Not upheld: Home insurance claim disputes complaint against AXA Insurance UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

O claimed for stolen equipment under its Contractors Combined Insurance policy with AXA. AXA accepted claims for some items but declined claims for a trailer (£2,565) and excavator (£17,650) because neither had been registered with The National Plant & Equipment Register (TNPER) as required by a policy endorsement. The endorsement required all items exceeding £1,500 in individual value to be registered within 60 days of inception. O argued that the policy renewal in March 2025 constituted a new inception date and the theft occurred within 60 days of that renewal. The ombudsman rejected this interpretation, finding that 'inception' refers to the original policy commencement date of March 2023, and therefore AXA fairly applied the endorsement to decline the claim.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman interpreted 'inception' in the endorsement to mean the original policy commencement date of March 2023, not the renewal date of March 2025. This interpretation was supported by: (1) the ordinary meaning of 'inception' as the beginning or starting point; (2) the policy's own distinction between 'inception' and 'last renewal date' elsewhere in the documents; and (3) the commercial purpose of the endorsement, which would be undermined if items could move in and out of cover depending on proximity to renewal dates. The ombudsman rejected the application of contra proferentem as there was no genuine ambiguity when the endorsement was read in full context. Since more than 60 days had passed from March 2023 inception and neither item had been registered before the theft, AXA fairly applied the endorsement to decline the claim.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website