Not upheld: Travel / life insurance claim disputes complaint against AXA Insurance UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W claimed for theft of two Rolex watches from his home and AXA declined the claim because the watches were not kept in a locked safe as required by the policy terms. During claim validation, AXA discovered Mr W had failed to disclose two withdrawn claims from 2020. Mr W complained that AXA should have highlighted the safe-keeping requirement more prominently and that withdrawn claims should not need to be disclosed. The ombudsman found that AXA correctly applied the clear policy terms, that customers bear responsibility for reading full policy documentation, and that the non-disclosure expectation was reasonable with only minor financial consequences. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that AXA correctly applied the policy terms which explicitly required watches worth more than £5,000 to be kept in a locked safe when not worn. The onus is on customers to ensure a policy suits their needs and to read the full policy documentation. The non-disclosure of withdrawn claims was not unreasonable to expect, and the impact was minor. Under CIDRA, Mr W failed to take reasonable care in not disclosing the previous claims, and AXA would not have offered the policy on the same terms had the information been disclosed, but AXA acted fairly by not treating this as reckless or deliberate.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website