Morethan Insurance

Monobloc

Hi All,
I was looking for buildings and contents insurance recently.Used Go Compare for quotes.The two cheapest after a lot of comparing,were Halifax and Morethan.Noted these,but decided to keep looking.Following day,I received a phone call from Morethan asking would I consider a quote direct from them.Why not I said.They quoted me halve the price that I was offered on the Go Compare Site.
I accepted this,feeling well pleased.
However,I have now learned that RSA,the insurer behind Morethan has been making big losses.
My concerns are now these:
What happens to customer's policies if a Insurer goes bust?.
What happens if a claim is in progress?.
Why was I offered a quote 50% cheaper than a comparison site ?.
Thankfully I am still inside the " cooling off" period.I may cancel.
Any views on the above will be appreciated.

vaio

Monobloc wrote: »

Hi All,
I was looking for buildings and contents insurance recently.Used Go Compare for quotes.The two cheapest after a lot of comparing,were Halifax and Morethan.Noted these,but decided to keep looking.Following day,I received a phone call from Morethan asking would I consider a quote direct from them.Why not I said.They quoted me halve the price that I was offered on the Go Compare Site.
I accepted this,feeling well pleased.
However,I have now learned that RSA,the insurer behind Morethan has been making big losses.
My concerns are now these:
What happens to customer's policies if a Insurer goes bust?.
What happens if a claim is in progress?.
Why was I offered a quote 50% cheaper than a comparison site ?.
Thankfully I am still inside the " cooling off" period.I may cancel.
Any views on the above will be appreciated.

If an insurer goes bust I think there is government back protection that covers you for 90% of the claim. In reality, RSA is huge and probably "too big to fail" as if they did the whole industry would collapse and need bailing out (or not), similar to what happened with the banks.

As for why the direct quote was only 50% of the comparison site, assuming cover is the same then I guess it's down to comparison site commission/marketing

InsideInsurance

Insurance is covered by the same FSCS as banks are so you are heavily protected - 90% of any claim:
http://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/eligibility-rules/compensation-limits/insurance-limits/

Numbers would be easier to deal with than simply 50%. Could be a different product with lower cover, could be simply because they wont have to pay the aggregator £50, could be the sales guy is having a bad month so selling everything as cheap as hes allowed to etc etc

Remember that cancelling in the cooling off period can still attract cancellation charges so dont make rash decisions

Monobloc

Thanks Vaio and InsideInsurance for your prompt replies.I feel a bit more reassured now.It wasn't about the cost of the Insurance,It cost £50ish.More about the reliability,ie sell policies at any cost to generate money.

InsideInsurance

Monobloc wrote: »

It cost £50ish.More about the reliability,ie sell policies at any cost to generate money.

£50 difference sounds like the aggregators fee.

Insurers have rules on liquidity and in theory cannot sell for whatever they want. Now in reality the tougher rules/ tests (aka Solvency II) has been delayed but many insurers have done most the work for it already.

If an insurer suddenly wants to start making bigger profits, it stops writing business not writing more at a lower price.

Spikey1

I wouldn't worry about that Monobloc. RSA have been around for 300 years. 2013 was about as bad as it could have been for them.....terrible weather in the UK & Canada where they have their biggest exposures. On top of that two or three directors in Ireland had been misreporting the claims reserves which meant that RSA were about £200million less well off than they thought they were.


They've just appointed Stephen Hester (who rescued Royal Bank of Scotland) and he's already announced a plan to raise £775 million to strengthen the books AND invest further funds to re-establish RSA as the no.1 insurer in the UK. Assets elsewhere in the world will be sold off to allow that to happen.


Even if the unthinkable happened and RSA went to the wall, the MoreThan brand would almost certainly survive as there are plenty of predators who would love to take it over.


As has already been said the UK protect private insurance customers anyway....you've no worries. But you were very sensible to raise the question. Hopefully your mind has been put at rest.


I'm aware from my own arrangements that MoreThan offer free Contents cover with some of their Buildings quotes....maybe that's why it seems like half the price ???

Quentin

InsideInsurance wrote: »

......Remember that cancelling in the cooling off period can still attract cancellation charges so dont make rash decisions

Not with More Than.

You get a full refund if you cancel in the cooling off period (providing no claim has been made)

sithemadmonkey

OP, are you absolutely sure that the policy is exactly the same cover? I can't possibly imagine that the aggregator will allow an insurer to just call up a customer who has been quoted through them and offer a fresh quote sans the agg. fee - there's usually agreements in place that the insurer's quote on an aggregator can't be lower than their direct quote.

Not ruling out Inside Insurance's theory of a salesman desperate to hit his targets putting every discount under the sun on in order to get a sale though. Just go through the policy book very carefully - More Than's contents policy in particular is very light on features, so make sure it's got everything you need on there.

*Scarlett

"£50 ish" sounds incredibly cheap for b&c so I understand why you are wary.

Have you had any policy docs yet? Check them carefully for cover levels and xs fees.

InsideInsurance

Quentin wrote: »

Not with More Than.

Hence why I said can not does

Quentin

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Hence why I said can not does

No doubt.

Your post was irrelevant to the OP's query which is specifically about morethan.

(And we don't ever know if what you post is what you actually mean due to your well publicised dyxlexia excuse, which often needs correcting)