Home Insurance Discussion

lowis

I currently have my contents insurance through my local council (I purchased under RTB and the council have an insurance scheme for tenants and leaseholders). The policy is fairly basic - it doesn't cover items taken away from the home or items in an outbuilding.

I know a fair bit about pet insurance; which companies to avoid, which offer a good service and what to look out for in policies - I don't have this knowledge for home contents insurance though.

So, are there any companies that i should just completely avoid? Anything that I should look out for in a policy? Any recommended companies?

Thank you

dacouch

As you have discovered with Pet Insurance you get what you pay for with insurance (Not in all cases though as you can get decent companies charging a low price).

I'm a broker so deal with lots of companies, (choses words carefully) my personal opinion is that In would not recommend my friends (If its a customer I will voice my concerns and then allow them to make an informed decision) to the following companies MMA, Quinn, Highway and Link. In addition Axa can sometimes be difficult to deal with in the event of a claim but this is more of a customer service issue as their policy cover is pretty good. Like I said this is my personal opinion and no doubt there will be plenty of people on here who would disagree.

There is also a lot of "discussion" on these forums about Swift although I do not have experience of using them as they are a direct company.

I have had second hand (experience of trying to sort friends claims who were with them) and stories about Halifax so my personal opinion is to avoid them but again there will be people who will say they are great.

The following is a guide from the Financial Service Authoirty who regulate Insurers and brokers, it is designed to give consumers a rough guide to contents insurance

http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/products/insurance/types/possessions/contents_insurance.html

You need to work out if you want Accidental Damage which costs a bit more but gives you wider cover and whether you want unspecified personal possessions / belongings cover which gives you cover away from the home for personal effects eg cameras, baggage and jewellery.

If your still not sure post a question up here and we will all try and answer it for you

lowis

thanks dacouch

i guess the main thing i would like to be sure of is that i have cover for items taken out of the home such as glasses, laptop, camera - handbag items basically. accidental damage would be good too.

i've done some checking and Sheila's Wheels and Lloyds TSB seem to have good policies at a good price - SW is quite a bit cheaper than Lloyds, but I am not deciding on cheapness, i would rather deal with a strong, decent firm.

dacouch

lowis wrote: »

thanks dacouch

i guess the main thing i would like to be sure of is that i have cover for items taken out of the home such as glasses, laptop, camera - handbag items basically. accidental damage would be good too.

i've done some checking and Sheila's Wheels and Lloyds TSB seem to have good policies at a good price - SW is quite a bit cheaper than Lloyds, but I am not deciding on cheapness, i would rather deal with a strong, decent firm.

In an ideal world it is best to have accidental damage and personal possession cover.

I would recommend you keep an eye on the amount of excess (Compulsory and Voluntary) they quote you with as ideally you want as small an excess as possible eg £50. These websites are tending to quote with excesses of between £100 and £200 at the moment to reduce their premiums. The chances are if you make a claim it will be for a few hundred eg losing your specs and if you have a big excess and bearing in mind your premium will increase by about 15% it means its almost not worth claiming. If you reduce the excess to a lower amount it will not increase the premium very much.

Try some of the comparision websites for quotes, also bear in mind a lot of companies offer cash back if you go to them through certain other websites for instance his one from Quidco

http://www.quidco.com/lloyds-tsb-home-insurance/

There are plenty of forums on here about comparison sites and also about the cash back sites as sometimes the cash backs can take a long time.

Bear in mind that most of the companies will quote you a cheap price to get your business and will then put the premium up at renewal hoping to keep you on a higher premium so make sure you shop around again at renewal

lowis

thanks again!

having looked more closely and read reviews on the net, Sheila's Wheels seem the best option, they offer everything that Lloyd does and they get a better rating at DeFaqto (5 stars). Unfortunately they are not on a cashback site but then again their premium is so low (£111) that the cashback offered by one of their competitors (Lloyds £150) offering similar level of insurance would have to be substantial.

Now...i have the option to protect my NCD - for an extra £11 a year. Is this worth doing?

Thanks!

dacouch

How much is their quote as £11 seems a lot

lowis

i have just edited...£111 without, £122 with NCD

dacouch

If it was me I would not bother as if you put a claim in (I assume they have allowed you 3 years no claims bonus) your premium would go up roughly £10 to £15 based on that premium.

Say you are with them for ten years paying £11 a year you would pay them £111, the chances are you will have one maybe 1.5 claims (If that makes sense) in that period. If you did make a claim your premium would go up for a couple of years so to me it would not make sense to pay it.

It seems like quite a good way of making money for them to me

What excess have they charged you?

lowis

it's a £50 excess for a premium of £111
or i can reduce it to £0 but the premium jumps to £124

(cover includes £30k contents, £1500 personal possessions away from home, £50k legal cover and home emergency)

dacouch

The home emergency can be a waste of money depending how much they charge you for it.

I would stick with the £50 excess as it offer good value for money but dont waste your money on the protected bonus as it does not very good value providing you do not have lots of claims.

If you go through esure (They own sheilas wheels) I assume they will offer a similar deal, here is a £20 cash back for them. Follow the instructions though if you want your cash back (You'll have to join quidco and click on the esure logo through them)