LV Home Insurance not renewing

Traveller37

Had an email from LV saying that they will not be renewing our home insurance (buildings and contents).  I rang to ask why and they said it is because they have changed their underwriting rules, our insurance has not been refused, and we don’t have to declare it to another company if we're getting a quote.   They said they work closely with a broker, Arthur Gallagher Insurance Brokers Ltd, who will send us a renewal quote unless we decline it before February 13th.

We have been with them since 2022, when they bought Legal & General who had been our insurers for many years.

Any advice or comments would be welcome. 

Brie

Sounds simply that they don't want you as a customer.  Whether it's you or the area is impossible to say.  But they will have their own agenda on how they think that can remain profitable.  So if your place is on a flood plain and they think the odds are they'll have to pay out this years then that's a possible.  Or that your family is too big and therefore more likely to damage something.

I'm assuming you have tried getting quotes for go compare or similar rather than just waiting for a quote to be posted from someone you've never dealt with previously.

DullGreyGuy

Both L&G and LV's general insurance arms were bought by Allianz at the same time in 2019, they'd bought a large stake in LV the year before. They rolled L&G into LV having only gotten rights to the brand for 3 years. 

Insurers have been making notable underwriting losses in the last couple of years and so its no surprise that companies are reviewing their underwriting criteria to try and focus on more profitable business, time will tell if their decisions are right or wrong.

As they've said in most cases a decline to quote is not something you have to declare so you are free to shop around in the same way as you did when you first chose L&G. Note that some do ask if anyone has ever declined to offer you renewal terms, if you come across someone asking this question you would technically have to say yes. 

Its not anything personal, no matter who you are there will be some insurers not interested in you because your too young (saga), you drive too expensive a car (admiral) etc. 

gally1866

Lv have just put my renewal up 50% after a claim free year so I’m going to looking elsewhere 

Traveller37

Thank you for the comments. Of course I intend to do a thorough search for another insurer as well as see what LV's broker comes up with. 

SJM007

Hi does anyone have contact details at LV for sorting this out my buildings insurance wasn't renewed due to a "Rating" issue however I wasn't advised so have been without insurance for a while! Very worrying.

markbantammse

I have just received the same letter as the original poster, from LV  general insurance (ie Allianz since the sale) stating that they will not be renewing the building and contents insurance due to changes in their underwriting rules. That is fine if their risk assessment shows my home insurance is not profitable for them.
However I am in the process of moving this and every other insurance on renewal  (car, travel etc) away from LV and/or Allianz. Why? because my interaction with Allianz on travel insurance through my Lloyds paid current account has been unsatisfactory and their interpretation of "not so small print" is very debatable, leaving me with the impression that I do not want to do business with this company. On research there appear to have been more complaints about Allianz to newspapers, since Lloyds swapped their travel partnership from AXA. 
The LV website is not clear what part of the business (life and pensions I believe) is the remnant of the mutual business and that lack of transparency to me says it all. LV staff were good and helpful in the past but the culture of Allianz will take over, resulting in a probable degraded service.
Who I go to next is debatable as premium prices are not the only factor as the most important factor is will they pay out on a claim. I have never made a claim on any insurance (house,car, travel)  in 40 years so lack experience on claim side so have to use my research and intuition on that. Good luck everyone

DullGreyGuy

markbantammse said:

The LV website is not clear what part of the business (life and pensions I believe) is the remnant of the mutual business and that lack of transparency to me says it all. LV staff were good and helpful in the past but the culture of Allianz will take over, resulting in a probable degraded service.

Life and Pensions is what the former mutual really did... they bought Fizzell Group in the mid 90s which brought them into general insurance broking and banking. They then decided to start an insurer for Fizzell but it never really gained traction. 

After the "merger" of Direct Line and Churchill Groups most the ex-Churchill execs were let go and a bunch of them formed ABC Insurance as a new startup and were trying to raise the capital to launch an insurer but ended up that LV bought them out and gave them its GI arm to run. 

Banking arm was closed down after massive losses
Investments arm was sold off after never being able to get scale
GI arm did a JV with Allianz who subsequently bought them out

Which left the mutual back to its original business and then they demutualised in 2020

Grumpyguy

I’ve just had the same letter refusing to renew my home insurance despite being with them for forty years during which time I’ve made two small claims each considerably less than the annual premium and never missed a payment. When I phoned for an explanation they refused to say why. I understand it’s their choice who they do business with but without an explanation how do I know it isn’t a clerical error in their database blacklisting me or my property and if so how it might affect my moving to another company ? I’ve raised it as a formal complaint with them, I’m not expecting them to change their mind about insuring me but if they still refuse to tell me why they made this decision I will contacting the ombudsman. Anyone else doing this?

BarelySentientAI

Grumpyguy said:

I’ve just had the same letter refusing to renew my home insurance despite being with them for forty years during which time I’ve made two small claims each considerably less than the annual premium and never missed a payment. When I phoned for an explanation they refused to say why. I understand it’s their choice who they do business with but without an explanation how do I know it isn’t a clerical error in their database blacklisting me or my property and if so how it might affect my moving to another company ? I’ve raised it as a formal complaint with them, I’m not expecting them to change their mind about insuring me but if they still refuse to tell me why they made this decision I will contacting the ombudsman. Anyone else doing this?

They have no obligation to publicly declare commercially sensitive information like this.  The Ombudsman will not support you.

dunstonh

I’ve just had the same letter refusing to renew my home insurance despite being with them for forty years

Technically, you may have been with the brand that long but not actually the same company.

When I phoned for an explanation they refused to say why. 

Do you really think a call centre worker, who is probably on minimum wage or short term contact, would know how to answer that?  If they did, they wouldn't be a call centre worker.

 I’ve raised it as a formal complaint with them, I’m not expecting them to change their mind about insuring me but if they still refuse to tell me why they made this decision I will contacting the ombudsman. 

Have you had a history of being difficult with them previously? (such as complaining and threatening the the ombudsman - Victor Meldrew style).   Maybe that is why they don't want you, and you are now justifying their decision.   Financial firms will often end services to people that they don't want to do business with or who they perceive as business risk.  Maybe you are just not profitable for them.

In reality, you are just wasting your time and creating costs necessarily.  They will not give you commercial information, and the FOS will not entertain your complaint (or rather, they will, but once passed to someone who deals with complaints, they will close it down).

Anyone else doing this?

What does it achieve other than increase costs for consumers?  
Its not personal.  If you go to a comparison site and get a quote, at the bottom you will often see a list of providers that refuse to offer you terms.   Are you going to complain to all of them as well?

Move on. Don't worry about it.  Reduce your potential stress levels and be thankful you are not in a property where you are limited to the insurers you can use.