Home Insurance Questions

marlasinger

We have just received our renewal documentation, and this year I've decided to shop around instead of letting it auto-renew.

I've noticed that our Buildings Sum Insured is up to £500k. Is this a standard amount? Our rebuild cost would be nowhere near that - I mean our house is worth about £130k. If not standard, then can this be changed?

We are also paying for Buildings Accidental Damage and Contents Accidental Damage. Are these worth having?

In total our insurance comes to about £360....is this quite high (haven't checked comparison sites yet)? I've asked a couple of people and they think it is.

kingstreet

You've got "blanket" bedroom-rated cover, so your premiums aren't based on the sum insured, so you can ignore the £500k mentioned.

As to accidental damage, only you can decide if you think it's a good idea. Same with excesses. Some like a low excess and pay more, others go the other way.

Do some comparisons. If you don't want to compare bedroom-rated cover, establish your actual rebuild cost from a recent valuer's report, perhaps from a mortgage, or use the abi/bcis calculator;-

http://abi.bcis.co.uk/

marlasinger

I've just done a comparison via MoneySupermarket.com and it has come back with the cheapest quote of £87.69 (annual payment). This is based on rebuild of £146k, which automatically came up when I put my postcode in. It includes Accidental Buildings Damage but not Accidental Contents.....I'm gobsmacked. Have I really been paying so much over the odds, because I never bothered to do a comparison???!!

So Kingstreet, I take it "blanket" bedroom-rated cover is optional and I can ring my existing insurer to get a new quote based on rebuild instead?

rudekid48

marlasinger wrote: »

I've just done a comparison via MoneySupermarket.com and it has come back with the cheapest quote of £87.69 (annual payment). This is based on rebuild of £146k, which automatically came up when I put my postcode in. It includes Accidental Buildings Damage but not Accidental Contents.....I'm gobsmacked. Have I really been paying so much over the odds, because I never bothered to do a comparison???!!

So Kingstreet, I take it "blanket" bedroom-rated cover is optional and I can ring my existing insurer to get a new quote based on rebuild instead?

Just bear in mind that the comparison sites are only comparing prices not the extent or quality of cover.

jackyann

Did you follow Money Supermarket's advice calculator on the cost of a re-build?

marlasinger

We did, but when we went to the actual insurer, they cover up to £500k. We also got a discount because our car insurance is with them.

kingstreet

You need to carefully compare cover quality and not just cost.

Do you currently have trace & access cover? Does the new policy?

Products get to the top of aggregator sites by stripping out maNy things we used to take for granted.

Have a look at Defaqto to see the ranking of your current cover versus the new plan. Don't just look for the insurer name, you need the correct plan name too as insurers offer different plans from economy/basic upwards;-

http://defaqto.com/star-ratings/home-insurance

desthemoaner

For many years I stayed with the same home insurance provider because they had continued to provide cover despite being made aware that there was longstanding settlement to the property, and I was concerned that another insurer might refuse to provide cover.


Having moved house last year to a property with no such structural problems, this was my first opportunity to shop around without trepidation in many a year, and to be honest I've been surprised at the differences in cover and particularly the differing requirements of security endorsements.


As Kingstreet says above, you really do have to compare like for like as well as price to obtain a true comparison.