Buying insurance in Scotland

Bostonerimus1

I’m a long time expat and thinking of moving to Scotland next year. I’ve spent my adult life in the USA so I’m don’t know how many things work in the UK and Scotland specifically. In the US I go through an insurance broker to buy home/car/umbrella insurance. In Scotland do people use insurance brokers or just compare companies?

user1977

There's nothing specifically different about Scotland from the rest of the UK as far as insurance is concerned, you can follow the editorial advice elsewhere on this site about the particular types of insurance you're needing.

tacpot12

Comparison sites generally work well. You will only need a broker if your insurance needs are somewhat unusual. You don't need to insure your umbrella. 

Bostonerimus1

So the answer seems to be that for general insurance (car/home/valuables) people don't use a broker and they just get quotes directly from insurance companies after using some comparison site.

hupik

Bostonerimus1 said:

So the answer seems to be that for general insurance (car/home/valuables) people don't use a broker and they just get quotes directly from insurance companies after using some comparison site.

Mostly correct, people are unlikely to use a broker (I've certainly never used one). You would generally use a comparison site and/or contact insurers directly as not all insurance companies are on comparison sites.

I generally do both via a cashback site as well, just some extra money saving 😉

Good luck with your move if you decide to go ahead

DullGreyGuy

To fly against the rest of the posters... a lot of people do buy from Brokers and other classes of intermediary but many people dont realise their "insurer" is a broker. The brokers appear on comparison websites alongside everyone else. Hastings, RAC, Budget, AA, One Call, Policy Expert etc are all companies spoken about frequently on here as an "insurer" when in reality they are a broker and many of these also offer white label services so M&S car insurance is Budget under the hood.

For mass market consumer insurance there are few traditional brokers active for mainstream customers as the margins are too thin and it only works at volume with straight through processing. If you are high net worth, have some unusual needs or something else that puts you into a niche then the traditional broker 


Liability insurance works notably different in the UK than the US... Motor for example legally has to cover unlimited liability for personal injury so no need for a top up policy. Similarly Home contains a liability section for you as the owner (Buildings) or you as the occupier (Contents) with the later providing potential cover in many other circumstances. Whilst UK settlements for injuries are high compared to the rest of Europe they are a tiny fraction of what they would be in the US especially as there are no punitive damages here (not that you can easily insure punitive damages in the US)

SiliconChip

I think you may be one of the people who could see some benefit from using a broker for car insurance. As an expat you'll have no recent UK driving experience, so you'll be paying top whack premiums for your cover with zero no claims discount. A broker may be better placed to have your US driving experience taken into account when finding a reasonably priced policy.

The other reason for using a broker is if you are looking for buildings insurance for a property of non-standard build, which in my experience may be more common in Scotland than in other parts of the UK (I had to use a broker to find cover for my house with cedar roof tiles when mainstream insurers decided not to include it in their standard cover).

Bostonerimus1

DullGreyGuy said:

To fly against the rest of the posters... a lot of people do buy from Brokers and other classes of intermediary but many people dont realise their "insurer" is a broker. The brokers appear on comparison websites alongside everyone else. Hastings, RAC, Budget, AA, One Call, Policy Expert etc are all companies spoken about frequently on here as an "insurer" when in reality they are a broker and many of these also offer white label services so M&S car insurance is Budget under the hood.

For mass market consumer insurance there are few traditional brokers active for mainstream customers as the margins are too thin and it only works at volume with straight through processing. If you are high net worth, have some unusual needs or something else that puts you into a niche then the traditional broker 


Liability insurance works notably different in the UK than the US... Motor for example legally has to cover unlimited liability for personal injury so no need for a top up policy. Similarly Home contains a liability section for you as the owner (Buildings) or you as the occupier (Contents) with the later providing potential cover in many other circumstances. Whilst UK settlements for injuries are high compared to the rest of Europe they are a tiny fraction of what they would be in the US especially as there are no punitive damages here (not that you can easily insure punitive damages in the US)

Interesting. In the US it's common to have an umbrella policy up to the amount of your net worth because they are cheap and if you ever get sued the settlements can be large.

Bostonerimus1

SiliconChip said:

I think you may be one of the people who could see some benefit from using a broker for car insurance. As an expat you'll have no recent UK driving experience, so you'll be paying top whack premiums for your cover with zero no claims discount. A broker may be better placed to have your US driving experience taken into account when finding a reasonably priced policy.

The other reason for using a broker is if you are looking for buildings insurance for a property of non-standard build, which in my experience may be more common in Scotland than in other parts of the UK (I had to use a broker to find cover for my house with cedar roof tiles when mainstream insurers decided not to include it in their standard cover).

Great points. My US insurer will provide me with a record of my insurance, but I imagine that won't be any use for most UK insurers and as I'll have zero UK driving record my rate could be high. I do still have a UK driving license, but it's one of the old green paper ones and although I can drive on my US license for a year I'll apply for a new UK license asap. So talking to a broker might be best, although I have heard that Marshmallow Insurance caters to people new to the UK wanting car insurance, but I'd like to bundle all my insurance with one company if possible. is that common in the UK? Also my inexperience with UK insurance might make it useful for me to use a broker.

DullGreyGuy

Bostonerimus1 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

To fly against the rest of the posters... a lot of people do buy from Brokers and other classes of intermediary but many people dont realise their "insurer" is a broker. The brokers appear on comparison websites alongside everyone else. Hastings, RAC, Budget, AA, One Call, Policy Expert etc are all companies spoken about frequently on here as an "insurer" when in reality they are a broker and many of these also offer white label services so M&S car insurance is Budget under the hood.

For mass market consumer insurance there are few traditional brokers active for mainstream customers as the margins are too thin and it only works at volume with straight through processing. If you are high net worth, have some unusual needs or something else that puts you into a niche then the traditional broker 


Liability insurance works notably different in the UK than the US... Motor for example legally has to cover unlimited liability for personal injury so no need for a top up policy. Similarly Home contains a liability section for you as the owner (Buildings) or you as the occupier (Contents) with the later providing potential cover in many other circumstances. Whilst UK settlements for injuries are high compared to the rest of Europe they are a tiny fraction of what they would be in the US especially as there are no punitive damages here (not that you can easily insure punitive damages in the US)

Interesting. In the US it's common to have an umbrella policy up to the amount of your net worth because they are cheap and if you ever get sued the settlements can be large.

Yes, had sight of a US fatal accident of a minor which was witnessed by family... grandparents were getting $10m each and we were reserving $30m for each of the parents. In the UK the parents would potentially have gotten £15,120 total irrespective if there was 1 or 2 and the grandparents nothing. So $90m -v- £15k.

Here policies tend to go into the millions irrespective of your net worth. Here however for injuries you cannot escape your liabilities via bankruptcy which may explain the £5m limits etc.

Bostonerimus1 said:

SiliconChip said:

I think you may be one of the people who could see some benefit from using a broker for car insurance. As an expat you'll have no recent UK driving experience, so you'll be paying top whack premiums for your cover with zero no claims discount. A broker may be better placed to have your US driving experience taken into account when finding a reasonably priced policy.

The other reason for using a broker is if you are looking for buildings insurance for a property of non-standard build, which in my experience may be more common in Scotland than in other parts of the UK (I had to use a broker to find cover for my house with cedar roof tiles when mainstream insurers decided not to include it in their standard cover).

Great points. My US insurer will provide me with a record of my insurance, but I imagine that won't be any use for most UK insurers and as I'll have zero UK driving record my rate could be high. I do still have a UK driving license, but it's one of the old green paper ones and although I can drive on my US license for a year I'll apply for a new UK license asap. So talking to a broker might be best, although I have heard that Marshmallow Insurance caters to people new to the UK wanting car insurance, but I'd like to bundle all my insurance with one company if possible. is that common in the UK? Also my inexperience with UK insurance might make it useful for me to use a broker.

It's hard to say... people here will say it's uncommon because who is cheap for your Car isn't necessarily cheap for your Home and people on the site are highly price sensitive. There are people, maybe more of an older generation, who do have an affinity for Aviva or Direct Line etc and so do buy multiple products from them blindly. 

A few aimed at the more well off have tried to do a true bundle rather than just a multi product discount but not sure many have made much traction. A few others basically will sell "anyone" their core products (eg Home) but will only sell the product they like less (eg car) to existing customers (eg Hiscox).

Ultimately shop around, the likes of Confused.com allow you to state your NCD was earned overseas and so prices you see should factor in if the insurer accepts it being overseas or not. They will get you results from mass market brokers and direct insurers but you can separately speak to specialist brokers to see if they can do better. 

dunstonh

In Scotland do people use insurance brokers or just compare companies?

Either (and direct to provider as well).  

I use direct for my household insurance but a comparison site for the car insurance.   Comparison sites wouldn't cover our property correctly.    Comparison sites are good for mainstream averages.   Not so good if you if you outside of that.

For example, if you bought a property with a barn, you probably wouldn't buy home insurance from a comparison site.  You could but you would likely find the barn wouldn't be covered (the scale of the "outbuilding" is important).   Or if it's a listed building or has any quirks or differences that you generally do not get with mainstream housing or contents.  Or if you want your tractor covered on the contents (whether ride on or compact)

There is also a quality issue.   If you want budget and basic, then comparison sites are your thing.  If you want quality coverage (i.e. they will pay out in the event of a claim and not give you grief or a haggling battle), then you need to move to the quality providers who will either be broker-based or direct.

plenty of choice. Plenty of distribution channels.