Company refused/declined Home Insurance cover

EddyB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82085633#Comment_82085633

Thanks for your helpful and interesting reply.

When you pointed that you are "higher than the City of London" were you communicating with a broker, or were you able to negotiate with an insurer who listened?

I have now found a better policy than the one we have had but at half the price, so I have got there in the end. But it should not be such a misery - even though, as you have said, my house is probably among the 5% which don't fall neatly into the prescribed boxes.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82086296#Comment_82086296

Arguably both however in reality I am fully aware that the direct insurer will have laughed at my comment but in their IT system simply entered "Yes" to the question of if we are within 50m of a waterway

All direct insurers are non-advisory, a small number have set up sister firms to actually do the sale of insurance and in principle they could be advisory but in practice all that I know remain non-advisory. For personal lines insurance outside of HNW even the overwhelming majority of brokers are non-advisory. Being advisory puts a massive overhead on having to document what was said, what advice was given and what the rational for the advice was. Given the potential regulatory censure for giving advice most are very strict with staff so won't even do minor things like telling you which option to select for your circumstances but instead can only explain the question and present the options.

Given I work in insurance and deal with underwriters on a daily basis in principle I could have a conversation with someone who can make a difference but my needs are a fraction of the sorts of policies they write and even mates rates would at least quadruple the premium I can achieve going through the sausage machine process