can you insure a home twice?

sciencegeek

Hi Folks,
Appologies for the rather long query but I hope someone can help me out here.

What i want to know is ... is it possible to have two different contents policies in the same house?

The reason i ask is that I have just moved and want to cancel my old contents policy. The annual premium for this policy was £50 but to cancel it costs an EXTRA £60. This is stated in their terms and conditions. Furthermore they will not refund any of the premium for the 10 or so months remaining on the policy.

So I thought perhaps i could transfer it to my new house (which already has a buildings and contents policy in place) rather than cancel it thereby avoiding the £60 fee.

I have been told by one person that you cant insure the same goods twice (fair enough) but we have recently bought quite a few new items that could be covered by the transferred policy. In this case nothing would be double insured.

Any help greatly appreciated,

thanks

SG.

dacouch

The answer is to transfer it to your new home which is common practice so should be easy enough to perform (You might get an admin charge of circa £15 to £25 though).

Treacle1983

You can't have DUAL INSURANCE like this - cancel one immediately as it could cause you a lot of problems.
You are still dual insured - conents cover dosent cover set items except for listed valuables it covers you for losses up to a certain amount for example £20,000. Therefore - if you had a loss both the policies would cover you!
This could be looked at as fraudulent behaviour and an attempt to get cover twice for the same thing - which could end up in a claim not being covered at all or in more extreme cases being taken to court or not being able to get insurance again.
Not a road you want to go down - cancel one lot straight away.

dacouch

They do not need to cancel the first policy if they do not want to, there is no problem with leaving it to run until renewal and then allowing it to lapse which will avoid the cancellation fee. Granted if there is a claim it might be slightly more complicated as it might be a case of each Insurer paying a portion of the claim

It is not illegal to have Dual Insurance, why do you keep stating it is illegal when it is not illegal.

p00hsticks

sciencegeek wrote: »

Hi Folks,
but we have recently bought quite a few new items that could be covered by the transferred policy. In this case nothing would be double insured.

I'm not sure you could do this - most contents policies just cover general contents up to a specific amount. If you have contents over that amount, I don't think that a second policy would be the correct way to go about insuring the excess.

I don't think it's illegal to have two poicies in force, but you should check that it doesn't break the T&C of the policies and make them invalid. You could end up having real problems if you needed to claim, as each insurance company will try to save money for themselves by saying that you should claim off of the other.

ariba10

You can have more than one policy but if you make a claim on more than one for an item then that is considered fraud.

spiritus

dacouch wrote: »

They do not need to cancel the first policy if they do not want to, there is no problem with leaving it to run until renewal and then allowing it to lapse which will avoid the cancellation fee. .

A number of insurance companies charge an admin fee even if you allow the policy to expire naturally.

raskazz

spiritus wrote: »

A number of insurance companies charge an admin fee even if you allow the policy to expire naturally.

Like who??

McKneff

spiritus wrote: »

A number of insurance companies charge an admin fee even if you allow the policy to expire naturally.

don't be daft !!!

Christopher7

Yes you can have 2 insurance policies and insurers will only be too keen to sell you a second policy, but you will only be allowed to claim on one policy otherwise it will be considered fraud.

DarkConvict

ariba10 wrote: »

You can have more than one policy but if you make a claim on more than one for an item then that is considered fraud.

Christopher7 wrote: »

Yes you can have 2 insurance policies and insurers will only be too keen to sell you a second policy, but you will only be allowed to claim on one policy otherwise it will be considered fraud.

Right answer

Sure it will flag up on the insurance system for possible fraud, but at a brief look they will see you are just moving providers. Same happens with the free 5 day car insurances you get.

Just if something happens, only claim on 1 policy, but do notify both insurers.