Home contents insurance - front door lock not good enough?

rebeccak

I'm trying to move to a cheaper home insurance deal and thought I had found a good deal through the comparison sites - but have been turned down for insurance because of the security on my front door (not just that they won't offer me the good deal I saw online, they won't insure me at all for any price).

I have a BS3621 lock (plus a bog-standard yale lock) on my door which is what my current (expensive!) insurance policy requires me to have but I've just been on the phone with Bradford and Bingley insurance (who I was hoping to move to) and that isn't good enough to get a policy with them.

Is this common now? Will I struggle to find an alternative insurer with this lock?

This wasn't a problem that was flagged up on the price comparison sites (I answered the questions to the best of my knowledge and got loads of offers) - It was only when I went to their site, corrected some of the information and then got a message to phone them, that I (eventually) got through to someone and was told that my lock wasn't good enough to get insured through them.

societys_child

Fit a more secure lock?

rebeccak

What is the optimum lock to have these days though? When I got that fitted (admittedly a few years ago) I was told that it was the optimum one and the one that insurance companies required you to have - which tallied with my experience (until today!) as that is what my current insurance company requires. The guy on the phone wasn't very clear about what lock I should have ie what 'BS' code do I need to ask for if I got a locksmith in?

Mr.Generous

I would call them again, BS3621 is the right kind of lock for insurance. Is yours a 5 lever? If you look at the lock body edge on you should see hardened steel rollers set in to the brass (or possibly laminated plates pressed together on some locks) which is a sure sign of a high security lock.

paddyandstumpy

I suspect the person you spoke to didn't know how to put it into his system, therefore defaulted to the "say no" approach.

As above BS3621 is a perfectly adequate minimum standard of security.

Call again and hopefully speak to someone different. B+B is a trading name of BGL, they are a super affinity broker with a huge call centre.

rebeccak

Yes, mine's a 5 lever lock.

The options on the online form were:
a) External key to lock, unlock and pull lever to open
b) More than 1 key
c) Multi-point locking system (UPVC/Aluminium door)
d) Basic lock such a Yale
e) Other type of lock

I picked b) because I have two locks on the door - I wasn't sure if that was the right answer but thought that if I said BS3621 to the guy on the phone he would say 'oh, yes, you should have picked this other answer but it's fine' - but apparently not.

If most insurance companies do still accept BS3621 locks hopefully I won't have too much difficulty getting insurance.

kingstreet

I've just sent out an L&G Choices Quote and the min security level on there is BS3621.