Company refused/declined Home Insurance cover

Ex_Pioneer

I had been happy for several years with the home insurance cover I had with one company (Company A). However, in 2024 they didn't want to insure me any more because they had stopped covering homes with oil-fired central heating. So, I found another company (Company B) and have used them for the last two years, although the premium seems quite high.

This year I thought I would see if I could get a cheaper quote for the same cover. I decided to ring the original company (Company A) and check if they changed their policy and would now cover oil-fired central heating. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they would. So, I went online to make an application for a quote but the process was terminated fairly early saying that they were unable to provide me with a quotation. No reason was given, so I rang again but the person I spoke to said that they don't know the reasons why the underwriters decline to give quotations - there are several possibilities why. Sometimes it can be nothing to do with the individual but it could be the insurer does not want to cover properties in certain post codes. There appears to be no way I can find out the reason why!

So, I used the MSE Compare+ Tool and found another company (Company C) with a good quote. But my problem now is that on the declaration at the end I have to confirm:
* have not had insurance refused, cancelled or declined

So, given my experience, my questions are:
1) How will I ever be able to get quotes from other companies if I have to declare that one company refused/declined to give me a quote??
2) Is refusing to insure and declining to quote the same thing?
I did see the following distinction but I don't know if it's true:
"a refusal to insure comes if the insurer quotes for you, you accept the quote and the insurer subsequently decides that they don't want to insure you after all".
"Declining to quote is different and virtually everyone has been declined a quote at some point."
Although, if there is a distinction it does not help me with the quote from Company C.

I have had a renewal offer from Company B but the quote from Company C is much better.

Would be very glad to receive any comments/advice.
Thank you in anticipation

dunstonh

How will I ever be able to get quotes from other companies if I have to declare that one company refused/declined to give me a quote??

You dont need to declare that.

Every time someone uses a comparison site, there will be companies at the bottom that do not quote. If you needed to declare a failed quote, then every person would need to declare those comparison site rejections.

Is refusing to insure and declining to quote the same thing?

No.

Ex_Pioneer

Thank you for replying so quickly.

I understand what you mean about using comparison sites. In this case, the company that wouldn't give me a quote was not from using the MSE Compare+ Tool but the original company that I went back to (after they advised me that they now do cover properties with oil-fired central heating).

MyRealNameToo

• 1) You dont have to declare a decline to quote… everyone under 50 who's ever used a price comparison site would have to answer yes were that the case because Saga will always decline the young. A decline is something different that doesnt really exist any more for Home or Motor and related to the pre-digital days where a broker gave you a cover note (effectively a short term certificate) then posted (literally) the documents off and waited a week or two for the insurer to send back the certificate and all the while you've been covered by the cover note. Sometimes they would decline to cover and so the broker would ask you to return the cover note but it would typically be expiring shortly anyway if they can't get hold of you etc.

• The slight exception is that some do ask if your own insurer has ever declined to offer you renewal terms but its a deviation from the standard question and isnt the question you have asked.

2) No

Ex_Pioneer

Many thanks for your comments on this. I haven't come across these issues before, so it's very helpful.

Salsimfay

I have just been refused by Saga when I applied for Home Insurance. I wanted to see if they could better my existing quote. No explanation. I have been insured by Saga in previous years. First time something like this has happened to me, I am now 80 years old, and been living in the same house for 22 years.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987232#Comment_81987232

Saga has changed a lot in recent years, they used to have their own insurer so was in full control of what they wanted to write. Now they are simply a broker and so it's down to the firms on their panel what they can and can't write.

Its something that can go either way, having multiple firms can mean you can cover more gaps by having a diverse panel but if you are aimed at a niche it can mean gaps appear that you wouldnt have had if you had control of the underwriter and its core to your niche

EddyB

Yesterday in MSE's weekly bulletin there was a suggestion that a lot of money can be saved by switching home insurance provider. So as our bill has shot up in recent years to just over £1,000, today I used the comparison sites recommended in yesterday's MSE article. The result has been that today I have been repeatedly refused any cover, by four different companies! Yet when we purchased this house five years ago there was no such problem: I was able to choose which company to insure with.

After I was refused by one company this afternoon, I found that I could apply to that particular company by way of a phone call, so in the hope that personal interaction might be more kind than me just ticking online boxes, I spent 45 minutes on the phone answering the questions of a friendly young man. After I had completed answering all of his questions he must have pressed a Submit button because he then announced that insurance for our home had been refused. I asked why and he said he had no idea. I asked if he could find out, but he said that he couldn't. He too was clearly at the mercy of a computer. A real case of "Computer says no!"

One of the questions several companies' questionnaires have asked me today is: are you within 400 metres of water, such as a river, a stream, or a lake? Our situation is that we are well within 400 metres of a narrow trickling stream, but our house is located 35 metres above the level of that stream. The house is positioned solidly and stably on a flat plateau on the side of a steep hill. On the questionnaires there is no way to explain this. So I hoped that by ringing one of the companies and by speaking to a human being I would be able to explain our location. I was able to do that but I expect that the young man had no option but to complete his check-sheet in the same way that I had to answer when I applied online. Maybe he was even filling in the same questionnaire as I had done.

There may have been other questions for which I gave a "wrong" answer. For example, one third of our house over 100 years old and made of brick but the rest of the house was built 12 years ago under the guidance of the local council and is timber-framed and timber-boarded, with thermal insulation boards between the timber-boarding and the internal plasterboards. So in answering the question as to what the house is made of the closest answer offered in the questionnaire was that the whole house is made of timber. I could not claim that the whole house is brick. So perhaps we were knocked out again by the only answer that we were permitted to give to this question too.

This situation is unjust and I think I should bring it to the attention of our MP. Insurance companies appear to be acting like ruthless overlords!

Is Martin aware of this problem?

user1977

This situation is unjust and I think I should bring it to the attention of our MP.

You've only told us about a handful of companies who don't want to offer you cover - are you saying you can't find anybody willing to insure you?

(I suspect it's the timber boarding which is most likely to be the problem)

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085308#Comment_82085308

Aggregators/comparison sites check dozens of insurers and brokers simultaneously and so the fact you have had 4 rejections is a little confusing… its normal to get dozen or more rejections because there are plenty of specialist players who simply arent interested in run of the mill risks, for example i will always get rejected by Saga because I'm not old enough for them.

People buying on aggregators are heavily driven by one thing, price. Even those that buy via other channels continue to see insurance as a heavily commoditised distress purchase… no one decides to treat themselves this year and upgrade to a Hiscox home insurance policy or brag to their mates in the pub that they have gone with Chubb this year.

Insurers have reacted to customer demand, by using simplified questions, fixed possible answers you can achieve straight through processing, self serving, low cost call centre staff and therefore lower premiums. The downside is that the remaining 5% that dont fit into the simple boxes get pushed into the more specialist areas which were traditionally reserved for HNW and similar. Obviously if you call up and get to speak to a teenager doing their saturday job who types stuff into a computer no differently to you do on the website then go somewhere else with a qualified broker who speaks to a qualified underwriter who discusses the case with a qualified actuary to do the quote the price is going to be vastly higher.

Ultimately answer the questions asked…many dont ask about water these days as they can use software like RMS to determine the flood risk plus flood risk can be substantially removed with Flood Re. I feel the pain though as we live on the Thames but have to point out that we are higher than the City of London so if the Thames Barrier does fail and we are flooded then the bigger issue will be that our insurer is in deeper water than us. Normally the question on construction is what is the majority of the building made of so you dont need to be declaring other materials as its not asking what are all the construction materials used.

The timber construction is certainly going to get a lot of insurers to simply decline, you are probably better off looking to a decent broker who specialises in non-standard construction as they probably have schemes they can get straight through pricing from without the added expense of having to go to somewhere with individually considered pricing.

EddyB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085402#Comment_82085402

Thanks for your reply. Yesterday I had the option of renewing for just over £1000, and I located a different insurer willing to insure the house for much the same figure. But after further hours of persistence today I located more comprehensive cover for about £550. So all is now well. But the multiple rejections made it a rough journey.