How does one select an honest and reliable house insurance?

BML

I am in my middle seventies so I can remember the days when one insured with the same companies for car and house insurance because one trusted them. Things have changed and not for the better because Last year I paid £104.00 for house insurance. This year when the renewal notice came in it was 76% higher. I know that the insurance companies have not had a good year what with the long frosts and lots of snow but an increase of 76% is really taking the micky. I then keyed the same company into the Web for a quote and who and behold it came in at, yes, £104.00 so it is obvious to me that this is yet another one of those companies who start off with a low premium and they then bung it up the next year hoping the buyer will not notice it. I would not use a company like that again if they offered to insure me for free.
This experience coupled with the media regularly carrying stories of people who have been disappointed by their house insurers when they have had to make a claim lead me to looking at my house insurance in some depth and in spite of the time that I have spent on the Web I am still no further forward.
I am happy to pay a valid price for my insurance but when one gets quotes from £104.00 to over £600.00 how does one find a company one can trust.

mikey72

BML wrote: »

I am in my middle seventies so I can remember the days when one insured with the same companies for car and house insurance because one trusted them. Things have changed and not for the better because Last year I paid £104.00 for house insurance. This year when the renewal notice came in it was 76% higher. I know that the insurance companies have not had a good year what with the long frosts and lots of snow but an increase of 76% is really taking the micky. I then keyed the same company into the Web for a quote and who and behold it came in at, yes, £104.00 so it is obvious to me that this is yet another one of those companies who start off with a low premium and they then bung it up the next year hoping the buyer will not notice it. I would not use a company like that again if they offered to insure me for free.
This experience coupled with the media regularly carrying stories of people who have been disappointed by their house insurers when they have had to make a claim lead me to looking at my house insurance in some depth and in spite of the time that I have spent on the Web I am still no further forward.
I am happy to pay a valid price for my insurance but when one gets quotes from £104.00 to over £600.00 how does one find a company one can trust.

Honest", "reliable". "insurance”.
Not in the same sentence nowadays I'm afraid. They're probably all the same. Even the old reliable like NFU and the Co-Op are trying it on now.

adamc260

NFU Mutual Insurance? May not always be the cheapest but good cover and they reward loyalty.

http://www.nfumutual.co.uk/you/home-insurance/index.htm

property.advert

One thing to remember is that if you have buildings and contents insurance with the same provider, then they cannot claim that the other party is responsible ! I had that one before !

As for insurance companies, like all financial providers, if you bottom feed then you get companies with nothing to lose whereas if you pay a decent company who has a good reputation to protect, then you are in with a chance. A company spending millions on advertising does not want their name dragged across the papers or over internet forums such as this now does it ?

I've got my car and home insured with Direct Line, largely due to the simplicity and customer service received so far. They were not the cheapest though the discount by having both insured was more than the house insurance premium. The car insurance was also good value for the options selected.

Can you really see yourself getting decent service and a good claims policy from someone offering rock bottom prices and the bare bones service. I find someone showing an 0844 telephone number or taking 10 minutes to answer is not getting off on the right foot.

mikey72

Have you seen the threads on Direct Line on here recently!

dunstonh

How does one select an honest and reliable house insurance?

Look at a the companies that are not putting emphasis on being best priced at quote portal sites. If a company is looking for top billing on a quote site then what is it stripping back on to do that.

property.advert

mikey72 wrote: »

Have you seen the threads on Direct Line on here recently!

Not noticed any specifics, though didn't really look to be honest. My experience is that those who have problems with insurers are those who have "problems" generally.

I've used them before and had no problems and though I think all insurers are having a hard time, I'd rather take my chances with them than some of the unknown favourites on price comparison sites or those offering large cashback amounts.

The best insurers must actually be Marks and Spencer and the like as they want nothing worse than you trashing their brand; the brand the spend millions each year supporting. Direct Line fall on that side of the fence as well.

Quite what "Pay Now Insurance" have to lose by refusing your claim I cannot imagine, whilst the CEO of Direct Line hardly wants to take me on over any amount of a claim, it being simply cheaper and easier to pay out, whether they want to or not.

mikey72

property.advert wrote: »

Not noticed any specifics, though didn't really look to be honest. My experience is that those who have problems with insurers are those who have "problems" generally.

I've used them before and had no problems and though I think all insurers are having a hard time, I'd rather take my chances with them than some of the unknown favourites on price comparison sites or those offering large cashback amounts.

The best insurers must actually be Marks and Spencer and the like as they want nothing worse than you trashing their brand; the brand the spend millions each year supporting. Direct Line fall on that side of the fence as well.

Quite what "Pay Now Insurance" have to lose by refusing your claim I cannot imagine, whilst the CEO of Direct Line hardly wants to take me on over any amount of a claim, it being simply cheaper and easier to pay out, whether they want to or not.

There's been a thread on M&S recently.
Don't know about you and the CEO of Direct Line, but as Harry Hill would say.
"Fight!"

kev.s

you'll never know how good they are until you need to claim...thery are all highway robbers nowadays. they'll do anythiing not to pay up.

Brize

BML wrote: »

How does one select an honest and reliable house insurance?

Through an honest and reliable broker.

mikey72

Brize wrote: »

Through an honest and reliable broker.

He's got a secret list that no -one else knows about?