Cheapest Boiler Cover Discussion

bigup7

Looking at getting boiler cover. Which policies will repair the boiler (covered under the policy) if the yearly service fails it's inspection?

Seems daft that you pay monthly for boiler cover, then have to pay for it to be fixed if they find a fault on its annual service.

Thanks

Doc_N

Did anyone go for this with Thames Water and British Gas?

Exclusive offer for Thames Water customers.
Leaks, drips and blockages fixed with our Plumbing & Drains Cover
Offer ends 31st October, 2021. Keep the good times flowing.

Just 49p per month (usually 99p) for your Plumbing & Drains Cover (excess £30).

You'll also get
-Unlimited call outs
-No additional call out fees - ever
-Unlimited repairs
-Parts and labour included4
-Work guarantee
All work guaranteed for 12 months


What's included

• Repairs to the plumbing system in your home and outbuildings and the water supply pipe within the boundary of your property
• Unblocking and repairing your drains and waste pipes to restore flow
• Accidental Damage
• Up to £1,000 to gain access and make good for each repair

What's not included

• Showers and their parts, shower pumps, sanitary ware and sealant
• Shared drains
• Faults caused by someone else you used for repairs or design faults

dbruce77

I have used all of these sites and have also found another comparison site at boilercover.com which also seems very helpful.

annibell79

Your Repair cover older boilers but crank up the price after you sign up

I just used the comparison websites to narrow down my options as I have a 15 year old boiler and it's not easy to tell whether a company will provide cover or not for a boiler of that age. It looked good at £14 a month with £60 call out fee with Your Repair. I then went directly to their website which confirmed £14 without asking for the age of the boiler. Completed sign up and provided bank details, set up account password etc, only then to be asked details of my boiler and given a price of £17 a month! I now have to contact them to cancel the plan, so tried the online contact form only to see a note saying cancellation can only be done over the phone. I did send an online message to see what happens, but I expect I will have to call them tomorrow anyway. 

slimgym

I've a 20+ year old Potterton boiler covered with NFU home emergency. No heat or hot water the other week - not firing at all, they sent an engineer, fan had stopped and needed replacing. NFU deemed it obsolete / parts unavalable and offered £249 toward a new boiler. I engaged the very engineer they called to replace the £249 fan and all now again working. Fan is still in production by original manufacturer - 2022 date code on it. Would be very wary these policies for older boilers, they were happy to take money and send someone to service it. They never even asked the engineer to quote to repair, more interested in its age. For older boilers better to find a trustworthy and honest engineer who knows how to diagnose and properly.

gwapenut

I used LV home emergency a few years back. They sent someone out quickly, who seemed a little like a rabbit caught in the headlights, but he diagnosed the gas valve and said he would order one quickly and get back to me. A week then passed and they said the callout had cost £150 (it was a bank holiday) and that the £550 cost of the valve/fitting would push me over my £500 policy limit, so I'd need to pay the extra.

I said that was ridiculous given that Baxi were offering £340 fixed price repairs, but they said I could go ahead and arrange that, and so long as I didn't have any kind of 1 year warranty option with Baxi (the warranty option would have been the same price!) it would be like for like and they'd reimburse me the cost as it fell within my policy loimit.

I went ahead with that. It took a few weeks of chasing, but they paid up. Although it was a little tortuous, I was quite impressed by LV's appointee's pragmatic attitude.

As an aside, the gas valve fitterd by Baxi didn't fix the problem. Nor did the fan, the electrodes, the PCB, the flow switch, and every other component inside the boiler. Eventually, a second gas valve worked - the original gas valve supplied by Baxi had happened to be faulty! But for £350, I pretty much got an entire new set of boiler innards.

I'm able to deduce the rough cost of problems and work out if it's better me getting a part then having someone fit it (eg noisy fan) or go for the safety of a fixed price repair. I've never lost money on a Baxi fixed price repair this way, and would always take that chance, having to shell out the fixed price cost every 3-4 years, than to engage in a servicing contract and have to keep doing the renegotiation dance every year.

Also, with a fixed price repair, you're a customer providing new cashflow and I feel you're more likely to get prompt attention than someone on a contract.

johnedwards3005

When BG hoisted their prices dramatically after about 40 years continuous cover I switched to YourRepair (YR) a few years ago,  (I tried hard to negotiate with BG, but they weren't in listening mode!).
I think your examples of cover and prices are a bit unfair - I chose YR because I could get equivalent 'whole home' cover as I had with BG for significantly less, with NO excess and with 3-year FIXED premiums. Of course I paid a higher premium for these benefits, but it seemed worthwhile and I'm very glad I did.
My experience of their service has been mixed. Although everything that was covered has been fixed, it can take too long as they insist on sending an engineer to examine the problem and report back on the work needed BEFORE they authorise it - which then requires another visit (hopefully to fix it), often from a different engineer!
You have to bear in mind that they employ none of their own engineers, but simply put each job out to a panel of local tradesmen who have signed up with them; consequently there is little proper quality control or company training - just a monitoring of complaints and success rates I guess. However, I understand that BG is partly switching to such a system too - indeed one engineer who came ALSO works for BG.
I hope this helps to assess the suitability of YR for other people's needs.
PS They also offer a Landlords' Policy that allows tenants to report faults directly (by phone) - a godsend! However, they report on progress by email - only to the Landlord!

Jay_EM

The 'Best Boiler Cover' page recommends the company Your Repair. I have just had a renewal quote (after one year of cover) and the price has more than doubled, however on their website it states:

No more price hikes

Only YourRepair fix your monthly price for up to 3 years, no matter how many home repairs we carry out.

Perhaps this should not be recommended by Martin Lewis?

annibell79

Jay_EM said:

The 'Best Boiler Cover' page recommends the company Your Repair. I have just had a renewal quote (after one year of cover) and the price has more than doubled, however on their website it states:

No more price hikes

Only YourRepair fix your monthly price for up to 3 years, no matter how many home repairs we carry out.

Perhaps this should not be recommended by Martin Lewis?

You have to select an option before purchase that you want the guaranteed price for 3 years. When you do the price goes up from the original quote.

For me the first quote was reasonable, but too much once I selected the fixed price for 3 years.

amanda1024

It seems like 5 of the 6 'top picks' are the same 'Your Repair' - I'm not very impressed with this particular moneysavingexpert page - in general the site does a better job of reflecting the whole of the market. Really helpful to see the feedback on YR above - would welcome experiences with any of the other suppliers. I'm currently with British Gas; they've improved in recent years (in terms of turning up quickly and fixing issues) but costs are going up and up.

I also feel 'Your Repair's' 'no more price hikes' is very disingenous - detailed in their terms and conditions it says:

"The (fixed price term) means your price won’t increase during this period of time as a result of the number of repairs that you request us to arrange.

However, we may increase the annual price and or monthly payment during your fixed price term if for example:

• The government introduces a change in any relevant tax rate, in which case it will only increase by the amount of the increased tax.

• To reflect the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year plus 3.9% (ignoring any negative figure)"

I can't see how CPI+3.9% is 'fixed price' under any definition! Presumably they're also not covered by the upcoming ban on mid-contract % price rises (I think that's just mobile/broadband). I think tax is fair enough (but I note they're not saying the price will go down if the tax rate decreases!)