Boiler insurance

[simon]

Hi. 

Last weekend (bank hol weekend) on the sunday my boiler broke down. 

I have no insurance cover or breakdown cover

In a state of panic i called a large energy supplier hoping they would help me asap. 

I called edf and they tuck all the details however they sub contracted the job to erg facilities. A House maintenance company.

They arrived within 1 hour. 
The engineer says it needs a new pump so he would have to order the part and repair the boiler another day. 

1st issue is the cost of the call out was around 350

And now an extra 450ish for parts and labour. 

Extremely expensive i think. Luckily i have the money to pay for it. But i am beating myself up a bit as maybe i should have tried a local small business but a the time  i just wanted it fixed asap. And i didnt ask about any call out charge on the phone but i just expect it to be this expensive. Lesson learned ! 

There is other issues i am experiencing with erg such as not coming at the day and time booked for actual repair as they still say no part arrived but they let me sit at home all day waiting and when i called they said the engineer with be with me soon however he never turned up and later said no part arrived. So still waiting. 

So for future reference what is the best thing to do about a broken boiler ? 

Insurance ?  Is it worth it ? 

Or use a local tradesman on spare of the moment with out much research ?   

Or have i done the right thing by a one off repair and paid cash for it although expensive
 

Sandtree

[simon] said:

Insurance ?  Is it worth it ? 

Insurance is about exchanging the risk of a large loss in exchange for an actual small loss (the premiums). Insurance is normally profitable and so the average punter must be losing out. There is a slight complexity because insurers have buying power so their costs are lower but they also have lots of staff to pay for etc.

In my mind therefore its a case of working out how affordable a total loss is to you and consider the reasonability of the premiums. So to me, I couldn't afford the £100,000 to replace everything in our home if it burnt down so home insurance makes sense to me. I can afford to replace my wash machine without much issue so paying £96/year doesn't stack up to me... after 4 years its exceeded the price of the machine.

Neil49

In my case I don't bother buying boiler cover but use a local company to service my boiler annually. If I have a problem that is who I would call out.

As you didn't have cover and didn't have a local contact I assume you didn't get it serviced on a regular basis. 

user1977

[simon] said:

So for future reference what is the best thing to do about a broken boiler ? 

Insurance ?  Is it worth it ? 
Or use a local tradesman on spare of the moment with out much research ?   
Or have i done the right thing by a one off repair and paid cash for it although expensive 

Just get a local tradesperson in. You can do some research, surely? At the very least, ask them how much it's going to cost!

Service plans are just you betting against the provider, and they only make money because on average you'll be paying them more than any repairs will cost. It also means you're tied into the availability of their guys, rather than being able to phone around to get someone able to come round quickly (if that's warranted).

I would save "insurance" for things which you genuinely couldn't afford (house burning down etc) rather than occasional annoying maintenance costs.

macman

Use the same independent local GSR RGI that you will now hopefully use to get the annual service.
I'm baffled as to why you contacted your energy supplier to fix a boiler. If your pipes spring a leak, you don't call your water authority?
If the repair was subcontracted to ERG, then your contract is with EDF, not them, so you should complain to EDF and request a refund. No boiler pump costs that much, the typical bill would be a maximum of £200 for the part and at most £150 to fit it. (2 hours maximum)  £800 would buy you 60% of a complete new boiler.

p00hsticks

I'd have asked myself if it could have waited until after the Bank Holiday weekend, as that will probably have escalated the call out cost.  It's not been particularly cold - could you not have managed with an extra jumper and boiling a kettle for hot water for a day or two ?

User4search

Does home contentment insurance cover replacement of damaged goods in house like dish washer or boiler. I think there is extra option to take in content insurance for emergency callous for small repairs like in this case to repair boiler issue?

Sandtree

User4search said:

Does home contentment insurance cover replacement of damaged goods in house like dish washer or boiler. I think there is extra option to take in content insurance for emergency callous for small repairs like in this case to repair boiler issue?

Home contents insurance doesn't cover mechanical or electrical breakdown.

Most home insurers offer a home emergency add on but this does what it says on the tin so a broken down dishwasher is not an emergency (even in the first world). Some will however cover boiler breakdown but tends to be more limited in both the age of the boiler it will cover and how much they will pay towards issues. Similarly if it does respond its to deal with the emergency and repairing any subsequent damage (though your home insurance may cover that)

csgohan4

i avoid boiler insurance a lot of caveats and not worth it. I could get a new boiler every few years with the premiums

Research which boiler you want and have a tradesman who either installs them or is an approved installer of them in your list of local tradesman. I went for Worcestor  as I already have one anyways and never looked back. 

Catherine_91

I live in a flat with an old boiler (now about 13 yrs - I've lived here for 5). It once broke down within a couple of months of being serviced. The annual service was included in the insurance cover (about £10 a month at the time) and the call-out was £50. This year I found a provider which was doing a discount and I'm currently paying £6.49 which includes annual service, but there's a £95 call-out fee for breakdowns. Haven't had a breakdown in almost 2 years - it'll probably happen tomorrow now I've said that...

dunstonh

I am not a fan of white goods etc insurance.  If you insured everything then it would equate to the cost of buying an item new every year if needed.

However, in my previous property, we had a Potterton boiler that was notorious for burning through circuit boards.   Every house on the estate had the same boiler and the Potterton vans were up there constantly repairing them.  Once out of initial warranty, I used BG servicing as they covered the cost of repairs and back then were actually very good.  I only did it as the cost was cheaper than the circuit boards and gave servicing.    In the end BG lost money on me and I gained.

On my current property, I don't have servicing but use a local well-regarded independent engineer.  I had to have the bulk of the internals replaced last year.  No call out charge came on a Sunday morning. Couldn't fix due to needing a part but spent about 5 hours on Monday replacing half the boiler and charged me £450.  His annual servicing is under £100.    So, really no need for an insurance/service contract.  And costs reduced by using a local independent and not an expensive call out service.