Home Insurance Discussion

Angelina1971

no we dont -- it was fishing gear and DIY tools we had accumulated over a number of years we havent even thought about taking photos of them ever...naivity maybe but it never entered our heads

Angelina1971

I really took offence at the tone the rep on the phone took with me, he was condescending, off hand and I didnt like his implication that perhaps we didnt own them if we had no photographs!! Does he have photographic proof that he used a steamer when stripping wallpaper or other tools?? I came off the phone offended and upset he was absolutely awful with me

Wellhard

I'm just renewing and have read this thread and found lots that is helpful. But about the photos - do I or my partner need to be in all the photos? Seems a bit excessive.
Taking an inventory of the house is useful when getting quotes. We did it for the first time about 6 years ago and it came to £45k, just updated it (note to self - do every year) and it's now at £65k.
Best quote so far with L & G for £170 plus £50 cash back with quidco. Just checking out the detail before taking it out.
I did get good quotes for axa and swift via go compare but when I went through to their websites (followed MSE advice) I noticed that my house was now a semi detached rather than linked detached.
Axa and Swift don't have linked detached on their options menu so had to choose detached - quote went up by £50+ so now more expensive. Be aware - check the detail from a comparison to the insurers site.

annabelorange

Can anyone please advise on how to get a good deal on second home house insurance?

private-client-group

I am also a little confused at your policy. What coverage should I get and is there help to figure this out? Are you guys also a private client group?

ksh123

I've got myself in a right old mess with my home & buildings contents. After nearly 40 years of NEVER making a claim I have, in the last 5 years, made 4 claims all for small amounts from £129 to £1222. On each occassion I asked my insurer (RIAS) if making the claim was going to affect the next reneweal quote or changes to my excess. I was told "no" and that was true at first but then they began to load both the cost of the policy & my excess.

Earlier this year because of my energy provider messing up the amount of my DD to them, my DD to RIAS was cancelled, twice and they cancelled my policy. (hope you're still with me)

So I thought OK this could be a good chance to get some new quotes. HA! Never did I realise that having made a few titchy little claims would turn me into an insurance pariah. The few quotes I can get are twice what I used to pay and with such massive excesses that I could never afford to make a claim even if something serious happened.

Does anyone know of any insurance firms that are sympathetic to people like me (tried all the screenscrapers and lots of individual ones too). I'm tearing out my hair

gaily

KSH,

Small claims - ie those that cost less than £500 or so, are a pain in the rear if you're in insurance (as you've now found out).

You may do best to go back to your old insurer's claims department and see if you can repay any of the smallest ones - ie £129. They will then be removed from your record, and you can reapply for quotes without them. (NB Insurers use a claims sharing database, so any new insurers will be able to check on names and addresses to see your claims)

Unfortunately, we have big problems with client's who have had multiple claims, and we usually have to tell them to grin and bear it for 2-3 years until they've had a period of claims free activity. Sorry .

Maybe take a higher excess on buildings for the time being, and whatever you can afford on the contents.

Just to let you know, the claims team and the underwriting team don't usually communicate - left hand not know ing what the right hand is doing. The claims team will tell you what you can claim, without caring what it'll do to your policy - of course you can make a claim! The underwriting team then has to bear the brunt of telling you about a policy that has paid out more than you've paid into it, and increasing the premiums accordingly.

You may think that by paying your £400 annually that you can make a claim for £250, and Insurers are still in profit, but if your house @ £200,000 got flattened taking £30,000 contents with it, then you'd still expect them to pay out for the same £400 premium - that's what you're really paying them for - is the risk of losing it all (or a substantial part of it)

ksh123

Hi gaily
thanks for your reply. Sadly I can't afford to pay back any one of the claims, even th smallest. IF I had spare cash ever, which I almost never do, I wouldn't have made the claims in the first place. |I just couldn't afford to replace the stuff myself.
But after writing my missive earlier I went on USwitch which I had forgotten about and it came up with some very reasonable prices despite my claims which of course I did confess to. So I'll be going back there to see if 1 of those insurers really will have me or will they change their mind 3 weeks in to the policy like the co-op did?
Hopefully not, fingers crossed.
thanks again.

gaily

Good Luck KSH hopefully you'll get somewhere with Uswitch.

I have heard of some claims costing more at renewal than the claim cost. One policy we had recently (and we're talking high net worht here) increased by over £250 because of a £150 claim that the client insisted on making. This was a £250 increase ON TOP of the increase the insurer would have been looking for without the claim having gone through.

ksh123

Arrrrgghhh

Got to Uswitch only to find quotes not saved, but that's OK cos I could remember the one I wanted so went directlyn to the site would it work?
~Would it heck as like:mad: Too many claims blah bblah........