Ive had a water leak and am about to make a claim on my home insurance. Should i increase the value of the damage by 15% or so to allow for the fact that the insurer is going to try and knock me down?

You must NOT increase any of the values of the items you claim for - as that would be fraud!

In my experience insurers are very fair about insured values. If you have a "new for old" policy, the price you paid isn't really relevant as the insurer has to replace the item with a new item of the same quality and the price, whether it is more or less than you paid originally, does not matter.

If you do not have a "new for old" policy, then the insurer will need to know the purchase price and they will then make a deduction for the % of the item's life that you have already enjoyed. So if you claimed for a carpet which cost you £500, 6 years ago and the insurer believed that the economic life of a carpet was 8 years, then you would get 2/8ths of £500 back - i.e. £125.

Broker Boy