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Struggling to get reasonable home insurance

tgon
tgon Posts: 710 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
edited 21 July 2016 at 10:27AM in Insurance & life assurance
We bought our current home in 2014. It flooded in June 2007 because of backed-up drains caused by a water company pumping station failure. Apparently the water rose about 5" on the ground floor for a few days. Subsequent investment by the water company rectified the problem and further alleviation schemes have been put in place should it ever happen again. We're not in a flood zone, its never flooded before (to my knowledge) and environmental risks are low "green" (according to searches conducted at purchase) .

The flooding was a one-off failure by the water company and I've really struggled getting competitive quotes using MSE advice or elsewhere. One of the specialist main insurers mentioned on MSE wouldn't cover the house at all from flood risk. FloodRe is an insurers tool and not consumer facing so there's no direct help there. The comparison sites include the flood question which I fill out but quotes I've subsequently chased up say the comparison site quote ignores the flooding and going through further specific details substantially increases the cost, if they will cover at all! One has even suggested I find out the cost of any claim from the owners at the time - even if I could, they are not obliged to tell me. Another gave a premium of £2,500 pa to cover.

Really frustrated and fed up. I've not made any claims for over 20 years. This is such a long drawn out process of constant repetition of forms and conversations. Any ideas most welcome. How can I omit flooding from the quotes (ie. my risk not theirs) and still remain historically correct without having terms imposed on me? :(

Comments

  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
    Try a local broker (not Swinton).
  • mgfvvc
    mgfvvc Posts: 1,276 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I sympathise. Having bought a house by a river, Direct Line were the only insurer to offer anything reasonable. Unless things have changed they only ask about flood in the last 10 years. Sadly 2007 is still inside this limit, but, if you talk to them, you may find they are reasonable about it (or not).
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,636 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Are you still covered by the same Insurer who paid the claim?
This discussion has been closed.
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