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Best home insurance rather than cheapest?

Hi

My girlfriend needs to get some contents insurance, I have been with Direct Line for years and although they paid out on a claim before it was far from a nice experience. As I have made a claim before, assumed moving myself would be a real pain due to one claim already.

She needs around £40k, she needs accidental damage and items away from home around £5k including laptop, camera etc.

Do members have a preferred insurance supplier ? It seems to me that you can find cheap insurance, but its pointless if it never pays out due to every excuse or a bad company customer service policy. So would prefer a prefer product if that makes sense.

Any advice ?

Thanks
«13

Comments

  • foxyuk
    foxyuk Posts: 966 Forumite
    Try esure online . Uk call centres no hidden policy exceptions
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,636 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Esure do have hidden policy exceptions that are fairly onerous.

    OP if you do use esure be very careful as their website will quote with an artificially low contents sum insured designed to make their quote look cheap. Make sure you check the sum insured is suitable and change it as it will be very much lower than the £40k you are suggesting. There have been a number of MSE members who have been caught out by esure quoting them with low contents sums insured and then had either their claims drastically reduced or in some cases their entire claim denied and the policy cancelled
  • foxyuk
    foxyuk Posts: 966 Forumite
    Look at royal sun alliance that has a policy with standard 50k cover

    majority of people are under insured but that's because when we talk about contents they think of beds, electrical goods etc it's the customers fault for not insuring themselves to the correct level not instance companies fault

    A lot of companies now do standard 50k contents and 500k buildings but u will pay for it if u don't need the cover

    if u were in a situation and had to claim on contents If a claims inspector came out they would also asses your current sum assured and if it was notnoufh they would adv you and your insurers of this and what it should be
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,636 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    foxyuk wrote: »
    if u were in a situation and had to claim on contents If a claims inspector came out they would also asses your current sum assured and if it was notnoufh they would adv you and your insurers of this and what it should be

    It's worth noting that once the claims inspector / loss adjuster has reported back to the Insurer that the sum insured is not enough. That the Insurer would in most cases reduce the claims payment by the percentage of cover you are short (Some Insurers will ignore under a certain percentage eg 10%) or in some cases with esure they will void the policy and decline the claim. Having voided the policy the client is hit by the double whammy of not having their claim paid but also finding it very very difficult sourcing any type of insurance due to having a policy voided on their record
  • foxyuk
    foxyuk Posts: 966 Forumite
    edited 28 December 2010 at 11:03AM
    It would need to be a major claim for an insurer to void a policy, I used to be claims handler for 5 yrs and would not know how to work out my content requirements would be so wot chance does joe public have ...

    I think that it's high value items like jewellery that people don't insure as single seperate items and are always under insured on not the general 15 or 20k contents cover
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    foxyuk wrote: »
    Look at royal sun alliance that has a policy with standard 50k cover

    majority of people are under insured but that's because when we talk about contents they think of beds, electrical goods etc it's the customers fault for not insuring themselves to the correct level not instance companies fault

    A lot of companies now do standard 50k contents and 500k buildings but u will pay for it if u don't need the cover

    if u were in a situation and had to claim on contents If a claims inspector came out they would also asses your current sum assured and if it was notnoufh they would adv you and your insurers of this and what it should be

    Serious question;

    What is or are " instance companies "?

    New one for me.
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,636 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    foxyuk wrote: »
    It would need to be a major claim for an insurer to void a policy, I used to be claims handler for 5 yrs and would not know how to work out my content requirements would be so wot chance does joe public have ...

    Exactly, which is why the esure website providing quotes on contents sums insured (Without asking the customer to enter a contents sum insured) for amounts that are in my experience around 50% to 70% lower than the average customer would actually need is in my opinion a questionable business practice. A cynic might also assume that they would then look at all claims to see how much they are under insured by

    [QUOTE=foxyuk;39687230I_think_that_it's_high_value_items_like_jewellery_that_people_don't_insure_as_single_seperate_items_and_are_always_under_insured_on_not_the_general_15_or_20k_contents_cover[/QUOTE]

    Not with Esure, we have had MSE members have their esure policy voided for claims of under £1000...
  • mikey72
    mikey72 Posts: 14,680 Forumite
    foxyuk wrote: »
    dug out my esure policy see what you think

    ok am i under insured with esure????

    buildings - unlimited ad cover
    contents- £12500 household
    high risk- £6330 tvs etc
    and my watch £12k single article limit

    this is a 3 bed semi house......

    think thats suffice\?

    There was a thread on this recently, (can't find it at the moment) can't remember the company either, but that's the sort of figure they voided the policy for.
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,636 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    foxyuk wrote: »
    dug out my esure policy see what you think

    ok am i under insured with esure????

    buildings - unlimited ad cover
    contents- £12500 household
    high risk- £6330 tvs etc
    and my watch £12k single article limit

    this is a 3 bed semi house......

    think thats suffice\?

    The average home is thought to have contents of £42000ish so you are almost certainly under insured. It looks like the esure website has caught you out as well...

    With a watch of that value I would expect you to have a much higher contents sum insured than you have.
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