Buildings & Contents Insurance Discussion

itwasabargain

Hi everyone, we've just had our insurance renewal and wondered if we could get it cheaper. trouble is, we have a timber framed cottage thats 4/500 years old, and can't get any quotes that suit the property, they all say it has to be of brick/ stone construction! ::)
does anyone know of anywhere that does insurance for older buildings?
any help would be much appreciated, thanks

joansheng

Has anybody else cottoned on to the way to save a whole lot of money when insuring contents.? I took out a new policy with Tesco and duly agreed to having my burglar alarm maintained on an annual contract as before to qualify for a discount. The alarm contract came up for renewal at £140 for the year, which gives one visit lasting 30 minutes.
I rang Tesco and said how much extra if I don't have it maintained. Answer £10. Saving £130. Even the girl at Tesco said these home alarm maintenance contracts are a rip off. May be worth others thinking about.

lisyloo

have just got my renewal for house insurance and it's gone up 15% from last year.
Is this an across the board increase or this this time to shop around?

Have just rang up my lender asking questions about leaving.
They have given me a "loyalty discount" of £90 so I'm being "loyal" and staying.

A result

US4

what about this "Family Legal Protection" seems like a £17 additional charge that is unlikely to be used , and therefore could do without and sve the money.


"Personal Possessions" away from home too, another waste of time ? If you're on holiday wouldn't you claim on travel insurance ?

It seems to me that the only time I'm likely to claim is if burgled, or the house falls down - why do I need the accidental cover ?

lisyloo

what about this "Family Legal Protection" seems like a £17 additional charge that is unlikely to be used , and therefore could do without and sve the money

Depends whether you are likely to use it.
If any of your family cycles then I would say keep it because you can use it if you are involved in an accident.

"Personal Possessions" away from home too, another waste of time ? If you're on holiday wouldn't you claim on travel insurance ?

Do you ever take a camera anywhere with you?
Go shopping and leave things in the boot?

It's not just for holidays.

It seems to me that the only time I'm likely to claim is if burgled, or the house falls down - why do I need the accidental cover ?

It's exactly that for accidents.
Do you ever do any DIY?
If you accidentally put a hole in the ceiling from the loft, hit a water pipe etc?
For contents it would be for dropping a TV whilst moving it or knocking over a cupboard full of glass (my sister-in-law did that).

In all these case you need to weigh up what you need and what you can afford.

As a cyclist I think legal cover is very important (as I could lose income if injured), however if you stay at home and watch TV then perhaps it isn't so important.

You need to weigh it up for your own personal circumstances there are no blanket answers.

Mozilla_2

Does anybody know what has happened to Chase Templeton?

I've been trying to phone them since yesterday but all I get is an answerphone!

Is there another number I can phone them on?

BULLNOTBEAR

Right people,

What is a realistic rebuilding cost. Is it best to match it to the valuation.

House bought 2 years ago for £110,000. Now worth approx. 150,000. My existing cover is for 86,000 rebuilding cost. I guess i need to increase this?

Any replies appreciated.

Martyn

lisyloo

You don't need to increase this just because the value has gone up.

The rebuiding cost of your house is not linked to the value of it but is linked to the cost of building materials/labour.

I think building materials have been fairly static although labour costs have probably increased.

I would first check whether your policy is index-linked i.e. they put it up automatically.

If not then your insurers or broker are probably the best best for advice.
If you had a valuation done 2 years ago then it should be pretty close.

However you should note that the price that people are prepared to pay for your house (the value) bears little relationship to the building cost.

Mozilla_2

Chase Templeton are now taking calls again.

dawnylou

So me and my partner pay £26 a month with Select & Protect for buildings and contents.
It covers us, I believe, for £50K for building & £15K for contents.
Is this cheap?

We are really new to this....
lol.

I tried to get an online quote but, erm, I got a bit lost... lol