House insurance (OT)

[Nightjar]

Google Maps

Which means there is someone to tell an intruder where everything is kept.

Colin Bignell

[NT]

Might be worth showing us a pic of all the issueful locks.

right.

I presume they realised this is a way to reduce their payouts, the resulting risk will be less. But insisting will lose them a lot of customers, I'd talk to them to see if they'll backtrack on that on the ground that standard approved locks arent compatible, and the windows are already unenterable anyway. If they wont, they've just screwed their business model up.

NT

[Lobster]

Don't follow your logic.

(FWIW, earlier this year I took out a new policy on our second vehicle - Zafira driven only by a named middle-aged couple with no claims/convictions, with no youngsters in sight, and in a low-risk area

- and got similar results from Aviva, who I went with again)

David

[sweetheart]

Aviva has come out top of my list. I doubt it would normally be cheapest but the discount plays a part. The thing is, what are they like for home insurance? Anyone used them?

[sweetheart]

That would be fine if this were my second year with them but I have been using RBS for 10 years. This is the first time they have hiked the price so hence the question really. But I am getting along with it and sorting someone else out. Thanks for the info.

I need accidental damage ( OH decided to experiment with burning shredded wheat on the hob the other day . Fortunately its fixable but it could have been worse and I might have had to claim. As it happens I havent and wont.

[Simon Finnigan]

Still worth ringing them saying you've had a cheaper quote but would prefer to stay with them. Wife and I do the same each year and tend to get 10-15% taken off the renewal quote, which is the cheapest quote I can get anyway :-)

[sweetheart]

My point is the insurance companies are not m aking their decisions based on what I do have but on some pre decision that they have made about what they require. RBS have done this too. In the renewal notice they sent , there was a note TELLING me what I had to have in terms of locks for the insurance and TELLING me I had 28 days to comply if my locks didnt already meet their standard.

Its not that my home isnt safe. I am sure it is. I had the police crime prevention man around three years ago ( after someone started using my garden as a place to sleep and I got worried because back then the house was empty during the day) . He told me to put bolts across the doors and even gave them to me as part of the prevention drive. He told me my 5 lever back door lock was fine and to use that door as the main entrance when going out.

He also told me which locks to use for the patio and french doors to secure them properly. He even gave me a burgler alarm kit which is installed but no insurance company will accept it because it isnt one of those contract type things but as the police officer said, this is about prevention, not insurance. An alarm going off will send off burglers as they are opportunist and wont like the attention . Neither will they try hard to get in. There are easier pickings around. He didnt think the windows needed locks. He thought they were tight enough. Unless someone really wanted to burgle this particular house they wouldnt bother.

[sweetheart]

Not according to the crime prevention officer I had around three years ago ( had an intruder in the garden)

[Simon Finnigan]

LV are consistently the cheapest company for me.

[sweetheart]

LV would come in second cheapest for me ( AVIVA though have given me " free contents insurance" as a bid to get custom I suppose) . LV have offered a good price £202 but they have also stipulated the locks specifications and I cant meet those in the next 28 days, so its a non starter. I have LV for my car and my mum has LV for her house ( but she has the locks because all her doors and windows are newish).

[Dave Liquorice]

Well that will have pushed thier costs up a bit but insurance premiums have been hiked for at least the last 12 months if not longer. Remember the banks and insurance companies are very interelated and I wouldn't be suprised to find a considerable amount of payouts from the insurance companies in relation to cover provided for banking "bad debt".

I bet they are but in the overall scheme of insurance I doubt that the total payouts will be all that much and the insurance companies ought to be able to handle it from their reserves or the names at Lloyds only get 5% return instead of 20 or heaven forebid get asked to provide the money they say they have...

[Nightjar]

He was probably right, three years ago. Rural areas are consistently seeing increases well above the national average for crime in general and violent crime in particular.

Colin Bignell

[Another Dave]

It's possibly because they've been taken over by Santander. I've switched my (40 year old) bank account because of their bad customer service record.

Another Dave

[Andy Cap]

Yes, I have both my house and car with them. It's just a case of keep checking.

My sister's just ask me to check her energy costs, because M&S/Southern Electric have hoisted her prices. Going to Eon will save her £167/annum, fixed until the end of 2012.

Sitting still costs.

[sweetheart]

Thanks for that. I changed my electricity a couple of weeks ago. I got one fixed to 2014. This is my year for changes. I changed my car in March.

[Mark]

There's never been any reward for loyalty in the insurance industry. I /always/ shop around every year since my renewals are always much more than the previous year. If you've found the same company competetive for several years then I'd say you were lucky.

Also regarding your other points about locks I've often found that companies try to sneak in exclusions from time to time. Generally they back down when challenged, otherwise they will definitely lose my business.