Home Emergency Cover added to home insurance worth it?

helstar

Hi everyone.

Can anyone advise me if the Home Emergency Cover option which can be added to just about any home insurance policy these days and apparently covers heating and boiler failure, is enough cover if you need a replacement boiler/central heating or do I need a separate boiler care policy such as Homeserve? I am very confused! Trying to save money, and they seem to cover very similar things so don't want to pay two premiums for the same service.

Advice greatly appreciated. :-)

THANK YOU.

huckster

You would need to study the terms of each policy and compare. I suspect the cover is slightly different in terms of scope. Also be careful you meet the conditions e.g proof of boiler being annually serviced and less than x years old.

If you want to cover a central heating system specifically, you might be better getting cover via British Gas or other big company that provides it. They have more engineers available to carry out repairs and they are more likely to be able to get hold of parts. The problem with cover via Home Insurance or Homeserve, is that they usually have access to fewer engineers and they can struggle to get parts for some boilers. The boiler manufacturers stop making parts for some boilers after less than 10 years.

Whatever cover you look at, see if it covers a replacement boiler, if parts are no longer available. It might only cover up to a certain amount of money towards a new boiler.

HappyMJ

The home emergency cover terms and conditions that I read covered only emergencies. You would have to commission and pay for a boiler service of your own every year and fix anything that is mentioned in the service at your own cost before the part fails and becomes an emergency repair. They also don't tend to cover boilers over 12 years old. The chance of a boiler that's less than 12 years old and serviced every year failing is very very low.

You also need to know if claiming on the policy will affect your no claims bonus which will then affect your premiums in future years. It's very unlikely you will ever claim on a buildings insurance policy. It's more likely that there will at some point in the next 5 years there will be a claim on the emergency cover element of the insurance which will then affect your buildings insurance premium.

I'd keep it separate. edit to add: I self insure boiler breakdowns as all the premiums I found were far too expensive. It's cheaper putting money into a pot and using that if the boiler breaks down. I also have backup hot water (immersion element in cylinder and electric shower) and heating (gas fire in living room and portable electric heaters in bedrooms) so there will never be an emergency where I have no hot water or heating so can shop around if it were to fail.

pinkteapot

Policies vary, but typically home emergency has a claim limit of £500, so nowhere enough for a full boiler replacement.

That being said, our boiler broke down recently and our home emergency cover paid for the repair, saving us about £250. It also made it hassle-free. We called the claim line and they arranged for a company to come out - so we didn't have to trawl the Yellow Pages.

One thing - with ours at least, it only covers boiler breakdown if the central heating is the only form of heating in the house. It's not classed as an emergency if you have alternative heating available.

We've had another claim, when we had a leak in the top of a bay window. They sent someone who fixed that too.

And, with some insurers, home emergency claims don't affect your No Claims Discount. We're with Nationwide and this is the case. You do need to check though as it may vary with other insurers.

For us, the cover has been well worth it (costs about £15/year). Like any insurance, if you never claim you'll think it wasn't worth it.

helstar

Thank you, your answers are all really helpful. I find this stuff a total minefield! I'm leaning towards a separate policy as I can't afford to pay for a full boiler replacement and my Halifax Home Emergency has a £500 claim limit. As central heating is the only heat supply in the house (admittedly I could by a fan/electric heater - but am a little wary of these having a young child in the house) I think it's time to start trawling the internet for best cover policies - any advice? I am also looking into switching my energy supplier so maybe I could incorporate some kind of boiler care in with that. Trying to completely overhaul my finances one step at a time. Wish me luck! ;-)

pinkteapot

Martin's got a good article to read as a starting point.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/boiler-insurance