YOUR MONEY : A simple call is the best policy The best way to find someone to mend your pipes or roof is with the insurance c ompany's emergency number

The best way to find someone to mend your pipes or roof is with the ins urance company's emergency number

THE COLD weather is at last with us, and with it will come the usual round of home emergencies: burst pipes, slipped tiles, storm damage and, ultimately, flooded kitchens, lofts or worse.

This sort of emergency happens so often in the middle of the night, when there is no one around to help and it is difficult to think as clearly as in broad daylight. Fingers leap to the easiest method of finding an emergency plumber, electrician or handyman - Yellow Pages or a business card rather timely pushed through the door. If you are lucky your problem will be solved, but often at quite a price. If you are not so lucky you'll end up with the work done shoddily and an exorbitant bill.

A much better way to go about finding someone to mend your pipes or roof is to use the emergency number which your insurance company gives you when you take out a building or contents policy. Although not all insurance companies offer this service, the majority of them do. Some send out a card, rather like a credit card, with the necessary information on it, so you can keep it for when it is needed. The trouble is that it is all too often forgotten. Other companies just include the information on the po licy, so many policyholders are unaware the service exists.

Norwich Union has a 24-hour, 365-days-a-year helpline operated by Hambro Legal Protection. Not only can it recommend reputable tradesman, but it also keeps a careful eye on the people it recommends. After an emergency has been dealt with, someone will call up to check whether the tradesman was pleasant, the work was satisfactory; and if there are any complaints, they will follow them up and probably take that person off their register.

John Leech of Norwich Union says: "I woke up in the middle of the night with water pouring out of my overflow. I was going on holiday the next day, so rang the emergency number and was advised of a plumber who could come first thing the next morning. They gave me his number, which I rang, and he duly arrived. As soon as he had finished the work and had left, a chap from Hambro called up asked if I was happy with his job and with him and added that he hoped I would have a good holiday."

Another example of how an insurance company can help was when someone's large (20 cu ft) freezer went wrong. The owner, who was insured with Norwich Union, rang the helpline in a panic. He lived in an isolated farmhouse, was having a party very soon and needed to use a lot of dishes made up and stored in the freezer. Hambro arranged for the food to be transferred into another freezer and brought back at the right time for the party. All the expenses were covered under his insurance.

The Prudential also has a 24-hour, 365-days-a-year telephone number that you can ring. Someone will organise the relevant tradesman to come to your house, and if you are covered under your policy for the work, it will pay for it. You can use the number for any emergency, even if you are not covered. The arranging of the work to be done will be free of charge, but you will have to pay for the labour and parts yourself. If you forget to use your insurance company's special number and instead call in someone not on its recommended list, as long as the bill is not too unreasonable it is likely that the insurance company will still pay for the work.

A spokesman for the Prudential said: "We are aware that prices might be higher for this sort of work if it has to be done immediately and we cannot approve it first. We will look at high bills sympathetically, but we wouldn't pay hundreds of pounds for someone to change a washer, for example."

Eagle Star is another company with its own 24-hour help-centre, giving both free legal advice, glass replacement service (if you are covered for that) and help with arranging assistance for any domestic emergency. "We can even recommend a builder, for example, if someone needs an extension built and does not know of any reputable builder in their area," says a spokesman. If you do not use the service and put in a rather large bill which you have been charged for emergency work, a spokesman said that aslong as the company is satisfied that it is not a fraudulent claim and it feels that the customer has taken reasonable steps to mitigate the loss, it will probably pay up.

Legal & General has a 24-hour helpline for all sorts of enquiries, from emergencies to recommending a decorator. It says that if you do not use the service and feel you are paying through the nose for emergency work, then if the bill has not been paid, the company will make heavy representation to the person concerned to get the bill reduced. If the bill has been paid, it will take a pragmatic approach.

Direct Line also offers a free 24-hour emergency helpline for home policyholders. This service is offered in conjunction with Europ Assistance. After you have explained the problem, a qualified person - plumber or electrician or whatever - will ring you first to tell you what precautionary steps to take and then make an appointment to do the repair. Europ Assistance vets the charges and once agreed will bill you; if your damage is covered under the policy, you can recover the cost.

Direct Line also offers Accidental Damage Cover (ADC), which costs £3 on the annual premium for every £10,000 insured.

For example, if you are up a ladder and drop a pot of paint which ruins the outside of the house, or if you accidentally put a foot through the roof joists while you are mending something in the loft, the ADC insurance policy will cover the cost of repairing the damage, whereas a standard policy would not.