Top 10 funny insurance claims

One thing our recruitment partners are really good at is understanding the need for their contractors to have a proper package of business insurance in place. You know that Kingsbridge’s comprehensive package, which includes professional indemnity insurance, public liability insurance, employers’ liability insurance, directors’ and officers’ insurance and occupational accident insurance, is a simple solution for contractors looking to get insured quickly and cover all their bases. And you’re really good at communicating that to their contractor clients.

So this week we wanted to reward you all with an amusing blog, something to enjoy on your lunch break or over a sneaky festive Starbucks treat. Here’s our rundown of the top ten funny insurance claims we’ve heard about through the years…

1. Phone home

One cattle farmer claimed on his insurance for a mobile phone that got lost where the sun does not shine. Using his phone as a torch to light up the cow’s rear end ended in disaster when the handset got stuck. The mobile eventually…erm, passed through…but didn’t work anymore (and, let’s be honest, would you want to hold it close to your face after that anyway?).

The farmer’s insurance company reportedly paid out in full for the broken smartphone, which was udderly brilliant of them.

2. Which watch?

A customer of a jewellery shop would have been pleasantly surprised when he sent his £200 watch in for repair and was returned a £10,000 Rolex by mistake. The jeweller didn’t notice his error until the customer had left the shop, and realised he didn’t have a note of his details. What’s the time, Mr. Wolf? Time to put in an insurance claim!

3. A tall tail

Renovating a home can be stressful, especially if you’re trying a bit of do-it-yourself. One playful pup decided to help his owner out with some decorating. When his owner left the room, the dog dipped his tail in the open tin of emulsion and used the rest of the house as his blank canvas.

The home insurance company accepted the claim, but probably not before everyone in the office had had a good laugh about the canine’s creativity. Perhaps he fancied himself as a Pre-Ruffalite.

4. Give me a hand

Those tricks that motivational speakers pull should come with a health warning! In an attempt to gee up his audience, one motivational speaker asked for a volunteer to come up on stage and break a board with their bare hands.

The stunt unfortunately backfired when the volunteer sustained injuries, and the speaker had to call on his insurance company to cover the damages. He probably didn’t get a round of applause for that one.

5. Fine lines and wrinkles

Ben Affleck and Justin Bieber are two of the most famous faces on the planet, so you can understand why a waxworks company would be horrified when their likenesses started developing fine cracks. Luckily, they were insured, so the company paid out for the creators to make new ones. Talk about celebrity facelifts!

6. Tree troubles

‘Tis the season after all…and this story sounds like something straight out of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Journeying merrily home from a day of Christmas shopping, a driver saw a car in the opposite lane with a Christmas tree on its roof. As she passed the car, the loosely-secured tree broke free and sailed into the path of her vehicle, sending her into the hedge.

Thankfully the woman was uninjured and there was only minor damage to her car…but the tree’s owner never returned to recover it. Not a very merry Christmas in that household.

7. Reduced to tiers

Baking with kids is fun, right? One mother was so distracted during the making of her daughter’s birthday cake that she lost her mobile phone. The cake was baked, iced and decorated before she realised the handset was missing.

Of course, when the cake was cut, it contained an additional birthday surprise: a baked smartphone that no longer worked! Her insurance company reportedly denied the claim – perhaps they were upset that they hadn’t been invited.

8. Traffic slapstick

They say bad things happen in threes, and that was certainly the case for one hapless motorist. In his insurance claim, the series of unfortunate events unfolded like this: he accidentally rear-ended the car in front – a minor collision with some damage to the car’s lights. Then, he tried to reverse slightly so that he could see the damage. Stressed out, he managed not to see the car behind as he headed straight into its front bumper.

As a third, final humiliation, he stepped out of the car to exchange insurance details with the other drivers, he opened his door straight into a passing cyclist, knocking them over. We think everyone was unharmed, but the driver was clearly having a wheely bad day.

9. Motoring mash up

Another unusual traffic incident was reported in this claim from 2020, where a driver passed a tractor with a trailer full of potatoes heading in the opposite direction. Some of the loose potatoes fell from the load, hitting their car and causing, according to the customer, some small “chips” to the paintwork. We’re sure the claim was small potatoes in the grand scheme of insurance claims.

10. Horsing around in the pool

A customer had to make a sig-neigh-ficant claim on their home insurance when a pony from the stables next door escaped and decided to go for a swim in his pool. The fire brigade were called, but the engine sped to the rescue – straight into the front gate. Luckily the insurance company (and those of the neighbour and the fire brigade) didn’t bridle at the cost of covering the damage to the pool and the front gate.

We hope you enjoyed this list of amusing insurance claims – remember, this blog is for entertainment purposes only and all the claims mentioned here should be taken with a pinch of salt!

But what we are serious about is contractor insurance: providing a simple, compliant, comprehensive package so your contractors can get to work straight away, with all claims handled by our in-house Claims Manager. For details about our partnership schemes and how you can earn rewards for every policy you sell, head to our partnerships page.