Landlord building and contents insurance

Luzma

Hi, I’m a bit puzzled with the renewal of my landlord building and content insurance. 

I’m due to renewal soon, so I approached aviva to pay my insurance in full as I would be saving around 43 pounds of interest but I was told if I wanted to pay in full, I would need to cancel my policy which I’ve had for about 10yrs and start as a new customer. I asked why and they said it was the policy. 

This sounds very strange. Have you heard anything like it??

Thanks

BarelySentientAI

You probably haven't had the policy for 10 years.  You've probably had 10 policies in a row.  I can't see why you would need to cancel the policy for this year (the one that's nearly ended) to buy the next policy up-front.  They probably mean cancel the auto-renewal.

Still seems unnecessary, but could depend on how they run their finance agreements.

DullGreyGuy

you have been clear its only from the renewal you want to switch to paying in full?

Would be a strange system limitation not to be able to change the following year policy but anything is possible. Did they say they could do it for you and ensure its the same price?

Luzma

I only wanted to pay the policy in full instead of monthly payments. They did say it would be the same price and that I would not loose my non claim bonus even if I cancel my policy and start a new one. But why cancel it? That sounds weird. I don’t know if to carry on with monthly payments and pay £43 in interest or start a new policy and wait to see what’s behind all of this. 

BarelySentientAI

This isn't Aviva is it?

Luzma

Yes, sorry for the late answer 

BarelySentientAI

They had a whole bunch of products that were monthly rolling contracts only - that could explain why you couldn't just change to a year up front, it's actually a different type of contract (so different T&Cs).

Luzma

I don’t know why they so keen I cancel my policy with them. My policy starts with MHO

DullGreyGuy

Luzma said:

I don’t know why they so keen I cancel my policy with them. My policy starts with MHO

Sounds more like they are keen to service your request... there are a small number of providers that do a monthly policy with annual review, wasnt aware that Aviva directly offered such a proposition but not going to claim a full knowledge of every product they write. 

MHO is generally the prefix for their main home offering... Aviva has grown through acquisition and merger over the years and tried to move from a regional to central model but still has a lot of legacy stuff floating around the edges. The policy number prefix/start only gives you a basic hint of the policy's origin and isn't a definitive proof it's one thing or another. We have an M&S policy which are all written by Aviva these days and they all start MHO too

BarelySentientAI

DullGreyGuy said:

Luzma said:

I don’t know why they so keen I cancel my policy with them. My policy starts with MHO

Sounds more like they are keen to service your request... there are a small number of providers that do a monthly policy with annual review, wasnt aware that Aviva directly offered such a proposition but not going to claim a full knowledge of every product they write. 

MHO is generally the prefix for their main home offering... Aviva has grown through acquisition and merger over the years and tried to move from a regional to central model but still has a lot of legacy stuff floating around the edges. The policy number prefix/start only gives you a basic hint of the policy's origin and isn't a definitive proof it's one thing or another. We have an M&S policy which are all written by Aviva these days and they all start MHO too

I'm not sure they do any more - as I can't find it on my Aviva account - but I used to have one of them.  It was a completely different quote front-end than the 'normal' policies and had slightly different branding, AvivaPlus maybe?

Luzma

This policy is an unlimited cover. Could that have something to do with them wanting me to cancel and start a new policy? Or all of their policies are unlimited?