Getting a quote for house insurance half way through a claim

netti

Our insurance is up for renewal at the end of July. We had a garage fire back in March and although the insurance company have finally settled on the contents we are still waiting for them to instruct the builders to commence repairs.

Our renewal quote from current insurer is 40% higher than last year.

Is there any point attempting to get a cheaper quote in our situation? Or is 40% more actually a good deal seeing as though we have made a large claim?

Thanks for reading

rs65

netti wrote: »

Is there any point attempting to get a cheaper quote in our situation?

There is no harm in trying a comparison site. You will need to know the value of the claim which may not be clear yet.

Assuming you are happy with the way the claim was handled, staying with your current insurer may not be a bad idea.

Just_Some_Guy

An open claim, especially for one of the nastier classes of claims like buildings fire, will lead to large hikes in premiums. There is no harm in getting some quotes but I would be surprised if shopping around saves you vast sums of money in this instance.

netti

How do we get the value of the claim - do you simply ask at the end? I have been a bit disappointed at the length of time it has taken to sort out, but with no experience of this kind of claim perhaps this is normal, at least it wasn't our main house that was affected. At the original inspection the assessor thought it would take around 6 weeks...I wish!

huckster

I would suggest you ask the claims dept for an estimate of the overall claims value, as you need to know this for future Insurance declarations.

When you shop around, I would suggest that you phone companies and don't arrange online. If there is a current ongoing claim, Insurers will want to know this. I have known for Insurers to not quote when some claims are outstanding.

Just_Some_Guy

6 weeks isn't unreasonable for a small fire with no delays or complications. Any kind of interesting circumstances will add time.

Also don't be surprised if the value of the estimate your insurer gives you is huge. Fires tend to be calamitous and suck up tens of thousands to put right, and there's every chance your insurer is just using an average until it gets builders' quotes.

*Scarlett

All future insurers will want to know the value of the claim. Some providers will not quote whilst a claim is ongoing - some do but will want additional info. If you manage to find out the value of the buildings claim you would be advised to contact any insurers directly to discuss the circumstances - I would not attempt to take a policy out online.

As the contents claim has now been settled you could consider getting a separate contents policy.

Ask your current insurer how much the building will cost to insure by itself for next year as you may find you end up stuck your current insurer for this year for buildings.

Get some online quotes for contents and see how the prices stack up for you.

netti

Interesting point about separate contents Scarlett. I have re read the quote and the contents are still "free" with the buildings just like last year as long as we don't make a claim!
Hmmm wonder if this letter was generated by a dept that hasn't been informed we are in the middle of a claim...

*Scarlett

Some companies will offer "free" contents cover but obviously the cost of this has to be met somewhere so the buildings price may have been loaded appropriately.

Are they offering you free contents cover for this year providing you don't claim after your renewal date or have they omitted to take the recent claim into account?

You probably need to speak to them to clarify this. Ie if they are still going to cover your contents for no extra cost and you are tied to the building policy due to the ongoing claim there is no point seeking contents insurance elsewhere.

I would ask them for a price for buildings only - negotiate the best price that you can and see if it worth getting contents separately or keeping them combined.