Home Insurance Discussion

adindas

dacouch wrote: »

The contents look to be very under insured, you need to insure for the full NEW cost of your entire contents, if you don't the Insurer can reduce any contents claim by the percentage your underinsured. For example if your contents should have been insured for £30000 and you have £15000 they could reduce your claim payout (Even for a small claim) by 50%.

I would include Accidental Damage Cover for the Buildings, it does not cost much.

Are you aware that the £250 voluntary excess you've selected will be on top on any excess built into the policy. Also the discount you receive for a £250 excess on a premium that small is typically £10 to £25, try running the quote through with a smaller or no voluntary excess, you'll be surprised at how little difference it makes.

If you receive say £25 a year discount for opting for an excess of £250, you need to not claim for ten years to have saved money. I'd be looking for the saving on an excess to be repaid if I did not claim in five years to make it worth while.

Otherwise it's a good premium for a London postcode, it's a fairly basic cover but good premium but you really need to check you have enough contents cover as I'd expect an average 3Bed Terrace family home to need circa £35k to £45k of contents to be adequately insured

Very helpfu;. I will try to look again another possibility.
The reson why I am putting £15,000 becuase I do not have a lot of content as I will be moving and then will try to buy thinng one by one.

But I will try £35k to £45k

dacouch

If you have that little stuff try going around the house and list what you have (If possible make notes of models etc for electrical applicances) and their value. It will help you work out how much cover you need and is invaluable if you ever have a large claim as you have it all listed, it can also help the police if your stuff is stolen. You'll be surprised how much it comes to when you add up new carpets etc.

Store the list off site eg keep it around your parents or even easier email it to your hotmail account.

If you're planning on buying expensive stuff for your house over a period, it's an idea to build in a bit of a safety net into your contents sum insured eg say £5k as you're very likely to forget to update it.

If you C.B.A to do the above (I recommend you do) you could always use this which will help you http://www.legalandgeneral.com/home-insurance/contents-calculator/contents-calculator.html

fredcheck

In process of getting new insurance. Had a very competitive quote from Primo of Southend. Has anyone heard of them? There is little on the internet.

I've always found it worthwhile to get new quotes and then discuss them with existing insurer if they are significantly cheaper, nearly always results in a lower quote though not necessarily to the same amount but then need to check details of cover and also reputation of company/speed of responses in event of claims etc

fred

dacouch

fredcheck wrote: »

In process of getting new insurance. Had a very competitive quote from Primo of Southend. Has anyone heard of them? There is little on the internet.

I've always found it worthwhile to get new quotes and then discuss them with existing insurer if they are significantly cheaper, nearly always results in a lower quote though not necessarily to the same amount but then need to check details of cover and also reputation of company/speed of responses in event of claims etc

fred

They have a pretty good reputation, they're a broker so ultimately it depends on which Insurer they've quoted you with. Do you know which Insurer they've used?

jjonesy

Our insurers Direct Line increased their premium from £450 to £800 this year - when challenged they said that they are no longer giving loyalty discount. The result - moved to another provider. However still in the region of £600, but RBS will not be getting their usual premiums from us any more. Insurance companies must be making a fortune - making cash on spreading payments, increases in premiums and peopl scared to make smaller claims because of impact on history / future premiums / ability to get insurance. Win, Win, Win for the insurers
So why are RBS making the "commercial" decision to sell their insurers?

Ken68

Having applied via the newsletter and chosing Swinton and before making a final decision, I received a phone call from Swinton, who quoted even cheaper.
Now have house and contents insurance cheaper than last year, with the same cover.

HUGEARX

Thanks for all the replies to my previous post. I hammered confused.com every day for about a week, adjusting my details and amounts to get the cheapest, reliable quote I could that fitted my circumstances.

Ended up getting a quote for £292 from Bradford and Bingley on the following details:

Building insurance rebuild = £400 000
Contents including accidental damage = £25 000

Legal cover extra option
Home emergency extra option, unlimited claims but up to a maximum of £1000

Buildings excess = £300
Contents excess = £300
Subsidence excess (never had it) = £1000

Saving of around £400 on our renewal quote from HSBC. Tidy

razzymatazzy

Hi,

I just wanted to share my experience of buying insurance through Swinton.

I researched for home contents insurance online and received quotes etc.
Swinton seemed to offer the best policy for me at the best price, so naturally I went through them.

After buying the insurance online through them, I received what seemed to be all of the policy documentation which included pages upon pages of policy exclusions etc.

I read through all of these and was happy with everything so proceeded with the insurance.

After unfortunately being a victim of a theft from my home, I inquired about making a claim through my insurance believing I was covered only to be told I wasn't because of certain exclusions of which I had not received in my documentation.

I contacted Swinton about this and basically they have said it was up to me to make sure I had received all the documents. I have told them I received lots of paperwork including policy exclusions etc. and wasn't aware there was more, but to no avail.

I am currently taking a complaint through the FSO and would just like to take this opportunity to make people aware about this mishap. I'm not sure if something like this has happened before but if taking insurance through Swinton, you may need to be extra careful with the documentation they send you.

dacouch

razzymatazzy wrote: »

Hi,

I just wanted to share my experience of buying insurance through Swinton.

I researched for home contents insurance online and received quotes etc.
Swinton seemed to offer the best policy for me at the best price, so naturally I went through them.

After buying the insurance online through them, I received what seemed to be all of the policy documentation which included pages upon pages of policy exclusions etc.

I read through all of these and was happy with everything so proceeded with the insurance.

After unfortunately being a victim of a theft from my home, I inquired about making a claim through my insurance believing I was covered only to be told I wasn't because of certain exclusions of which I had not received in my documentation.

I contacted Swinton about this and basically they have said it was up to me to make sure I had received all the documents. I have told them I received lots of paperwork including policy exclusions etc. and wasn't aware there was more, but to no avail.

I am currently taking a complaint through the FSO and would just like to take this opportunity to make people aware about this mishap. I'm not sure if something like this has happened before but if taking insurance through Swinton, you may need to be extra careful with the documentation they send you.

Did they not send you the documents showing the exclusion and what exactly was the exclusion they're using to deny your claim?

P.S Are you raskazz's teenage son ?

razzymatazzy

dacouch wrote: »

Did they not send you the documents showing the exclusion and what exactly was the exclusion they're using to deny your claim?

P.S Are you raskazz's teenage son ?

They did send me some documents containing exclusions, but when I tried to make a claim, the insurers went through more detailed exclusions of which I had not received.

The exclusions in question are in regards to a theft of a bicycle from my home.

The exclusions I received for pedal cycles were - "theft away from the home unless locked in a building or to a permanent fixture".

As the theft occurred from a locked area at the rear of my home, I felt I was covered only to be told by the insurers there were additional exclusions to this cover along the lines of cycles being at your home but out in the open. I don't have the exact wording as Swinton, even after going through all of this with them, still haven't seen fit to send me out these more detailed exclusions.

P.S. Do you think I'd be on here complaining about contents insurance if I was a teenage boy?