How does one select an honest and reliable house insurance?

adamc260

property.advert wrote: »

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.

You praise direct line yet they advertise an 0845 number to get a QUOTE!?

Brize

mikey72 wrote: »

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

They are out there. I'm very happy with the policies that my broker's arranged for me; certainly, I've never had to deal with any of the problems that people post about here.

mikey72

Brize wrote: »

They are out there. I'm very happy with the policies that my broker's arranged for me; certainly, I've never had to deal with any of the problems that people post about here.

If you have a personal recommendation, maybe you should put up who your broker has put you with, to answer the op's question.
Just in case the op goes to a broker that's not as good as yours?

Lavendyr

I've heard many a good thing about Ecclesiastical. We are insured with them for home insurance now and they have been very good thus far. Have not had to make a claim yet, mind you.

Brize

mikey72 wrote: »

If you have a personal recommendation, maybe you should put up who your broker has put you with, to answer the op's question.
Just in case the op goes to a broker that's not as good as yours?

You're erroneously assuming that what's right for one person will be right for another. I know from my own work that the suitability of an insurance policy can only be assessed against a client's circumstances and requirements.

Stacking up a bunch of policies on a price comparison website and choosing the cheapest isn't the way to go - it's a mug's game.

WhiteHorse

BML wrote: »

... 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.

They all do this nowadays.

If you are otherwise happy with the company concerned, phone them up and tell them that they'll have to reduce their quote or you'll ditch them. That often has a remarkable effect.

Alternatively, play their own game. Simply go somewhere else and get their introductory price.

mikey72

Brize wrote: »

You're erroneously assuming that what's right for one person will be right for another. I know from my own work that the suitability of an insurance policy can only be assessed against a client's circumstances and requirements.

Stacking up a bunch of policies on a price comparison website and choosing the cheapest isn't the way to go - it's a mug's game.

No I wasn't.
Saying as the op asked for a good insurance company, where price wasn't a factor, merely that they were good, and reliable, as a starting point. They are a fairly constant definition, and don't tend to vary from one person to another.
I assumed you were shamelessly trying to plug using a broker out of self interest generally, and wouldn't actually state any company that you personally had had a good experience with if I asked you to.
You didn't disappoint me, and your dig at price comparison websites merely highlighted your interest.

Browntoa

click the spam button on Will matthews site....sorry post

Brize

mikey72: I quite deliberately chose to engage directly with the title of the OP's post, which is why I quoted that and not the content of the post itself.

In my experience, the only way to select good-quality insurance cover is to consult with someone who knows what they're talking about. Some of us will know people who are genuinely knowledgeable about such things (and I'm not talking about anonymous posters on a forum) but most of us will need to consult with a professional insurance adviser, i.e. a broker.

As an insurance professional myself, I'm not about to start recommending or endorsing insurance companies in an area that I know next to nothing about, i.e. home and motor. Neither am I about to recommend my personal insurance broker, for fear of someone like you calling me out on it.

For the record, I have a number of insurance policies through my broker with a number of different companies. I pay scant attention to who those companies are because claims are always handled by the broker and we never have a problem. In short, the primary relationship is with the broker, not the insurer.

I stand by my comment that price comparison websites are for mugs - they obfuscate the differences between policies and the race to the bottom invariably means that cover is stripped out and customer service pared down. If that's what you want, fine, but you have to realise that you get what you pay for.

I'm not pushing an agenda, as you imply. These boards are full of people who think they know it all, and I'm happy to let them shout as loud as they like.

mikey72

Brize wrote: »

mikey72: I quite deliberately chose to engage directly with the title of the OP's post, which is why I quoted that and not the content of the post itself.

In my experience, the only way to select good-quality insurance cover is to consult with someone who knows what they're talking about. Some of us will know people who are genuinely knowledgeable about such things (and I'm not talking about anonymous posters on a forum) but most of us will need to consult with a professional insurance adviser, i.e. a broker.

As an insurance professional myself, I'm not about to start recommending or endorsing insurance companies in an area that I know next to nothing about, i.e. home and motor. Neither am I about to recommend my personal insurance broker, for fear of someone like you calling me out on it.

For the record, I have a number of insurance policies through my broker with a number of different companies. I pay scant attention to who those companies are because claims are always handled by the broker and we never have a problem. In short, the primary relationship is with the broker, not the insurer.

I stand by my comment that price comparison websites are for mugs - they obfuscate the differences between policies and the race to the bottom invariably means that cover is stripped out and customer service pared down. If that's what you want, fine, but you have to realise that you get what you pay for.

I'm not pushing an agenda, as you imply. These boards are full of people who think they know it all, and I'm happy to let them shout as loud as they like.

I've never had a problem with personal recommendations, if you read my posts I often ask for names of companies that people have had good results with.
I always have a problem with any poster who is in a business recommending that business, it always seems a vested interest.
Or would you say to use any broker, including Swintons, with many years experience in the industry?
How do price comparison websites relate to the title of the op's post, or even the content? Perhaps you try to obfuscate the agenda you are pushing, when you erroneously assume no one will notice the negative introduction of the topic by youself?

However, as you have altered the question in effect,
How do you find an honest and reliable broker?
They can't all be tainted by the industry they serve.