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April Newsletter 2025


Welcome to our April 2025 Newsletter. Our Product of the Month is Unoccupied Home Insurance. Are you aware that some Home policies have an unoccupancy clause? Meaning if your home or property is empty for a period of time then your policy may not cover claims such as escape of water or a break in. We are hearing about AI more often in the news, in this article we hear about how insurers are fighting back against fraudsters who are using AI in scam claims. The Manchester Marathon is happening soon and there are lots of ways you can lend your support (a free pint might help?!)


Product of the Month

 

Importance of unoccupied home insurance

Whatever the reason, it’s important to insure an empty property in case something goes wrong. For example, could you afford to pay for damage caused by a flood or fire? What would happen if the house was targeted by thieves or vandals?

 

The 30-day rule

 

You might already have home insurance in place, but your existing policy is unlikely to be adequate. Most insurers will not cover a property if it is left unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days. So, if you were to make a claim on your standard insurance it would most likely not pay out.

 

Range of risks

 

Most unoccupied property insurance policies insure a range of risks including storm, flood, fire and theft. Your liability as the property owner would also be covered in case, for example, a slate blew off the roof and damaged your neighbour’s conservatory. But it’s always worth checking any exclusions. Some home insurance firms are reluctant to insure an empty property against malicious damage. There might also be restrictions on theft of contents and any damage caused by an escape of water.

 

Short term cover

 

You don’t have to insure an empty house for the usual 12 months required by a normal policy. Most firms allow you to arrange cover for three, six, nine or 12 months, with the option to extend if necessary. So, you might take out a three-month policy to cover your property while it is up for sale. But if the sale takes longer than expected, you could simply extend the policy as required.

 

You may be interested in our landlords policy

 

You may also like a quote for Home Insurance or Car Insurance



AI images being used to exaggerate insurance claims in new fraud

 
 
 

 

Drivers could be using AI-generated images to exaggerate car damage to claim more car insurance, according to experts. Online tools can now create realistic-looking photos within seconds with the new technology likely to backfire on the motor industry.

Experts warn that Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) introduced within the past few months on mainstream image generation tools have likely worsened the problem. They suggest it was fast reaching a stage where not even experts can tell whether a photo is authentic or altered by technology. Neil Avent, chief technical officer at FleetCheck, said businesses were at risk of being caught out as fake photos became more believable. 

 
 

Speaking to FleetNews, he said: “If you take an image of a vehicle that has been involved in an accident and asked AI to ‘add scratches and light dents along the door panel’ today then the output is much more convincing than it was even last year.

“If an employee is involved in a collision, the driver of the other vehicle may take pictures of the damage incurred and ask AI to basically make it worse to increase the value of the claim.”

 

Last year, Zurich warned they had seen a “surge in fraudsters” using technology to make artificial insurance claims. 

 

Zurich says some examples have included completely fabricated repair invoices, engineer reports and repair estimates.

 

Fraudsters have also been found photoshopping registration numbers onto total loss vehicles. 

They warned it was fast becoming possible for road users to "create a fraudulent claim entirely from behind their computer”. 

 

Scott Clayton, Zurich's head of fraud, stressed the company had basic balance validation checks to support claims handlers. 

However, he suggested that the industry as a whole needed to establish some capable technology to help identify fake claims."

 
 Meanwhile, Neil Avent added that drivers had a role to play in stopping the fraudsters by accident damage was photographed and recorded straight after a collision. 

He added: “Fleets should be aware of the growing potential for fraud and its resulting impact on their insurance costs.

“However, there is a simple solution – asking your drivers who are involved in collisions to take pictures of all the vehicles involved, meaning that a complete record of the accident is created and later use of AI can be much more easily identified.”

 
 



How Manchester Marathon 2025 runners and supporters can celebrate from free pints to fan zones

How Manchester Marathon 2025 runners and supporters can celebrate from free pints to fan zones - Manchester Evening News




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