What to do about home contents insurance renewal

MrCarrot

My contents insurance is due for renewal soon - currently I am with Bank of Scotland.

It's gone up from £17 a month to £22 a month. Wasn't very happy about this so called them and they said it's the best they can do.

I got a quote online for £15 a month from both Sheilas Wheels and Esure (although I believe they're both the same company). However, their reviews are terrible with many people having major problems getting them to pay up in the event of a claim.

However, I am guessing that paying more doesn't nesseccarily guarantee that your company will pay up when disaster strikes. I don't like the idea of paying £22 a month for the next 5 years and then when crunch time comes they won't pay up for a claim.

The whole thing makes me feel like cancelling my policy and saving the money each month. I'm not really concerned about dropping my laptop or the TV getting smashed - if this happens I will buy a new one myself.

The 3 obvious things of concern are:

1) Fire
2) Flood
3) Theft

I figure that number 2 and 3 are unlikely to destroy everything (robbers are unlikely to take sofas, curtains, carpets, etc).

Number 1 is the biggest concern because it could destroy everything, although it's highly unlikely to happen.

I did read on this site about setting the policy excess to £2000 to bring the price down which I like the idea of (I wouldn't claim for lower value items and would be happy to pay £2000 in the event of a fire). However, most company's have an excess limit of £500 so I can't seem to do this.

Any suggestions of what to do? :eek:

Thanks,

MrCarrot

Bunnie1982

Can you not go back to your current insurer and say you have found cheaper quotes? As usually they will match it or go one better.

We are with Churchill and when we moved house they wanted to put our contents insurance up from £7 to £18 - we shopped around and went back to them and they lowered their price to £6.55 per month without compromising our cover.

MrCarrot

Thanks for your reply. I think I am going to go with the Co Op. I read some reviews, and while they aren't brilliant they do seem to have a better track record than some of the other cheap ones. I also think their policy is heavily discounted for the first year so will shoot up next year.

They have quoted £139 for buildings and contents. That's with £300 excess for both and no accidental cover.

I was toying with the idea of not having contents insurance but it only reduces the quote by about £40 so I may as well have the peace of mind.

I called Bank of Scotland back and they could come no way close to that price.

madasarog

I don't know if this helps but on Tuesday 8 June I started looking for a new contents only insurer as my Steelers Wheels policy was up for renewal. I went through Moneysupermarket.com and after filling in MY specific requirements I got a SAGA quote of about £38 for the year without legal cover (I have that already). I had a query about one of their 'assumptions' to do with my flat having a flat roof and the policy not mentioning this, hence the pohone call. After having gone through and double checked my inputted data the chap said that he could give me a unconditional quote for motor insurance which might reduce my contents premium. I had only recently renewed so was not in need of it. However, I agreed and after hearing what he had to say he said that my £38 premium for £50K contents cover was now £18 for the whole year!! So I paid there and then. Sometimes it's worthwhile phoning after selecting an online quote. Hope this helps.