Blinkin' confused! (Contents / CI / etc cover)

tahrey

First up I want to apologise for maybe clogging up the thread list with this - I'd normally never need to ask too much advice about insurance as I'm perfectly comfortable with sorting it out on my car, phone etc... but having just moved into a place of my own for the first time it's suddenly got all complex and is doing my head in - plus everyone has a different suggestion. So I figured I'd turn it over to the internet and get [STRIKE]even more confused by even more suggestions[/STRIKE] what are hopefully better informed views (and maybe leave a helpful thread behind for others?)

ANYWAY... So... I have no real idea of what is or isn't a good deal, or what I need, or where cost cutting is a good idea or not, can you help me out?
And also on one rather important mystery detail, at the end...

Currently I have contents quotes starting at £117 from Budget - who I understand aren't very well regarded round here - and a little more from eSure and it's subsidiaries (ditto, and i have had first hand disrecommendations from friends and colleagues), rising to about £150-200 for Barclays, Aviva, L+G etc depending what level of cover I choose with them. I am in talks with the IFA who arranged my mortgage who has had quotes - from ???? - which are a couple pounds higher than the highest of those three (and a further couple pounds per month for home emergencies) and make me wonder if it's the same thing. There doesn't seem to be much to choose from in terms of level of cover other than the respective suppliers' corporate reputations.

On top of which, I may need Critical Illness cover ... or Accident/Sickness(/Unemployment)... or reducing term mortgage cover... or both/all of the above??? It's a trouble when you don't even know what type you should get, let alone how comprehensive or how much it may cost.

CI, I haven't even looked into independently. The IFA quotes £8.40 per month for the life of my mortgage, guaranteed, with inclusive life assurance (i should think so seeing as a critical illness is usually a death sentence?), which is apparently a surprisingly good deal, but I don't know if it's level or decreasing term.

A/S(/U) is a stark contrast; the quotes I've had independently are pretty low - as little as £2.27 per month (A/S only) for the cover level I want (90 day delay, 12 months protection at £315/month) off the MSE-recommended comparison sites, upto a still reasonable £7.54pcm for a more expensive seeming company including unemployment cover. However, the IFA quotes £14.90pcm, for a lower monthly payout but a shorter startup delay, which seems to be, well, twice what I should pay. But maybe they'll do it without mithering over the small print, which would be worth an extra, otherwise highly precious ninety quid a year?

Do these prices seem fair? Which end of the scale should I be aiming at? Should I press the IFA to see if they could haggle a better deal, or jump for their offer and save a load of hassle? And which of those "extras" (CI, ASU...) are worth going for?

Augh...

It feels like I've written a load just asking the question, so you can maybe understand how fried my brain feels trying to pick my way through this particular minefield.



The critical details:
29 y.o. singleton, british white male (to break internet androgyny/racelessness for a moment) in a 2-bed, top floor flat. Non smoker, not terribly fit or trim but I manage the stairs alright, and the local hills when pedalling up them. Do have the occasional drink or five over a long evening but am pretty much physically unable to binge (get sick after more than about 1/3rd bottle of vodka in one night), and fiscally can't spend all so much on booze per month. Family history of heart disease on one side and stroke on the other I'm trying (and probably failing) to avoid through eating well and staying active, but otherwise pretty vital genes; three grandparents still alive, all still active and compos mentis, all either hitting or well into their 90s.

Employed full time, permanent post (techie in a post-16 college), job reasonably well assured but certainly not guaranteed, and pays about enough to cover the bills (inc mortgage) and an occasional treat. Often ride motorcycle to work (getting there by public transport is possible but would be slow & difficult) and occasionally pushbike for pleasure or local errands (and who knows, maybe exercise, eventually; there's a park and cycle tracks nearby which I didn't have before). Used to Scuba dive, haven't done it for a while but may take it back up. No other dangerous activities.

Total contents, after going through with a fine tooth comb, don't top £20k (I don't go in for bling, hehe) and I have a feeling that at least a couple thousand (CDs, CDROMs, DVDs, LPs) aren't even covered by a lot of policies. No single high-value items; even if my laptop and all its bits were considered as one unit, new-for-old value would struggle to exceed £999, and apart from that only the TV, bicycle and white goods/furniture top about £150 per item. Would like to have at least a minimal amount (say £1000-1500) of away-from-home personal possessions cover, to include e.g. the bike (£300ish), laptop (sensible to say £750? It was quite a nice one when bought... in '06!), dive gear should I use it (£600ish) or combinations of such, plus everything else. (Do phones get covered?)

Proper locks on the front door and all windows, don't think it's neighbourhood watch but it is a reasonable (though not saintly) area, and the place is part of a 70s maisonette complex up a sheltered close. Has a lockable garage that bike, tools, etc are kept in alongside car/motorbike.

Place is leasehold under the purview of a management company, with about a grand of maintenance charge paid per year. It seems to cover some modicum of buildings insurance and utilities servicing, but I don't know to what extent; the minutes of the local board suggest that if e.g. there's a callout for drains to be rodded, the charge is spread amongst the residents who share the drain, rather than it being covered by insurance. If the electrics went in just my place and no other, then who knows if it's covered?

(And that is the mystery detail - anyone else living in a similar arrangement know what might be reasonably expected to be insured, and what it may be smart to have covered separately or under the contents policy?)


If you've got this far and have any wisdom to impart, I thank you deeply. The monthly bills just keep adding up, above and beyond what I was originally assured (by mother & her BF) I would have to lay out, so I need to scrunch a few costs.
((I have a sneaking suspicion they were working it out per-person, and with their considerable no claims discount on top (they always were pushing for me to have a lodger, but available space whilst unpacking and the leasehold regulations make it impractical for now).))

huckster

If you genuinely don't know about these matters, sometimes better to use a local broker/financial advisor. Can be a bit of a minefield using the internet and most people don't read all the information they should, so end up with a product that is unsuitable.

tahrey

Well, as I put above, that's what I was doing already, but as - at least as far as I know - I'm not paying him for the time he's investing in looking things up for me, fielding calls, and coming to visit at home, he's probably going to be looking at deals with half an eye on those that bring in a decent amount of commission. I can't begrudge him that too much, as I value the opportunity to chat over it and see what's included and what isn't, but at the same time don't want to be overly steered towards something that may then end up being too expensive month on month (or if I lose the taste for trying to find a better deal later, year on year) and doesn't entirely suit my needs.

Like I say, lots of advice in different directions, including from him, and I'm not sure which to go with.

In any case, for now, I've gone for a couple of things he offered at a lower-middling sort of level (figured that some stuff I initially wanted included probably wasn't actually worth the extra expense, at least at this point) and skipped a third, which I may or may not pick up independently elsewhere because it was about twice what even the most expensive option on typical comparison sites ran at - and more than 6x that of the cheapest directly comparable policy. Not quite the same as maybe shaving 25-30% off by going with the potentially dodgy internet company vs the huge (and I mean, ludicrously big) and reliable multinational I'm now with for contents etc. All the same, I may not really need it anyway...

ACG

Theres a LOT of info on that post for 8.45am :P

However - Buildings and contents seems quite steep. However you seem to have done your research so maybe it is right for your circumstances.

Life and CI on the other hand seems EXTREMELY cheap. I would have expected to see somewhere around £30 pm premium.

AS(U) cover - those premiums seem to be about right. However, based on the fact you are 29 years old - im not entirely sure this is the product for you. Great you have insurance for a year or 2 if your unable to work, what about the next 30-35 years. You should maybe look at Income Protection - most advisors dont recommend this as its deemed a hard sell and they cant usually be bothered with it. But it would seem more appropriate for you based on what you have said.

Your advisor should be doing a fact find with you. Going through what your expenses are and what you have available. He should then be using that to form part of his/her recommendation.

I think to help everyone you need to put down what your specific questions are as we can then work through them and help clear up any issues. Im not too hot on Contents insurance so id be limited with that but Life, CI, IP, ASU i can be a bit more helpful with.

tahrey

Well... given my follow-up it's a bit late for that now :-)
However I'm still at a point where I need to compare AS/U vs Income Protection etc, which I will do "in a bit" (I am freakin' burnt out right now)

I'm only getting contents cover, by the way - the buildings insurance is part of my leasehold service charge (approx £960 a year... not sure what we get for that, right now, other than a couple of guys mowing the lawn a fortnight ago, one of the stairwell light bulbs being - eventually - replaced, and pretty tight limits on what garage doors we can fit). Does that make it seem even more expensive? The plan I've signed up for is £152/year IIRC, with Bright Gray. £25500 cover level (which encompasses way more than I own), vanilla accidental damage cover, and I think that's about it. I reached a point where I simply could not bring myself to give a crap any more, the guy had done the work, and it wasn't more than a few quid more expensive than e.g. Barclays online. I've received an envelope with the dox in, but so far I haven't even had chance to open it let alone check over them. There's been DIY and haircutting adventures, a boozy pool hall trip with rarely seen mates, a family birthday etc chowing up all the free time.

As stated, this is my first time in my own home, I don't have any NCD or the like, and my car insurer certainly thinks it's a higher risk area than where I've moved out of even though it seems about on a par if not slightly more upmarket. That might be bumping the costs up some. Fella who moved out was paying about £80/yr, with some serious NCD.

My life cover et al is probably quite good as a/ the total mortgage amount protected is pretty low, as it's a modest property and I saved hard over many years to build up enough to get approx 20% deposit but a generous gift from my mother at retirement time meant I could leave more than a third of that in the bank but still make an (exactly) 50% dep, b/ decreasing term..., c/ I'm juuuuuuust under 30 ), d/ reasonably good lifestyle - non/never smoker, not particularly heavy drinker, can't find a local dealer for love nor money, attempt (though, fail) to stay fit and active, eat well, no chronic conditions etc.

Quite what'll happen to the original quote when they get my height/weight (5'11, 14 1/2 st) and congenital history (generally good, but dad is under 60 and has had persistent heart murmur, an attack and type 2 diabetes - but probably mostly dietary & lifestyle) is anyone's guess.

There wasn't a huge amount of "fact finding" in this round, but most of what you describe already happened at mortgage time - I haven't made the mistake (AFAIK!) of taking out the insurances with my actual lender, but I figured that as IFA guy got me a pretty good deal then, I may as well see what he could offer for everything else. Therefore I should hope he still had all that on file.

The specific questions I was probably after were:

What cover level should I aim for with contents? (I think I got this wrong at first - if I got new-for-old on my bike and laptop and then claimed for them within the first year they'd probably launch a CSI style investigation as they're both of a realistic replacement age anyway! Might upgrade the cover if/when I do that.)
What sort of things might be reasonably expected to be covered by a joint buildings policy in a small block of flats?
Is home emergency cover worth it in any way? Personal belongings away from home? Extended accident damage?

Which of CI/ASU should I go for? Or both, neither? Or something else entirely?

Just.... so many options even if there was only one provider available. Add several of them into the mix, not all of them that reputable, and it becomes a supermultivariable information overload.

And if you think that's bad at 8.45am (god, who's browsing internet fora at a quarter to nine in the morning? I posted it at 11pm :-D), try living with it for a couple weeks whilst it percolates back and forth, everyone giving you contradictory and fairly naff advice which doesn't seem to sit neatly with your own desires/needs/fears, and all the time the damocles sword is hanging over your head murmuring "hey... we didn't bother warning you of this, but you should've sorted this out even before moving in... I mean, what if you get hit by a loony doing 110mph the wrong way up the motorway on the way home, or you set the place on fire whilst cooking before you've even got the cover in place?". No wonder my brain's fried

(Though, thankfully, it's not a question I was asked on the medical screening form, I do have a mild dyslexic condition that already makes dealing with that kind of multivariate infospam quite tricky, as well as efficient parsing of language either way (does it show?), so the rest of it doesn't help)

ACG

I havnt read all of that as i only pop on here between jobs/appointments etc. If you have specific questions plonk them down and ill read through and answer where i can. I just dont have the time to read and take all of that in.

tahrey

Never mind then! I listed the specific questions a couple times. The problem is, THERE'S A LOT OF THEM. THAT'S WHY I WAS IN A CHRONIC STATE OF CONFUSION.

If it was just a couple, I probably would have been OK!

Don't begrudge you the lack of time, I recognise it too well. I release you from any obligation you may have felt to this thread

ACG

ah... the questions are too long then i lose concentration :P

Go and see an advisor. You dont pay any upfront fee. They will get paid commission and therefore your premiums would most likely be slightly more than if you went direct (maybe £1 a month more). But they can answer any questions you have...no matter how long they are. You also have a recourse should the advice be wrong.

Its not worth getting wrong.

Good luck.