Boiler cover - is it worth it and who to get it from?

[Murmansk]

I got a letter from Corgi HomePlan about boiler cover. The price didn't loo k too bad but I presume it's just a form of insurance from someone who's bo ught the Corgi name after they became GasSafe.

I've never had any boiler cover but when it gets cold and friends' boilers go wrong it starts to make me wonder whether it might be a good idea.

I've always hated British Gas since I had them to do a quote for a new boil er and found it was about £2k more than a local gas fitter would charge b ut I do wonder whether using them for this kind of cover might make some se nse.

One of the main advantages might be that with British Gas you maybe get som eone round quite quick when you're cold and miserable!

Anyone got any thoughts on this matter?

[Bob Henson]

We've had cover with British Gas for many years and it has always stood us in good stead. The service has been good and quick. There are many and various levels of cover with British Gas, so price comparisons are difficult, but at our level (it includes drains, other plumbing, and electrics) the Corgi scheme is *much* cheaper. However, careful reading of the details shows that it doesn't include many features that British Gas does, and in some cases the missing features are common causes for call-outs, and often expensive ones too. On balance, we have decided to stay with British Gas, but if all you want is simple boiler cover, you might well find Corgi a lot cheaper.

[Andy Burns]

Not really addressing your point ... corgi didn't become gas safe register, on the contrary corgi had the function of being the register of gas fitters removed from them and transferred to Capita, unfortunately they couldn't be made to transfer the name too, so corgi is still called corgi.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Like any form of insurance, it's never going to be good value for money for everyone. Some will gain by it, some not. The average will be not, though, once profit and admin charges are accounted for.

So it comes down to convenience. There's no reason to be cold if your boiler fails - a couple of fan heaters don't cost much.

You'd need to find out if you have a local plumber who will fix such things and how long he'd normally take to arrive in an emergency.

And you must have some idea just how often your system breaks down.

[Michael Chare]

Depends on your DIY skills! Why not ring some of the local boiler maintenance companies now and see how they respond. The age and make of your boiler will influence how easy it will be to repair. You can also suffer from stuck valves etc which are not part of the boiler itself. I have an oil boiler, when it failed one new year the local boiler installation/maintenance company gave me a 2nd had spare part for which I compensated him and was very grateful.

[tim.....]

I got one of these as well and I thought "the price doesn't look bad", until I read in the small print "introductory offer, first month only price for following months 4 times that in the headline"

I thought "what a con" and threw it away

tim

[John Rumm]

CORGI are still corgi, they kept the name. They are just no longer the body authorised by the secretary of state etc.

Depends on what you mean by "sense" - will it work out cheaper overall - unlikely.

(If you call them out often for an unreliable boiler they will just feed you the line that its unrepairable due to , and quote you well over the top for a new one).

It might be worth the peace of mind that you can get it fixed fairly quickly with less hassle than ringing round local plumbers.

How much was the corgi cover?

[Mr Pounder]

I've never had any boiler cover but when it gets cold and friends' boilers go wrong it starts to make me wonder whether it might be a good idea.

I've always hated British Gas since I had them to do a quote for a new boiler and found it was about ?2k more than a local gas fitter would charge but I do wonder whether using them for this kind of cover might make some sense.

One of the main advantages might be that with British Gas you maybe get someone round quite quick when you're cold and miserable!

Anyone got any thoughts on this matter?

We have British Gas cover. Mrs Pounder overruled me on this issue. They are not cheap but their response time is excellent. I did look around for other cover, the terms and conditions / what we will do/what we won't do were not very clear.

[alan_m]

My 85 year old mother has a plan with EON. When she phoned up a few weeks back to call them out because the heating had failed they claimed that they had no 'engineers' available for next 7 days!

[meow2222]

ook too bad but I presume it's just a form of insurance from someone who's bought the Corgi name after they became GasSafe.

s go wrong it starts to make me wonder whether it might be a good idea.

iler and found it was about £2k more than a local gas fitter would charge but I do wonder whether using them for this kind of cover might make some sense.

omeone round quite quick when you're cold and miserable!

Such things are almost never worthwhile. Work out what you'll pay for it ov er the lifetime of your boiler.

NT

[Mr Pounder]

Such things are almost never worthwhile. Work out what you'll pay for it over the lifetime of your boiler.

Tell Mrs Pounder that. I tried and failed.

[stuart noble]

Depends what price you put on things like convenience and peace of mind. I really can't be bothered ringing round white van men and hoping I get a good one. I have the "emergency" add-on to my normal home insurance. The boiler must have been serviced in the last 3 years, but no other gotchas that I'm aware of. Worth bearing in mind that spares are often ridiculously expensive, which makes the £200 call out/fix anything deal from the manufacturers worth considering

[Andrew Gabriel]

If you are capable of DIY fixing your boiler, one way is to buy another boiler same as yours which someone is removing, providing you know the state of it. I did that with my Keston - the spare one is in the loft, and a source of immediately accessible spare parts should any be needed. The spare one was condemmed due to a leak from the auto-bleed bottle valve which had rusted the case, but the rest of it was operating OK. You should be able to pick one up very cheaply if you keep an eye out and aren't in a hurry.

Also, even before that, I kept spares of parts I know can fail, such as the ignitor, and the burner gasket (which can never be reused if you need to take the burner off the top of the heat exchanger), and the internal flexable flue pipe.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Murmansk was thinking very hard :

My thoughts are the same as with any such scheme, put the money you would have paid into such a scheme, into the bank and earn interest on it. Unless you are very unlucky, it will more than pay for such repairs over the years and the rest is your profit rather than theirs.

[ARW]

Indeed.

[ARW]

Grow a pair and show her who is the boss.

Is Mrs Pounder an old boiler that has cost you a lot of money:-)?

Stop messing around and give her a good servicing every week instead of just the annual service and if it breaks down then slap her and tell her to stop crying.

[Bob Henson]

One leaking hot water tank costs over 4 years contributions to replace - mine got done for nothing. One leaking cylinder valve costs about £80 quid call out fee for a plumber - mine got done for nothing. Call out fee for a firm to come out and clear a blocked drain pipe is of the same order - my three call-outs cost nothing. Service engineer to turn out and check the boiler and the whole system once a year, clean the filter, make sure all is safe - no charge - huge fee if you have to pay. All these done the same day or the next.

Interest on money in bank at current rates - too little to bother calculating.

It's a no-brainer unless you're a qualified gas engineer and plumber and have time on your hands.

[Mark Carver]

On 06/12/2014 16:49, ARW wrote: and admin charges are accounted for.

No they don't, but the lekky to run them costs a (comparative) fortune

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bob Henson submitted this idea :

You were unlucky, generally the make good money on the premium you pay.

All I of those things I would deal with myself, cost minimal and fixed long before an engineer would arrive and fix it. This is UK.DIY ..

My last such repair cost me £40 for a new PCB around 2 years ago. The one prior to that £25 for a new actuator, which was in stock about 3.5 years ago. No waiting 24hours, repair under way immediately.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Rod Speed expressed precisely :

I sort out the car insurance and breakdown. She sorts out the house insurance. This year I suddenly realised how much she was paying, in just allowing them to renew. I've told her several times over the years, to get quotes each time, but....

I set about it and got quotes for the same cover for between 1/6 and

1/4 for the most expensive, of what she had been quoted on the renewal, so went with one of those on the strict understanding that they do not attempt to renew next year, without express permission.

I have house insurance, because were the worst to happen, I couldn't replace it out of my own funds.

I have car insurance, because it is compulsory and because I could not meet all claims out of my funds. I have breakdown cover, because being stranded at the side of the road might prove fatal.

I takes the risk on other things...