Insurance When Moving

Joe9090

We hope to exchange contracts on our new house within the next couple of months. Our current insurance is due for renewal in the next couple of weeks and the renewal premium is competitive. We have explained our situation to our insurers and all they can advise is renew our current house insurance for the full year and then contact them at exchange for amendments and a new policy to cover our new house.
Although the above is plausible is does mean the insurance company can charge us what they like for amendments and the new policy.
Has anyone got any moneysaving suggestions to overcome this problem?
 

davidmcn

There's no need to stay with the same insurers for the new house, you can shop around at that point, and cancel the old policy on completion of the sale. 

GDB2222

What charges are there for cancellation of the present policy?

Joe9090

Thank you for the replies. The charges are:

'£25 administration fee for changes to your policy once it has started

£35 cancellation fee if your policy is cancelled after the cooling off period and before it has expired

These charges are in addition to any increase or decrease of premium your insurer applies as a result of the change or cancellation.

Using Your Insurance Account allows you to make some changes to your policy online. Where changes are completed in Your Insurance Account you will not incur an administrative charge.'
I have got an online account but when you try to make any changes online you are advised to ring them up!
I have done a quick 'shop around' for the cost of similar insurance at the new property and although my current insurers can be beaten on price the cover might not be as good.

GDB2222

Ask them for a quote now on the property that you are interested in. That may help a little bit if they hike the cost up in a couple of months. 

tink_1983

Some insurers let you make amendments for free online., which only then takes changes to house into account no admin fee.

SpendsLikeAnAubergine

I have a similar situation.

My solution is to buy a 30 day rolling insurance policy. I will then do a proper comparison when I move in to my new house and buy the annual policy.

£6 for 30 days for me. I went with Aviva Plus (separate product to their normal home insurance) but other companies probably do this too.

Joe9090

Thank you for the further replies.
The 30 day rolling contract seems ideal for me and I will look into it.
I did find out that if I renew my current policy I would then be able to make changes to it online and save any admin fees incurred changing the address on the policy when I exchange contracts.