Home insurance

Snowman1950

Seeing the article in the latest MoneySavingExpert email regarding home insurance, especially the recommendation to 'never renew', led me to wonder if others can help.   The problem with comparison websites is that they don't include options that insurers won't accept or if they do, that information does not seem to form part of the insurers quote.   In my case, our home is primarily slate roofed, however there is an area that has thatch, probably about 25% of the total roof area.    In the past, when I've used comparison sites, I've attempted to get home insurance based on their quotes only to be told by the insurer that they do not insure properties with any thatched roofing.   It would therefore be useful to a list of insurers who will insure homes with thatch so that I don't waste time going through all the details with prospective insurers before getting to the 'ah ... thatched roof, sorry' bit.    Can anyone help?

tacpot12

Sorry, I can't really help apart from suggest the one insurer that might have more rural properties than any other, and that is NFU. 

Sandtree

If you go to the agregators, eg confused.com, you just answer "disagree" to the statement your home is brick and slate. Going through the questions declare the roof as thatched, youll see most refer to the "thatched portion", and at the end you should only get quotes from those accepting thatched roofs.

Home insurance is a mass market product and unfortunately is aimed at serving the 99% who nicely fit into the norm. Even those looking at things that deviate from the norm will still want to put things into fairly wide buckets hence the questions acknowledge you may have part thatch part something else but dont bother asking what proportion is thatch. 

dunstonh

especially the recommendation to 'never renew', led me to wonder if others can help.

That is not a recommendation. It would be wrong if it was.

The problem with comparison websites is that they don't include options that insurers won't accept or if they do, that information does not seem to form part of the insurers quote. 

Comparison sites are a race to the bottom on price and quality.    That is in part why the "never renew" option cannot be a hard and fast rule.

In my case, our home is primarily slate roofed, however there is an area that has thatch, probably about 25% of the total roof area. 

So, a comparison site is unsuitable for you (as is the "never renew" guide).  Just the same as many other rural or non-standard properties.

 It would therefore be useful to a list of insurers who will insure homes with thatch so that I don't waste time going through all the details with prospective insurers before getting to the 'ah ... thatched roof, sorry' bit.    Can anyone help?

You typically find the likes of NFU are the provider of choice.  They cater for more rural style properties.  They will not be cheap but then you won't be arguing with them when a claim happens.   There are some specialist thatched insurers.