Home Insurance Discussion

bubblegumcola

We had a claim on our house insurance this year for accidental damage done by our toddler (water damage) and when the renewal came in I fully expected a price rise. It jumped by nearly double which i didn't expect as the amount claimed probably was around £1000 for replacements, and we paid buildings and contents excess of £200. We also pay extra on our premium for accidental damage cover. My point being is that here's hoping the toddler grows out of mischief making (when we aren't looking) so less chance of it happening! I phoned up to query the renewal price and got put through to their customer loyalty team (?) and immediately got a £80 discount. My premium is still obviously higher than before but abit easier to pay now over the year. Just need to keep my beady eye on toddler so I don't need to claim again! I'm with RBS.

dacouch

Have you tried reducing your excess to something more managegable eg £50 or £100? You will be amazed how little you are saving in premium for having such a big excess (Assuming you have an average premium)

bubblegumcola

Our excess is £100 for buildings and £100 for contents, which I think is fine. I don't really want to put our excess up any higher. I think I said £200 , but thats in total, just thinking about my claim when I had to pay both excesses. I don't think its worth moving to another company just now as we had a claim this year, but pleased they gave us a bit of a discount when I had a wee grump.

Beatlefan

Hi, I wonder if someone can help? Really grateful if you could.

I'm following Martin's article about reducing the cost of your insurance and have been using the price comparison sites to get the cheapest quotes.

My quick question is regarding cashback sites. I'm registered with two of them and understand you have to clear your cookies or use a different browser to maximise your chance of transactions tracking.

But say you've got your quote through confused or moneysupermarket, etc, etc, and you choose the cheapest quote with company X. Then you go to company X's website through a cashback website, using a different browser. Even though the cookies won't be picked up, won't company X's website recognise your name & address, etc? Wouldn't this count against you getting cashback?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks. :A

pammyj74

Hi there, I am looking to get my monthly payments down and at the moment I am paying £42 a month.
Just got a quote from More than through quidco which is £75 cashback BUT on reading the small print it says there is free contents insurance BUT its only free if you dont claim? I dont understand it, therefore its not free then is it?
Is that what it means? The monthly payments would go down to £28.
Its all a blur to me and I dont want to get a policy that is useless!

moneypudden

Interesting reading this thread, so I thought i'd share my experience.

I had previously followed Martin's advice and got a good deal with Tesco home insurance. On both 1st & 2nd renewals the premium had soared so feeling peeved I had tried the screenscrapers and come up with better prices, this year a whopping £160 cheaper than Tesco's initial requirement. Armed with this information I phoned Tesco's and posed the question is this seriously your best price? Swiftly I was put through to Customer Retention and was asked if i had got a price to beat, lo and behold they not only matched the cheaper price but undercut it by a few quid!

I'm still with Tesco, so the moral of the tale is not to automatically accept the stated renewal price. However, I will also pass on a comment form my employers insurance officer which has made me think twice about changing too often unless there's a significant saving. She said that in the event of a major problem developing e.g. subsidence, if there is a string of insurers because of repeated policy changes there is potential for any insurer to dispute when the problem started and refuse to cover in full a claim. Worth thinking about but i'd be interested to hear other views on the point.

Tiwo

Hi, I am new to this thread, but I need a new home and content; and building insurance. where is the best place to search? I am hoping to get one that covers almost everything including external water pipes etc. Thanks

QueenBee

Needing some advice from all you great people!!

We moved into our current house last year and home and contents insurance is now up for renewal ....we are in flood risk area although it last flooded in 2000......last year we ended up paying DOUBLE the previous owners annual amount - a whopping £1600 ( Natwest were her insurers and we had to go with them as everyone else said NO......We have had the renewal and it has gone up to £2000 - we have not made a claim
Can anyone help ?
Many many thanks in advance

payless

You mauy want to give us your postcode ( or at least first bit ie XX00 0-- ) to see if all insurers have same condition

QueenBee

Thanx for that - NG 23