Covea home insurance

Pagw

Hello, Covea is coming up with the cheapest quote for my home insurance, and I wondered does anyone here have experience with making claims with them and how reasonable were they?

DullGreyGuy

Pagw said:

Hello, Covea is coming up with the cheapest quote for my home insurance, and I wondered does anyone here have experience with making claims with them and how reasonable were they?

Covea is a typical mid market insurer... they sell a range of products and it will somewhat depend on if you are buying their budget, mid net worth or a bespoke product.

Their "Executive" range of products for mid net worth are actually fairly interesting as they can be fairly well priced but with the type of extras normally only seen on high net worth policies (eg Driving Other Cars on Car Insurance gives you comprehensive insurance rather than the normal third party only). 

They will participate on brokers/intermediary products giving the seller full delegated authority on servicing and claims so their name is only relevant for financial certainty and play no part in the quality of service/claims. 

Pagw

I suppose if it's coming up as the cheapest quote then it's probably from their "budget" range.

DullGreyGuy

Pagw said:

I suppose if it's coming up as the cheapest quote then it's probably from their "budget" range.

Not automatically... products are priced to be aimed at certain customers and will give high prices to those that are outside of the scope plus some will have ceilings and floors so if you want a quote for £10,000 of contents the mass-exclusive won't quote, the budget will and will be cheap and the mass market will be more expensive whereas if you say you have £150,000 of contents the budget won't quote, the mass-exclusive and mass-market will and it could be questionable which will be cheaper. 

GillyFlower

Policy due for renewal on 4th April 2026

Had John Lewis top cover for Buildings & Contents for many years. Basically a lot of Unlimited cover on what is most important the cottage and other items listed.

Now Covea are offering me their Gold Cover - so 'top' one.

1. It is written in previous docs built approx 1800 - 1850. Covea has written built in 1995 and estimated cost to rebuild £312,000.
2. It also states an amount of £2,495.10 for storm damage. No work was carried out and no money was paid to us. We have a written apology how our claim was managed and cancelled.

So - we are in our 80's and quite honestly I just wish this had not started out like this. So I phoned on Friday and said their are 2 distinct errors - as above. They have stated that the information was 'migrated' and was correct and I said I have proof it wasn't.

They asked for 3 days to get back to me. I just do not feel very confident and would prefer to have cover I had before, even though it cost more, not to have this worry at the start.

Has anyone else had this issue with the changeover and decided to go elsewhere?

Annemos

Good evening, GillyFlower. It is a nuisance when everything has always gone so smoothly before.

I am not an expert with John Lewis, but I do have a policy with them myself and I monitor them quite closely. Especially how the changeover will work, now that Munich Re is coming off the normal Home Insurance Bronze, Silver and Gold Policies.

Maybe other experts on here will have some comments for you, but this is what I am thinking as I read about your problems this time.

1 I always assumed that in the past, the Policies underwritten by Covea were those called "SPECIALIST HOME POLICIES". So they never had a Bronze, Gold or Silver offering within them, as they were deemed "Special" Policies and were on their own. Is this what you have always had before?

Now, for the changes this year…… John Lewis has become an actual Broker for Policies from April 1st, 2026. And they are going to utilise a Panel of Insurers. So, from what you say……

a) Is Covea also now on their Bronze, Silver and Gold Insurance Policy Panel? Does this mean the John Lewis SPECIALIST Home Policies are no longer being offered at all?

I think you need to check this out with them……. Can you still get the SPECIALIST Policy.

b) In any case, those figures for the Migration Rebuild Value and Property Date look very odd. It does seem to suggest some sort of error perhaps within their system. (EDIT…. just looked at a previous post of yours: could 1995 even be the date you purchased your cottage?? And did you pay 312,000 pounds for it??)

2 Re the Storm damage. It has to be noted that if we ring up to make a claim or even if we ring up just to say an incident has taken place, then this gets logged onto the Insurance Systems. Even if the claim is actually closed without anything being done (or is withdrawn): an incident has still taken place and generally the Financial Ombudsman takes the same position. It shows that there is an element of a higher risk of a homeowner making a claim and so this has to be taken account of when they set the subsequent insurance premiums.

There is even a Central Database, and things get logged on there and stay on there for 6 years after an incident or claim. (The CUE Claims and Underwriting Exchange.)

So I am wondering, was some sort of assessment done when you called up about Storm Damage. Did someone come out and inspect the Property Damage? You seem to say that they apologised about the handling of the claim, so something has been registered in their systems which seems to have cost something, even though no actual repairs were done. And they have been made aware of an incident that took place.

So my feeling is, that they may be correct in having this "incident" logged as an incident of storm damage having occurred.

BUT….. as to whether it is correct that an amount as high as £2,495 has been entered for its cost, particularly if they did things wrong anyway…. then you would potentially have to log a Complaint with Covea itself (if your old policy was indeed with them), complaining that they have shown an unfair amount as the Cost. They should be able to give you a breakdown of what they spent. For example, have they put some time in there for Complaint Handling which would not seem to be fair. (And if complaining about this Cost issue, you might as well ask for the whole incident to be removed from your record, too, in case that also works.)

Good Luck in getting to the bottom if this. And thank you for alerting me to carefully check my own facts when my renewal becomes due in July

GillyFlower

Thank you Annemos for your support.

1. Firstly all I know with John Lewis I had their top cover for our Home Insurance. The Policy ending 3 April 2026.
2. Letter arrived saying Munich Re Digital Partners have decided to exit the home ins market.
3. 6 March 2026 - I get a letter with new quotation. (I did not read it then - as serous illness in family and did not expect it to require so much attention.)
4. In answer to your thoughts -

(a) I will phone tomorrow and ask John Lewis if they have a 'specialist' policy to match what I had before. (But I don't hold out much hope from what I have read.)

(b) We purchased our cottage in 1981.

(c ) To estimate the rebuild cost is £312,00. This does not seem enough to me and what about clearing the site if necessary, etc, etc. (In the past I never had to think about paying a Quantity Surveyor? to come out and provide their valuation thoughts on rebuild because it was Unlimited.)

(d) I have issued a 'complaint' regarding 1. Year Built and 2. Insurance Claim cost - through Storm Damage. (Note - I need to discuss rebuild cost.)

The cost for the renewal is £786.05 against last year at £1,221.44. But I would prefer to pay more and get peace of mind with Unlimited written by unlimited under Buildings Cover.

Thank you again.

P.S. Just looked at this - must admit head in a bit of a spin. It is their Home Insurance 'small print' with two columns explaining what is and what is not, etc.

All risks cover for your buildings - up to the sum insured shown in your schedule of insurance. All risks cover includes major perils such as fire, theft, escape of water, flood and storm 9Your buildings include domestic outbuildings, walls, fences, gates, hedges, alarm systems, driveways, paths,

What is NOT insured - Building works costing over £75,000 including VAT ( Sooo this is the first part I read.)

Thank you again for support and it is certainly 'Good To Talk'

SiliconChip

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81932728#Comment_81932728

In your circumstances I'd either be looking to get a quote from NFU Mutual or use a good local broker who can take into account your requirements.

Annemos

I agree, GillyFlower. You have made me ponder about something else.

The big publicity about this change at John Lewis to become a Broker, is that they will be able to offer cheaper policies because it will be more competitive using a Panel.

But if they are going to achieve that by offering us at the outset, a lower-level policy then that is not acceptable for people like you and me.

The very least I expect is that my new Policy will be matching the Silver Policy I was on before, which had the Unlimited Buildings Cover.

It will not be great, if their new model is putting a greater emphasis on Policy "Premium offer Price" over "Customer Wants and Needs". I do not think John Lewis Customers in general would like that, if that is going on.

Furthermore, one of my big gripes with Saga that also uses a Panel, was that they can play "games" like getting it cheaper, through offering one a Buildings Policy with one Insurer on the Panel and then the Contents Policy was with a different Insurer on the Panel. (I had not even noticed this, as I was naive all those years ago!)

This is a potential nightmare if one has a claim, as one would end up with 2 different Loss Adjuster companies doing repairs and I can assure you from my Subsidence Claim experience, that one is quite enough!! It can also lead to one getting charged double excesses. It was just fortunate that when I had the Subsidence Claim on a Saga Policy, my contents were not damaged.

GillyFlower

Thank you both. Two years ago I thought after many years with John Lewis I would try NFU that we have our cars covered with. They asked me to quote our rebuild costs. I just thought at that time I would not add extra expense as I appreciate 'they' would have to charge. Is it a Quantity Surveyor?

Anyway at that time I thought I am getting Unlimited Cover etc with John Lewis - so stay with it!

Until now!!??!! If our house did burn down and it needed to be rebuilt I need to make sure everything is covered. (Not worried about contents - just cover all that is required to build us a new home. Plus accommodation whilst doing it.)

1. Is it a Quantity Surveyor as it could be money worth paying out for?
2. If I asked NFU for a Quote - could I ask them first of all who would they 'call in' if a claim was being made? Because if they told me I could use them possibly?

I don't need a company that can't 'migrate' info across from one part of John Lewis to another - and - they are expecting me to feel I am still with John Lewis customer service.

So I need to do something ASAP

Thank you all again.