Couple loses 100,000 euros in fire aftermath due to insurance contract mishap.

A retired couple lost their house in Saint-Martin-en-Bresse (Saône-et-Loire) in March 2022 following a fire. The reconstruction is not fully covered, due to an error in the number of insured parts. The insurer refuses to make a move.

Cécile and François lived since 2001 in a house in Saint-Martin-en-Bresse (Saône-et-Loire). On March 29, 2022, it caught fire and was completely destroyed. The retired couple were counting on his insurance to have their home rebuilt. But that was without counting a size error. The contract they took out only covered five rooms when the house had six, we learn.

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100,000 euro loss

“The amount of damage is reduced by 20%, it is a significant sum that we will be forced to suffer”, explains François to our colleagues. The damage is assessed at 100,000 euros.

How to explain such a situation? The couple, who had been insured with Groupama for ten years, had renegotiated their contracts in November 2020. This concerned vehicles and the house. The new contract for multi-risk home insurance was then drawn up on the basis of the old contract. In any case, that’s what the couple thought. Cécile and François omitted to proofread the new contract before signing. Unfortunately, this one was set for a five-room house.

A seventh piece found by the expert

“We were negligent in not re-reading the contract before signing, but we trusted the insurance advisor,” says the owner. And to add: “Although the error is human and without resentment towards the insurance advisor, we would have liked this error to be humanely repaired since it is a wrong shared and verbally admitted. ” But that’s not all. The number of parts is wrong on the insurance contract but the expert who came after the accident counted a seventh part, which changes the coverage of the repairs. But all the mails sent received no response.

For its part, Groupama does not intend to make an additional gesture and highlights the Insurance Code. It was up to the customers to spot the error. However, the expert reconsidered his conclusion and counted only six pieces instead of the seven he had found. He considered that the two offices separated by a wall without any door formed two rooms. In addition, Groupama has taken the decision to no longer insure its customers at the end of their contracts.