Got a new insurance quote but...

fanta_2

hello all
i have just received a renewal quote from my present buildings insurer morethan for 1100 pounds and out of interest used one of the comparison sites. i first of all did a search neglecting to mention what i thought i wouldnt get cover for and not surprisingly the annual premiums were way lower with other insurers. then i thought well im not going to get insurance but hey lets enter the correct facts and lo and behold a couple of insurers would insure me. my problem is that i had movement caused by tree root damage 7 years ago and i thought no-one else would cover me.
i am concerned that i switch insurers and after the first year they hike the price up to around the value morethan is charging me. i am thinking well with more than i have grounds for complaint as they did the work on my house 7 years ago and they have started hiking my price up- my grounds being that hey you did the work, why are you raising my prices-are you saying you didnt do a good enough job (they didnt underpin) and it will re-occur-.....whereas i cannot say this with a new insurer.
sorry for all the typing..my question is merely, i dont think ill be able to swap insurers readily if the new insurer, a reputable large company puts up its price- how likely is it that theyll claim it was an introductory offer and treble the price after the first year even if i dont put in a claim.
look forward to hearing from you. many thanks
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money_maker_3

Did the quote state that it was an introductory offer? If not then it should only go up by about the same amount as most insures (usually 8 - 16%).

Nuuk

Responding to one of their mail-shots, I phoned Morethan for a quote on my combined buildings/contents insurance.

After taking all my information they quoted me £1791. I am currently paying £223 so I suggested they must have got something wrong. But no, after insisting I spoke with somebody 'in-charge', I was told that the reason was they had received "higher than average claims from my area". But surly that is not reason enough for an 800% increase in premium!

Or does 'Morethan' mean more than anyone else?

mattymoo

Nuuk wrote: »

After taking all my information they quoted me £1791. I am currently paying £223 so I suggested they must have got something wrong. But no, after insisting I spoke with somebody 'in-charge', I was told that the reason was they had received "higher than average claims from my area". But surly that is not reason enough for an 800% increase in premium!

Or does 'Morethan' mean more than anyone else?

Always thought it was a daft name and I used to work for their parent company as well.

clearly insurers will refer to their historical records for an area and rate that area accordingly. Unfortunately, this can cause anomalies through laziness. For instance when somebody reports a theft from a car or the person, the call centre person asks where it happened and postcode if available.
Now if I say it happened in Leicestershire bu not sure of postcode, the call centre bod will often input LE1 - Leicester city centre. Result is the rating for LE1 shoots up.
Even worse when cities have radial postcodes like Cambridge. IIRC, code CB1 to CB6 all cover parts of the city centre but then radiate out like spokes of a wheel to cover surrounding villages. CB1 fares worse than CB2 to CB6 because of this laziness.