Home Insurance Discussion

maman

Thanks. 

As a starting point, I called Tesco insurance today. It was obviously a case of 'get your retaliation in first', as before putting me through they played a recorded message bemoaning the increase in materials costs, labour etc. Mine was not the first call they'd had about exorbitant increases. 😁

The young man I spoke to was able to knock a bit off and I asked him to experiment with higher voluntary excess. Increasing my excess to £400 (£500 in total) instead of the £250 I currently have brought it close to last year's premium. The extra £150 is almost exactly the same as the proposed increase. 

So, I have that information to make comparisons with other companies. 

I've got about 3 weeks before renewal so no great urgency. 

Doc_N

maman said:

Thanks. 

As a starting point, I called Tesco insurance today. It was obviously a case of 'get your retaliation in first', as before putting me through they played a recorded message bemoaning the increase in materials costs, labour etc. Mine was not the first call they'd had about exorbitant increases. 😁

The young man I spoke to was able to knock a bit off and I asked him to experiment with higher voluntary excess. Increasing my excess to £400 (£500 in total) instead of the £250 I currently have brought it close to last year's premium. The extra £150 is almost exactly the same as the proposed increase. 

So, I have that information to make comparisons with other companies. 

I've got about 3 weeks before renewal so no great urgency. 

Interestingly, on or around the 3 week mark is, according to Martin Lewis, the sweet spot for getting the best quotes. Good luck.

Spendless

maman said:

Not sure if I should have started a new thread but just wanted to ask a question before hitting the comparison sites. Please advise if this is the wrong thread. 

I've just received my renewal letter from Tesco and my premium is £150 more than a year ago. That's, in round figures, from £250 to £400 for home and contents.

Nothing has changed from my end, no claims and I'm not aware of any changes in eg.crime in the area. 

Obviously, I only look at this once a year but I wanted to check whether this sort of increase is currently common? 

@maman - pretty sure I read a thread recently about a huge increase in pet insurance from a poster and that was with  Tesco. Turned out they'd changed their underwriter and that seemed to have something to do with it.

maman

Yes @Spendless. I've never insured with them before this year. I used the comparison sites and went for the 'choose a company you've heard of' method.

It seems they perhaps got a lot of new custom last year and are now paying the price (or rather their customers are! 🤣) 

youth_leader

When Storm Arwen blew the resin flat roof off this bungalow in November 2021 I had great difficulty in receiving a settlement that would restore the roof to its original condition.

Do look at the small print very carefully,  'you get what you pay for'.  When I purchased this bungalow in March 2021, Policy Expert had been offering the very cheapest buildings/contents at £99.  I had never had to claim before and did not take much notice of the wording of the policy.  They use Trinity Claims as their assessors. 

The roof was blown off on November 26th 2021, exposing the whole kitchen and lounge to the elements.  I was offered an appointment within 7 days - then received another 'portal message' that no-one was available to a) make the roof safe and   no loss adjuster could attend until 7 January.  Very luckily I came here for help and Doc_N helped me, I wrote to the CEO and things started happening.  A horrible time and this bungalow has never felt 'like home'.  I had to stay with that insurer when renewal came as everything was still ongoing, but I've now changed to a much larger company.

maman

Policy Expert is showing up on my current search for Home & Contents insurance. The first company on the the list that sounds familiar is Hastings. Any views? 🤔

Doc_N

maman said:

Policy Expert is showing up on my current search for Home & Contents insurance. The first company on the the list that sounds familiar is Hastings. Any views? 🤔

Trustpilot rates it pretty well, but Which? isn't overkeen because the policies tend not to be as wide as other companies and customers haven't rated the claims experience very highly.

youth_leader

I was in a state of great distress dealing with the claims section of Policy Expert, 'Trinity Claims'.  If Doc_N hadn't suggested writing to their CEO I would have been left with saucepans, bowls, my recycling bin and the very noisy constant sound of dripping water for nine weeks before they had a loss adjuster free. As it was because they didn't have any staff to make safe, I lost the ceiling, which collapsed onto my lovely sofa and carpet. 

 A lesson to me that you get what you pay for.

Have a look at the 1* complaints here - Trinity Claims Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of trinityclaims.co.uk