Upheld: Home insurance claim disputes complaint against Newline Insurance Company Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr V claimed on his motor warranty with Newline Insurance Company Limited for turbo repair costs after his car developed a fault. Newline declined the claim, arguing the turbo was sticking sporadically rather than having failed. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding the turbo met the policy definition of a covered failure as it was not functioning as intended and required immediate repair. The ombudsman rejected Newline's argument that the failure was gradual, finding it was sudden from Mr V's perspective with no supporting evidence from Newline. Newline was ordered to settle the claim and pay £100 compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The policy defines covered failures as 'a sudden and unforeseen failure of a component, resulting in the component not being able to function as it was intended, necessitating the immediate repair or replacement of the component before normal operation can be resumed.' The turbo was not functioning properly and required immediate repair, meeting the definition of failure. The ombudsman found the failure was sudden from Mr V's perspective as he noticed an issue and took immediate action, and Newline provided no evidence to support a gradual failure theory. Therefore, the claim should have been covered.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website