As winter approaches and weather related claims start to rise, AXA is urging customers to carry out home maintenance as six in ten[1] make wrong assumptions about the cover provided against stormy weather. The insurer reveals that every year it turns away around one in twenty storm damage claims because damage has been caused not by the weather but by a lack of maintenance of the policyholder’s home. Yet research among homeowners reveals that nearly two thirds (59%) would expect their insurer to pay out for any weather-related damage to their home no matter what the state of its repair.