Home Insurance Discussion

djsalmon123

Does anyone know how best to insure a house with a separate garage under a "flying freehold"?

In summary we have a detached 3 bedroom house, but also have a separate garage which is on of four garages in a row, with a single flat above it. We own the garage on a "flying freehold" I am told.

This is really difficult to insure - I wondered if it was possible to insure the house and garage separately?

I ended up using an insurance broker last time but not surprisingly the lowest quote was very expensive. (£600 through broker, £188 through price comparison website but this did not include our separate garage)

I cannot believe it costs more than £400 to insure a garage but that's how it looks to me on paper.

Any tips?

SparklyStar

Just to back up Martin's advice to compare and don't renew automatically.

I have my house insured with Sainsburys bank - they did a good deal last year (swapped from someone else) saved me £80. Its now up for renewal - Online my SB quote was £50 cheaper than last year's!
My renewal notice came through from SB the other day - they want to increase it by £120 - yet the policy terms are exactly the same!

Surprise - I ignored the renewal.

kingstreet

SparklyStar wrote: »

Just to back up Martin's advice to compare and don't renew automatically.

I have my house insured with Sainsburys bank - they did a good deal last year (swapped from someone else) saved me £80. Its now up for renewal - Online my SB quote was £50 cheaper than last year's!
My renewal notice came through from SB the other day - they want to increase it by £120 - yet the policy terms are exactly the same!

Surprise - I ignored the renewal.

In the "comparison site club" you'll find the renewal is always a lot more than the first year's premium.

Membership of the comparison site club ensures that is the case...

You'll be changing insurers every year.

Burnley_Lad

Hi - the link in the first post doesn't work - I get this message:

Whoops! Sorry, you've landed on a page that doesn't exist!

Jrwren

I think I have been well and truly duped. We had house and contents insurance with Woolwich before it got taken over by Barclays in 2006? The Premium has risen from high to extortionate asking £888 for this next year. I had a quote from Saga for £194. I had my suspicions that we had been paying far too much for at least the last 7 years. The renewal letter from Barclays / Woolwich outlines the additional details, bike, etc but this then only reaches £340. So what was the other £540 for? It was not specified in the Barclays annual renewal letter and so I am suspicious that I have been sold or asked to renew things that I did not want. e.g. Travel insurance is not specified and Barclays do not cover it as a rule but will honour the travel insurance we had with Woolwich, but do not say what the premium is. Likewise we were originally detailed as being out of the house during the day, which is no longer the case and that we had cover for 60 days unoccupied whereas we would be happy with 40 days. .. and so on. I cannot see where £540 is swallowed up. To test this out I asked for a new quote for house and contents from Barclays and it came to approx £390 - this is without the 50% discount. So my present circumstances give a premium with Barclays of £390 yet I have been paying £800 plus for the last 7 years and no real details have been sent to me each year as we renew.

I am feeling I have been overcharged or at least sold insurance I did not want and was not informed of for 7 years. Do I have a case?

molerat

You had the opportunity to look / go elsewhere.

Must be some house to pay £888 for. My renewal this year from RBS was £308, the same policy to a new customer was £136 so I switched (back) to Nat West as I usually do every other year, same insurer, same policy. Strangely last year their revised renewal, 40% less than the first quote, was lower than a new customer.

Sandie11

I have just had my building & contents renewal through from Rias, its up by 48%, i have been with them for 4 years with no claims, when i called she could only take £30 off, so much for loyalty!

Can anyone recommend an insurance company as the search now begins.

Last year i paid £245 for a 3 bed bungalow, they want this year £360

Thanks in advance

dacouch

Try a popping into a local broker (Not Swintons though)

bcljnk

Hi, we are currently trying to reduce our monthly direct debits, and i have been looking at my renewal for 'contents' only cover we are in a rented property, this year for a 4 bed house i am paying £243.27, which is around £20 per month with Lloyds TSB...i have been very loyal and been with TSB since i split from my ex in 1999...we also had them whilst married pre split, but just looked on compare the market and the prices range from £85 upwards per year...not like for like as i don't think we need the unlimited cover the current policy has, so i put 40k in, is that realistic for a 4 bed home, end of terrace...and how do i know if they will be totally like for like ie i am covered for lock replacements, freezer contents and office equipment, money and credit cards, some of the quotes given would need me to add a bit for legal cover, which is also included in mine, but even so i could quite easily halve my premium.....but i am so confused lol.
PS we are both ex bankrupts, from 2007 and 2009, so not all the companies are coming up.
How do you know which companies are reputable:eek:

Sandie5

Hi, could someone advise on when you need the policy to be joint as for example on confused.com, it asked if you would like to add a joint policy holder but it also asks you to detail the occupants so if the policy includes my husband as an occupant do I need to add him as a joint policy holder?
Confused??