Gas Central Heating Insurance

dk143

My boiler and central heating insurance cover is coming to an end soon and Powergen (who I have been with) have increased their fee from £13 per month to £14.99 per month.

So I was wondering if anyone out there could recommend another company that's cheaper?

I've seen the equivalent British Gas plan is £16.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

K x

canny_yorkshireman_2

some insurance companies now quote for this business as its very profitable and the reason is that you very rarely need this cover unless you have a very unreliable boiler.there is a lot of us on here that advocate putting the premiums in a good intrest account and should you need any repairs you should have built up a pot to pay for the repairs and if you don't need the money then it just grows in your account untill the day comes that the heating requires service or replacement remember these policies do not necessarily mean that they cover the boiler should it be beyond economical repair or parts are not available to fix it so in the long run you may still have to pay a substantial sum even with cover it all comes down to your attitude to risk or security

c_smith

I used to have heating insurance policies up until last year when I cancelled it after they refused to carry out a repair stating the fault wasn't covered under the policy. They came out once a year and "serviced" the boiler, which took less than half an hour.

Last week I paid for a heating engineer to overhaul my boiler. He spent over 2 and a half hours on it and I watched him strip the whole thing down, clean every major component in the sink, before rebuilding it to the manufacturers specifications. It only cost me £130 and the thing is now running better and quieter than it has ever run.

I would suggest you do likewise. I'm sure the majority of faults that appear on boilers are due to lack of proper servicing and maintenance, and the suppliers of these heating contracts never service them the way the manufacturers intended.

Cardew

c_smith wrote:

I'm sure the majority of faults that appear on boilers are due to lack of proper servicing and maintenance, and the suppliers of these heating contracts never service them the way the manufacturers intended.

I do not agree with that view.

Firstly there is little to service on a boiler. Check it out from your boiler handbook or find the specific instructions on the web.

Secondly BG(or similar 'insurance' schemes) have to attend any breakdowns caused by inadequate servicing - and at their cost. Therefore they have a vested interest in ensuring that the "proper servicing and maintenance" is carried out.

There is clearly, as CannyYorkshireman states, a valid argument for saving the 'insurance' premiums and gambling that any ad hoc bills will be less than these premiums. However you would be unwise not to get some sort of safety check carried out annually. The key to taking that path is to find a reliable, honest qualified plumber who will turn out in an emergency and not 'rip you off'. In my experience a rare beast!!

Lastly there is a fixation on boiler repairs in most threads on this subject. Don't forget that the BG scheme covers the rest of the system - pump, timer, radiators, tanks, piping etc. Over the years these parts have given me more problems than the boiler itself.