Coop Home Insurance premium – too cheap?

Roy1234

I’m currently with Direct Line (buildings+contents) for the second year at this address. I’ve much longer experience of them elsewhere, but true to past experience they come in with attractive first year quotes then sky rocket thereafter. Year one it went up 30% (I didn’t have time to fight them); Year two a further 37%.

I know of old that they can be haggled down, often with quotes for new customers from their own website, but this year I’ve been looking around, annoyed by this policy. Is there any insurer that doesn’t play the same game?

Anyway, Direct Line wants about £460. I should say there’s some jewellery that some policies may want separately declaring adding a bit potentially to premiums. A switching site offered £326 with Sainsbury’s Bank. A direct quote with Coop came in at £189, and those are with lower excesses than the others, not higher ones.

Well I’m not someone looking for ‘cheap and nasty’ in anything and I was slightly perturbed at the low Coop quote. Are they good value/good quality? Or is this just another carrot to get me for year one before a sky rocket rise?

McKneff

Coop home insurance is excellent. Ring them if you want

Looks like you have been paying over the odds with the others for some while
Shop around, i have never paid over £170 for buildings and content. House is valuex at around 250k.
Shop around every year

Roy1234

McKneff - thanks for that reassurance. It's such a nebulous thing insurance, you never know what a fair price is nor what service to expect if you ever do claim, and then it's too late. Is Coop more stable year-on-year than the others? Or will I need to leave them in 12 months time?

One other question though. If you think £170 is high (and my home is valued less than yours), why did comparethemarket.com offer nothing lower than £326? Shouldn't there have been stack around the Coop price?

davidwatts

Roy1234 wrote: »

Anyway, Direct Line wants about £460. I should say there’s some jewellery that some policies may want separately declaring adding a bit potentially to premiums. A switching site offered £326 with Sainsbury’s Bank. A direct quote with Coop came in at £189, and those are with lower excesses than the others, not higher ones.

Have you got adequate cover from that Co-op quote? Check the High Risk Item limit for items in the home and (if relevant) the Personal Possessions cover as well. If you increase either of those amounts, or add any specified items to the quote (e.g. jewelry >£2,000) it may increase the premium.

If you're sure that the cover meets your needs then go for it though you can probably expect a price increase at renewal.

EdGasketTheSecond

My sister moved to Co-op and saved £300. Since which they have put it up a bit each year but by a reasonable amount not a taking the p**s amount. Can't comment on claims as she hasn't made one. They seem OK in reviews as far as any insurer does.

Roy1234

Yes I'll have to increase the £2k limit a little for just one item, don't see that'll have a meteoric effect though. I will phone and ask. It doesn't take much of a diamond ring to exceed £2k, and the question recurs every year as a complication getting quotes for insurance. The one thing that had made Direct Line an easier option, once a lower price had been haggled, was their slightly higher single valuable item limit. £2k is quite common.

Roy1234

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

My sister moved to Co-op and saved £300. Since which they have put it up a bit each year but by a reasonable amount not a taking the p**s amount. Can't comment on claims as she hasn't made one. They seem OK in reviews as far as any insurer does.

Well you expect any insurance to go up annually, especially if mega cheap to start with. But rises in the past of over a third which could be removed by doing battle on the phone leave bad taste in the mouth.