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Exaggerated home insurance claims continue to rise

By Marianne Straker, Mon 13 Feb 2012 - Published in Home Insurance

More and more Brits exaggerated their home insurance claims in the past 12 months, according to research from AXA.

The consumer company found that in 2011 there was a 17 per cent jump in exaggerated claims with 200,000 homeowners adding an average of £607 on to the total value of their insurance reports.

Despite a number of people being caught out embellishing the cost of property damage, AXA's survey found that only 45 per cent of British homeowners thought that exaggerating a claim was wrong.

With the UK being subject to severe weather conditions over the past week the number of claims is expected to rise as burst pipes and broken boilers could cause substantial flood damage.

Steve Gaywood, head of fraud at AXA insurance, said: "Ultimately, if consumers get caught out they run the risk of having the whole claim turned down as well as facing problems getting insurance in the future."