Home Insurance Discussion

jpbamford

Last year I changed my home contents and buildings insurance from Direct Line to Tesco as they were offering a 30% (I think) on-line discount - I have accidental on both and it cost me £333. When the renewal came through I expected an increase, but £520?!? :eek: So I used the screen scrapers and came up with a quote covering what I needed for £269, with a £50 excess through a broker / underwriter I'd never hear of. So, I called Tesco and asked why it had gone up so much. After I explained I'd got a much lower quote she suggested she put me though to Retentions, and I wasn't just put on hold either - she came back in person to apologise for the wait (not more than a minute in reality!). The nice man in retentions told me that he could offer discounts of up to 40%, if I remember correctly, and as I decided to pay all at once rather than pay their 9% (17.81 APR), it came down to just £274.05. :rotfl:Now I've got more cover than with the other insurer (Tesco offer "blanket" cover on their buildings, and a minimum of £2500 personal Possessions), and a company I know (I've been with them in the past and made a claim that was very easy.

harleycol

I had a buildings & contents policy with Royal Sun Alliance wich was arranged with my mortgage through Yorkshire BS. I've just payed off my mortage so reviewed my cover. I noticed that the buildings cover was £400K ( cover cost £227/year ) . My house is worth around £280K so I asked them to reduce it. They told me that they only have a blanket cover of £400k whatever the rebuild cost of a property.

I got a quote from Zurich with Buildings cover for £250k, still slightly over the rebuild cost but £130/year less. Oh and the contents cover is much better so I have a saving and more peace of mind. :j

swanny65

andyjervisuk wrote: »

How bizzare is this. Last month I got a renewal notice from Barclays informing me my Home & Contents insurance for the next 12 months would be £195. So I got on to one of the broker sites and guess which one came out cheaper? You got it, Barclays at £165 for the identical policy I had, plus I would get £50 cash back if I did it online. Needless to say I snapped their hand off, and paid there and then. A couple of weeks later I had a letter from Barlclays saying how sorry they were I hadn't decided to renew my insurance with them! Then a further 2 weeks down the line I received a cheque for £50!!
Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Both these policies, benefits, whats covered etc. were identical.

Just been quoted £129.10 online for an almost identical policy Barclays want £227.00 for on renewal. Why do they do this?

pookey

hi,
does or has anybody claimed for subsidence before? I made a claim just under 2 years ago and I'm finding it very difficult to find an insurance company that does offer insurance if you've had subsidence in the past. Im with Norwich Union at the moment and they have quoted me £350. I know its not a bad price but I thought I would try and see if I could beat it but the problem is that I cant do an online search because I always get told to call the company for more information. When I call they tell me that they dont cover subsidence. Anyway I would really apprecaite if anybody could point me in the rght direction.

Thanks a lot
:A

perssy6060

Re: subsidence?!

When I bought my house 13 years ago through Abbey National as it was then, I took out buildings contents with them as well. There was a crack above the front door which their survey said was not likely to cause any problem. Well it hasnt, but over the years I have been unable to find another insurer who will even quote me. I thought I would try again with one of the screenscrapers but had to stop when I got to certain questions. Over the years my Abbey premium went up and up, and last renewal stood at £687.00 on unlimited buildings and contents. Although I have made two claims, following a burglary, and leaky bathroom pipes ruining kitchen cupboards, ceiling etc. during that time. Also I am in London and in a flood risk area.
After looking at other ways to reduce my premium I decided to change from unlimited to fixed sum buildings and contents cover. I rang Abbey just now, and did not really like the amount they gave for house rebuilding costs. I hesitated when they asked if I liked the figure, and before I could reply, they said they were able to reduce my existing unlimited cover. So now this is down to £537.00. So I just went for that. Especially as they were absolutely brilliant when I made my two claims.
So in reply to frenzy, I would say you are lucky to find a quote at that price! Sometimes loyalty isnt so bad, and how were Norwich Union over your subsidence claim? If they were good, why not stay? I hear a lot of insurers will not take on new customers with previous subsidence claims. Not exactly answering your question. Just thought I would share my thoughts

pookey

thanks for the heads up. they werent that good as they took nearly a year to get the claim rolling and then we had problems with the contractors they used as they caused more damages we had a lot more problems. I would prefer to leave them so now i'll try abbey for a quote.

TuftyMatt

Just had a quote from M&S for £164 which is far better than the £232 HSBC offered as a renewal.

Have to point out that I did rob them last year by only paying £107 over 10 interest free payments so no wonder they raised it so much!!

ShowmetheMoney

frenzy wrote: »

hi,
does or has anybody claimed for subsidence before? I made a claim just under 2 years ago and I'm finding it very difficult to find an insurance company that does offer insurance if you've had subsidence in the past. Im with Norwich Union at the moment and they have quoted me £350. I know its not a bad price but I thought I would try and see if I could beat it but the problem is that I cant do an online search because I always get told to call the company for more information. When I call they tell me that they dont cover subsidence. Anyway I would really apprecaite if anybody could point me in the rght direction.

Thanks a lot
:A

I work for insurance broker and hopefully this will help:
When it comes to subsidence, insurers have a "gentlemans agreement" that they will each continue to insure existing policyholders, whose properties have history of subsidence. They will not take on new properties with previous subsidence.
When you come to sell your property, the prospective purchaser will almost certainly need to take out a policy with your insurer - make sure they are aware of this as any mortgage provider will require subsidence cover to be in force.
If the subsidence occurred some time ago (i.e. 20 yrs) and an up to date survey states no recent subsidence, then you may be able to change insurer.
If someone finds themselves in position where there is no insurer (e.g. insurer gone bust or property bought at auction and therefore no details of previous insurer) then there are specialist insurers out there who may be able to help.
Advice for everyone - do not exclude subsidence cover in order to save money because if your property subsequently suffers subsidence, not only will you have to foot the bill (potentially hundreds of thousands) but you may find it extremely difficult to obtain subsidence insurance in future, therefore making home potentially impossible to sell.

Hope this helps

Edit - it can take some years to settle a subsidence claim because the subsidence has to be monitored to make sure it has stabilised before remedial work can be carried out. They can't fix it until they know that no more movement will occur.

macthemaths

Just wanted to let you all know about a little story that happened to me.

I have just moved and changed mortgage companies. Took my B&C insurance with Barclays (best deal I could find quickly). Norwich and Peterborough were going to charge me £25 for not using their (more expensive) insurance.

This fine would have made a difference making Barclays slightly more costly. Phoned Barclays to cancel my policy explaining about the fine levied.

Barclays really came up trumps. They reduced my policy with them by more than the £25 fine, sent me a sweetner cheque for £60 and £20 worth of high street vouchers.

Brilliant!

Phoned N&P straight back and said that I was sticking with Barclays and that they could fine me if they really felt the need.

This whole penalty-for-not-using-our-insurer businesss seems like a bit of a gyp to me, but there it is.

Give it a go - nothing to lose.

Chris

ahall41116

my mother in law has home insurance with fortis, through a broker.

she suffered a break in in May, where the usual camera, cash, mobile phone was taken.

she got a letter from them via the broker the other day, saying that before they will re-new her policy in jan 08, she has to have an alarm fitted.

is this standard policy these days? any thoughts would be appreciated.

ash