contents insurance and legal expenses

claire07

I have separate contents and buildings insurance (different due dates) and car insurance and on all 3 have legal expenses. Contents is now due and was wondering if it is worth having legal expenses on them as they do bump up the premium.

FinAdv

Hi,

Ya there is no point having the same insurance with 3 different providers. But just make to sure the T & Cs for all of them.

I think you should cancel the one that costs more provided the other policies provide enough cover for legal expenses. Generally, people have legal expenses included in building or car insurance.

Cheers

*Scarlett

If you want to have legal cover, you should keep the one on your car policy and the one on your buildings.

Car and home legal protection cover different things - check your policies.

But there is no need to have 2 separate legal policies on your buldings and contents. So when you are taking out your new contents cover make sure you are not including or paying extra for legal cover as you are already insured for the same things on the buildings.

claire07

Thanks for that advice. I've just doublechecked the policies and found I have legal expenses on the contents but not on the buildings, so I will go ahead and keep it when I renew the contents. Also wondered if it is worth combining buildings and contents (so making just one renewal each year). Is this likely to be cheaper than 2 separate policies and would it make life easier in the event of a claim if there were slightly blurry boundaries which insurance a claim came under? Also, if I did combine them what is the best way to do this?

*Scarlett

There are advantages to having a combined policy eg if you have a claim that involves both you are just dealing with one company and many companies will apply an automatic discount to a combined policy. Also some companies, but definitely not all, will only have one excess for a claim on buildings and contents.

Providing that you haven't claimed since you took the policy out, if you are paying for your buildings policy by monthly DD it is very easy to change. Just tell the company to cancel the policy from the date that the new combined policy takes effect and cancel your DD. Make sure you take note of the time, date and who you spoke to and it might be worth backing this up in writing. Don't be tempted to just cancel the DD - you have to inform the insurance company as well.

If you have paid in full you would normally be entitled to a pro-rata refund for the months that you haven't used on the policy which would be paid back to you from the insurance company.

You would need to check for any cancellation or admin charges on the buildings policy to maked sure this is worthwhile doing. Some companies will pay the cancellation charge for new customers up to a certain amount (you pay it first and they reimburse you).

Try some of the comparison sites - do some quotes for contents and buildings separately and also combined. Make sure you are doing like for like eg excess, items away from home, etc.

If you find a policy that you like you can ring them to clarify any issues (again take note of the call details).

Hope this helps.

lisyloo

I think you should cancel the one that costs more provided the other policies provide enough cover for legal expenses. Generally, people have legal expenses included in building or car insurance.

I don't think this is correct.
All of the houshold legal policies I have had in the past exclude motoring accidents.
Similarly your motoring policy will not cover you for the postman slipping on loose gravel on your driveway or consumer matters.

I believe you will find these all cover different things.

In some cases you will be able to use "no win no fee" agreements wih solicitors. For example if you had a personal injury case they would be very pleased to help you. This is because they get paid good fees for these from the liable party.
However if you had a consumer dispute for a faulty item or wanted to defend a driving conviction or a tax investigation then I am afraid no solicitor will take this on as there is no 3rd party to claim fees from.

Personally I feel more comfortable with legal insurance and generally the costs are not that high (circa £20 - £30).

I would certinaly look at combining buildings and contents.
If your house burnt down you would not need the stress of dealing with two seperate companies.

linda-ann

I was just going to post along similar lines .
I rent so no building insurance but my contents is due and have found cheaper even if I add legal,but do I really need legal for just contents cover?

lisyloo

but do I really need legal for just contents cover?

Are you in a position (do you have the money) to defend any claims against you if required?

If you have the money or feel it will "never happen to you" then don't get the cover.