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eddddy

maryhaggie wrote: »

I have always insured it with Aviva and they have never indicated that it was Landlord insurance, the renewal amount has increased again so I thought I would start to ring around but LV, with whom I have my own insurance said it would have to be landlord, and after a 20 minute phone call gave me a quote that was a lot higher than Aviva. I'm tempted just to renew with them but just thought I would ask if anyone has any info that would help many thanks

You need to check that your Aviva policy covers you in your circumstances before renewing.

Aviva might say you need landlord insurance as well.

If your Aviva policy is meant for an owner/occupier, they are likely to find out when you claim that you're not an owner/occupier, and might refuse to pay the claim.

oldwiring

Is there an average value for which to insure contents of a three bed semi with two occupants? We are located on southwestern edge of southeast region. I am well through my detailed check, and no way do I think my figures are close to what are some suggestions. I am trying to use as new values, but finding equivalents of the same quality for 50 year old items is far from easy. For instance working on a maker's name may not be a good guide.

Perhaps more than doubling the calculated amount is the thing to do?

Are there insurers which have ditched averaging from buildings and contents cover and payout to the insured amount in cases where there is no bad faith of the customer?

Doc_N

oldwiring wrote: »

Is there an average value for which to insure contents of a three bed semi with two occupants? We are located on southwestern edge of southeast region. I am well through my detailed check, and no way do I think my figures are close to what are some suggestions. I am trying to use as new values, but finding equivalents of the same quality for 50 year old items is far from easy. For instance working on a maker's name may not be a good guide.

Perhaps more than doubling the calculated amount is the thing to do?

Are there insurers which have ditched averaging from buildings and contents cover and payout to the insured amount in cases where there is no bad faith of the customer?

It's impossible to generalise, I'm afraid, because every house is entirely different in what it contains by way of contents.

The temptation is ti think that an old chair, for example, worth maybe £25 secondhand, should be valued at £25 - you've already spotted that that's not right, and will lead to averaging though. The correct replacement figure might well be £1000 - who knows?

If you have a lot of old stuff worth apparently next to nothing, the actual replacement cost could be enormous.

Have you considered one of the policies (quite a few) offering unlimited contents cover? They needn't be too expensive, and save a very great deal of time and thought - possibly a lot of money too should there be a claim.

oldwiring

I'm drudging on with it- misspel intended. Ye old items are a devil as much is not made in same style or quality today. Everyday clothing you have to take a guessed average there's so much.

Then there are inherited things from the 30s like cut glass etc. What is is and its value I've no clue, and figurines. I could try to sell, if I knew more about it. Get a valuer in maybe for things like that!?

Anyways with my best efforts almost to the end I'm not close to the contents cover limite of £50K. Perhaps we are unusually frugal.

GT60

Just done a quote online with compare the market and a company called Policy Expert came out on top then the Halifax £12 more.

Who is Policy expert and should i use them?
Thanks

sal_III

GT60 wrote: »

Just done a quote online with compare the market and a company called Policy Expert came out on top then the Halifax £12 more.

Who is Policy expert and should i use them?
Thanks

Don't only look at price, look at terms as well.

For what is worth Policy Expert has excellent reviews/rating on Trust Pilot.

Howard54

Hi I have been using comparison websites to look for the best buildings & contents cover - they readily show you the best deals based on price but how do you compare like for like? Once you go deeper than just the price, excess, basic cover numbers £, then look what is covered and what is not? For example, I spotted one excludes cover for blocked sewage pipes and on others (including my current policy) I cannot even find if this or isn't covered! It seems I have no real way of detailed like for like comparisons - it all seems a guess in the dark - possibly until you come to claim and possibly find you're not covered. One actually said 'storm damage' was only covered if you can prove there were winds in excess of 57 mph - so what happens if you just get a leaking roof from tiles coming off in 50 mph winds? This is a nightmare and seems ridiculous to have to buy insurance blindfold!!!!!

Doc_N

Howard54 wrote: »

Hi I have been using comparison websites to look for the best buildings & contents cover - they readily show you the best deals based on price but how do you compare like for like? Once you go deeper than just the price, excess, basic cover numbers £, then look what is covered and what is not? For example, I spotted one excludes cover for blocked sewage pipes and on others (including my current policy) I cannot even find if this or isn't covered! It seems I have no real way of detailed like for like comparisons - it all seems a guess in the dark - possibly until you come to claim and possibly find you're not covered. One actually said 'storm damage' was only covered if you can prove there were winds in excess of 57 mph - so what happens if you just get a leaking roof from tiles coming off in 50 mph winds? This is a nightmare and seems ridiculous to have to buy insurance blindfold!!!!!

This is the problem with price comparison websites. They look only at price and you have to look carefully at the cover provided by each policy to be sure that you’re getting the cover you want/need.

It’s actually worse than that, because well known companies frequently strip cover out of their main policies just to get the price down and boost their position in the tables.

Personally, I use them only as a guide to whether what I’m paying is reasonable, and if it isn’t I’ll use the information as a haggling tool. I always look for a 4 or 5 star Defaqto rating, ideally the latter, and a company with a reputation to defend should there be a disagreement. I still check the actual cover, but this approach narrows the field.

At the moment we’re with John Lewis. It’s a pricey product, but it’s pretty comprehensive, and I was really impressed recently when they paid a claim that, strictly speaking, wasn’t covered because it hadn’t been put through them from the outset. Most insurers would quite justifiably have rejected the claim, but they took a commonsense and helpful approach.

Price isn’t everything. This sort of insurance is particularly important, and particularly varied in its cover. I’d rather have a policy which will pay out than save a few pounds to buy one that won’t.

beekay1943

I always use the Comparison websites before renewing ALL my insurance policies and, two years ago, moved from More Than (my previous insurer for four years) to an Admiral Platinum policy through Compare the Market for a premium of £169.06 (as opposed to More Than's renewal quote of £229.74). Last year, I did my usual price comparison check and found that the lowest quoted premium (£193.93 - for exactly the same cover) was again with Admiral BUT, this time, by renewing with them directly – NOT through a comparison site.

This year, I again checked all the comparison sites and noted that they did NOT include quotes from Admiral but I did find a competitive quote (for the same cover) of £171.89 from Hastings Premier (via Compare the Market). However, I had NOT yet received any communication from Admiral regarding my renewal premium, despite being only three weeks away from the auto- renewal of the policy.

I contacted Admiral (three times) via their online Renewal Chat form requesting details of the renewal premium and received three acknowledgements stating that I would be advised by email within 24 hours. However, following my fourth Chat attempt, I did receive an email stating that my renewal was to be £172.82 – what I did NOT note, until much later, was that this quote expired on 26 December 2018 – LAST YEAR!! I then resorted to phoning their Renewal line and spoke to an advisor who undertook to check with who had sent out that email and promised to get back to me later that same day, or the following day, with the renewal premium. I waited a further 6 days without any further response from Admiral.

This is an extremely poor indication of Admiral's Customer Service priorities and I very much doubt if I would consider using their services again. Anyone else have poor experiences with Admiral?

Luckless_pedestrian

My partner and I are about to buy a ground floor flat in a converted 1930s terraced house. There is one more flat above us. We will acquire the freehold title for the entire property (the above flat is leasehold).

Does anyone know if we therefore need to take out block insurance? Or will standard building insurance suffice? Help!