OT (?): Insurance - theiving bastards

[Jethro_uk]

Finally sitting down to review insurance for end of Jan. Just put the two renewal notices next to last years ...

We've never claimed in 10 years.

Post Office (contents) wanted 40gbp more than last year - up to 250gbp Cornhill (buildings) wanted 40gbp more than last year - up to 355gbp

So, 655gbp to renew if we do nothing.

luckily, we now have a secret weapon, having bought the freehold, we can dump Cornhill and go combined. Early indications are we'll be paying about 250gbp for both ... just need to confirm levels of cover.

One thing I have noticed about these comparison sites is that they are sneakily ignoring the fact I asked for 0gbp excess, and showing me cheaper policies with 300,350 excess !

[Andy Burns]

That's 6x mine for combined.

Mine is £200 voluntary, can't remember what their minimum was, doubt many do zero, or if they do you'll pay through the nose for it.

[Jethro_uk]

It's immaterial ... it's what I asked for. I also noticed one comparison site wouldn't allow me to state zero for "high risk" items (which is the case). They insisted on a minimum 5,000 value ...

[Hugh - in either England or Sp]

If the freeholder previously isnsited you insure through Cornhill then the freeholder was probably getting a hefty commission for it.

Unfortunately you need to shop around or make a fuss every year because once most insurers have got your business they up the premium at renewal.

There is usually a £1,000 excess on subsidence. A nil excess will cost a lot and most people will not claim unnecessarily because the premium will is likely to be higher next renewal.

[harry]

If you are an old git, try "Castle Cover". They specialise in old gits insurance. (Over 50)

These "find the cheapest insurance website rarely are.

You need to haggle too, the price can be beaten down

They are trying to get the money back they paid out for flood damage.

[Gordon Henderson]

Think yourself lucky you don't live in a town that's just been flooded...

Ours is just under a grand for a 4-bed georgian town house... Full flood cover though. (Our house wasn't flooded when it got bad a few weeks ago though, so a fairly save 'bet' for the insewerants company...)

Gordon

[Brian Gaff]

Some of them will cover named items for you at a low rate but you just know that whatever explodes or gets stolen will not be that item.. grin.

Brian

[alan]

You have to change each year to get a new customer discount of 20 to 30%.

Also watch renewal quotes have the same excess amounts as the previous policy. I've had motor insurance renewal quotes where the price has only risen by a few quid BUT the excess on windscreen damage went from £50 to £500.

You will probably find that finding a cheaper policy without an excess is impossible. Attempting to reduce a £200 excess by £100 will put up the policy price by £100.

[harry]

The only insurance you need is what you need legally (eg car) and for what you can't afford to replace (eg house).

Everything else is a waste of money. They are making money out of you, so why give it to them? Over a few years you are bound to be better off.

[Mike Barnes]

charles :

True, but I was talking about cancellation. For instance, I've come across UK holiday cottage booking agencies offering cancellation insurance. Bizarre.

[Huge]

And I've had to cancel such a booking at short notice and lost £1300. Or would have, without the insurance.

[djc]

But the principle remains that insurance is worthwhile for losses you cannot bear. In the case of a holiday it seems to me that, once spent, the money paid for a holiday has gone and there is nothing to show for it other than a nice memory. Once its gone its gone, if you cannot afford the loss of what you spend on a holiday maybe you can't really afford the holiday.

[Huge]

I certainly can't afford the time I spent reading and following up to this arrant nonsense.

[charles]

a non-sequitur. If you cancel you have no holiday and no money if not insured. If insured you xcan still have a holiday, at another time or somewhere else.

[Mike Barnes]

charles :

True but not relevant to what was just said. What was just said is that insurance is worthwhile for losses you cannot bear. Insurance for losses that you *can* bear is an expensive luxury. Those who buy insurance will

*on average* lose, just as gamblers do, and for the same reasons. Insuring against not being able to take a holiday you've already paid for might buy you peace of mind, but the operative word is "buy".

[djc]

No it follows from the original premiss

How often do you need to cancel? If you put money aside against that possibility every time you booked a holiday how much, and how many holidays would you have before you made a claim on your self insurance fund.

Holiday *Cancellation* seems to me just the sort of thing favoured by the sort of people who don't think they have got value for money from insurance if they never make a claim. So high premiums because the insurers expect a lot of trivial claims.

[charles]

do you apply the same logic for buying goods? If it gets stolen and you can't afford to replace it, by your logic you shouldn't have bought it in the first place.

[djc]

The difference is that a Holiday is not capital expenditure, there is no asset to replace.

[The Medway Handyman]

Doing the accounts over Xmas I noticed my van insurance DD was for £44 a month, which seemed a lot. Like many people, |I just renew every year.

Quick wizz around the interweb gets me quotes of £28 for the same cover.

I contact my current insurance company & guess what? They can offer me a better deal at just under £28!

Thieving bar stewards.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Quite - and remember when you do it via one of the comparative sites, the insurance company pays a big commission - which would make me think they'd try to hang on to exhausting customers. But the reverse seems to be the case.