAYS FIND A WAY NOT TO PAY YOU!
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
2 Dec 15
Some insurance companies have questions which are peculiar to them and have, presumably, been added because they have in the past had claims of that nature. There are maps of areas liable to flooding available (from the Ordnance Survey, I believe, and they are available free and online). Of course, if your house is in such an area, the insurance premium will be a lot higher and certain companies won't insure you at all.
I think that if an insurance company began to ask me such detailed questions about a small stream some 500 metres away, I would probably laugh and ask whether they wanted my business or not!
1 person likes this
@SIMPLYD (90717)
• Philippines
4 Dec 15
It their way of determining if your area is a flood prone areas because i don't think flood isn't included in the cause for claims.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Dec 15
@LadyDuck In my case the road is not even a straight incline. The road lowers towards the end of my block then gradually undulates upwards a little, making such an estimate impossible.
I cannot even see the road at the point where the stream would be nearby, so I have no guides to go by whatsoever.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (502886)
• Italy
2 Dec 15
@Asylum It's a weird question, I guessed the difference in elevation between our house and the stream, we are on a hill, so the different in elevation is not the same if taken in front of our door, or at the corner of the house. Those are silly questions. I know that we cannot be flooded by this small stream.
@IreneVincent (15960)
• United States
3 Dec 15
This obviously has to do with "FLOOD" insurance. What with all the flooding that has been going on in recent years, insurance companies have been hard hit, so I'm sure they have upped their level of caution on insuring any house that has even the slight possibility of being flooded.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
3 Dec 15
I bought the house in 1999 while it was still being built and there has never been any hint of flood potential. The stream is less likely to cause a flood than a mild rain shower would.
If they want custom then I would not expect them to ask totally unanswerable questions such as height comparison between 2 points.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Dec 15
I found it amusing when she told me that I could give her the information in metres, feet or yards and that she could convert it for me. A quick mental conversion would have been simply if I had any hope of making an estimate in the first place.
2 people like this
@LeaPea2417 (40061)
• Toccoa, Georgia
2 Dec 15
Those are odd questions that I never would think they would ask.
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
3 Dec 15
They were trying to determine if you needed flood insurance.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
3 Dec 15
Everyone keeps telling me that, but flooding is not going to occur due to a minor trickle through the nearby sports field. If that was the only concern they would have simply insisted that I took out flood insurance.
Instead they simply declined to continue without the precise elevation details.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
3 Dec 15
@AbbyGreenhill Are you suggesting that if there was a small stream 300 metres away from your home and you could not say for certain what the elevation was in relation to your house that nobody would insure you?
@softbabe44 (5815)
• Vancouver, Washington
2 Dec 15
It's really a hard situation to be able to estimate something that you figure doesn't have anything to do with your house what's wrong with people anyway ask them to come take a look their selves probably not.
@1creekgirl (44560)
• United States
3 Dec 15
Do you think maybe it was a scam? Did you check them out with the Better Business Bureau? Oh, just realized you're not in the US. But it really was a strange question.
@nanette64 (20363)
• Fairfield, Texas
2 Dec 15
They are specifically looking to see if you're sitting in a flood zone @Asylum . If there's even the slightest chance that your property could get flooded, they won't pay. You'd have to get flood insurance specifically. And the elevation of your property in relation to the stream is critical.
@Auntylou (4262)
• Oxford, England
3 Dec 15
I suppose this is about flood risk. It must be hard to gauge though and if you got it wrong and there were a flood, you might not be covered
