Home Insurance Discussion

I know it has been referred to on previous insurance threads but another reminder cannot go amiss.

Buying the cheapest insurance sounds obviously good. But beware. Just because the marketing morons at many insurers sell only on price, there is nevertheless more to it than that (as the FSA is waking up to - I note Martin is FSA authorised so I assume he is aware that they have expressed concerns to the industry about selling solely on price and whether this is in line with the principle of treating the customer fairly).

Do you want a claim service that pays cash and leaves you to sort out the mess (and find some non-cowboys to do the repairs) or one that provides a managed repairer network that takes care of it for you? Do you want a policy that will let you value the contents of your house and insure those, or one that assumes an average figure for a 3 bed, or 4 bed, or whatever, type of house? These are just a couple of examples to illustrate that you are not buying baked beans here and cheapest is not always best.

Really, Martin, I know it is about saving money, but insurance is one area where value may well be much more important than price. I heard of someone whose house burnt down completely and he rues the day he bought the policy from "insurer A". I had a claim that needed a specialist builder and I was left to my own devices ("get a quote from a builder, we'll approve it, send us the bill, we'll send you a cheque"), when I really wanted an insurer who would send a repairer and take care of it.

Not all policy coverages are the same.
Not all claims services are the same.

Ask and think before you buy on price alone.

(Apples and oranges may be the same price, but when what you really need is a banana ... )

I've done the same thing - my contents insurance from Barclays was £77 and I got £125 cash back through Quidco! Well worth doing. When your docs come through, your old insurer will probably try to better the quote to stop you cancelling - take this back to the new insurer and get the premium reduced even further. This won't affect your Quidco payment.

Hiya all!

Does anybody know if you can take out contents insurance with one company and building insurance with another. Don't think you can but thought i'd better check.

Cheers

Just cancelled my contents insurance and took it out again with the same insurer on a new quote (suggested in MSE article) which saves me a fiver a month with Royal and Sun Alliance/Lloyds TSB. They are also reportedly giving me £20 back. I didn't know how to do it all through Quidco, pity, but not bad for London - the policy covers full acc damage and is contents up to 50k (not that I have that, but it's the same price as having 15k).

I tried the sites on MSE and they were all at least £5 more pm. You can't haggle online I guess!
They have offered me emergency call out cover for heating, locks etc at £5 a month and they pay the first £100. Does anyone (esp London) who has this add on know if it's worth it?