DIY for insuracne - probably OT

[sweetheart]

I know DIY is a good place to come for information and advice from real experience..

I have stopped being loyal to my home insurer. I got hiked over by RBS after

20 years of being with them and now this year RIAS has hiked my insurance cover by £100 and I dont know what for. So comparison sites here I came - and now I have their deals but when I have called up ( or they called me more like) the price got hiked from what the quote to much higher even though the cover quoted has stayed the same and then to add to that, I have done all the sites and have got the same deal with different sites under different prices.

Then there is the reputation issue. So many independent reviews say experiences are rubbish.

Can someone suggest a decent insurance company maybe? Not one charging me an arm and two legs. I haven't got a big house ( 2 bed bungalow) and I am not the possessor of many antiques, fur coats or jewellery.

I have narrowed the field to three - Aim ( never heard of) Co - op and Halifax ( except Halifax gave me a quote on money supermarket and then when they called it went up by £30 odd quid , so I am not pleased.

I haven't heard from Aim nor the Co Op by " the can we help reduce this even further" call hype.

In short - HELP!

Thanks.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Phone your existing company and tell them the best quote you've got. There's a good chance they'll match it - or go some way towards doing so. Many will put you through to their 'loyalty' department.

If there was one honest company I'd stick with it - but they all seem hell bent in getting new custom at the expense of their existing ones.

[Bob Minchin]

It seems there is no such thing as recognition of loyalty in the insurance world now. I tend to shop around using a comparison site each year and pick up an introductory discount each time.

Unless your requirements are unusual or (importantly) that company has lots of policies already in your postcode, the premium should be fairly sensible (compared to others). If they jack up the premium there is usually a reason such as something they ask you that the comparison engine did not. When talking to company C, always have a couple of lower prices from companies A & B to use as a negotiating point - you don't have to say who they are, just say "I'm already looking at quotes £x cheaper. Can you offer me a better price"

If you do have something that is driving up the price, try and find out what it is and then use the services of a broker who is likely to know of companies who are more tolerant of that something. However for bog standard insurance, the broker may not be the cheapest.

Bob

[Martin Brown]

Yes. Sadly you quickly learn that serial disloyalty is the optimal strategy where utilities, insurance and supermarkets are concerned. They all have the attitude that winning new business is rewarded.

It is true of banks too, but a lot more hassle to move between them even in this era of notionally "easy" portability of accounts.

The OP failed to mention if his bungalow was a listed building on heavy clay or in a war zone - all of these tend to affect the premiums. As does the age of the building and its postcode floodability.

Regards, Martin Brown

[Roger Mills]

Have you tried SAGA? I assume that at least one of you qualifies on age grounds!

Provided you can answer No to all their questions about past floods and subsidence, etc., they'll probably offer you a pretty good deal - with quite a high limit on the buildings and contents cover, so you don't have to scratch about trying to work out how much cover you *actually* need.

[Andy Cap]

Try AVIVA - not on comparison sites - but wherever you end up, loyalty no longer pays. You just have to keep moving about.

Andy C

[PeterC]

I used SAGA a couple of years ago then at renewal the premium went up by about 25% or so. Looked around and finally settled on Age UK

you're old enough to qualify. The premium wasn't bad cf other companies and last year, at renewal time, it had gone up by about 2% so I didn't bother to hunt around.

[sweetheart]

Thanks but I doubt they would match the new quotes I have. RIAS is quoting me £276 for renewal. I don't know why. I know when I signed up last year it was a hindered and something. So its a £100 hike - and no changes in details.

Most of the comparison sites are offering me deals between £89 and around £130 . You can tell the difference is in the level of cover.

However, even there I am getting different prices for the same cover from the same companies ( eg Halifax) according to whether I went with go compare, money supermarket or the meerkat. Then when Halifax called me, the price was different again! This time about £30 higher but still a darn sight lower than RIAS.

Also I cannot understand why RIAS has suddenly put my policy with AXA ( it was with them last year) . Also Halifax is AXA and AXA themselves have offered a much lower quote. Go figure.

I give them all the same details. I have another quote from Insure 4 retirement which is £237 and I cannot understand that either.

I tried Hiscox because Which? ( why do I believe them for anything) recommend them. They came in ( same details) at £461 ! Why??

I don't live in a mansion. I have never made an insurance claim in 30 odd years - for anything on home and contents.

I did make a car claim about 10 years ago.

I am just confused and I have decided that I will make the decision on reputation as well now- Like how people view them.

[sweetheart]

Whatever drives it up isnt in all cases. When swinton and swift cover will give me a deal ( although quite basic) for £89 and then Hiscox say £461 for thesame cover I am stuck.

Most , other than RIAS are around £120 for roughly the same cover ( I say rounghly some have higher specs than others.). Then I can get three different prices from the same company for the same deal.

Its not a fancy house.

[sweetheart]

Its a 1958 built standard 2 bed bungalow in Cornwal, No flooding , no subsidence , no listing. Nothing at all in fact. Never even made a claim against my insurance in all my years.

[sweetheart]

OH qualifies. I havent had a quotefrom them at all.Not even a comparison site quote. I will try them. Thanks. ( Lets face it, they cannot be worse)

>

[Martin Brown]

Quite likely the new customer disloyalty bonus. Play the system and move insurers if they try to fleece you. Sometimes you can even move from one bit of the same insurer to another brandname still with the same ultimate insurer behind it and get the new customer discount.

The message is clear customer loyalty doesn't pay any more.

Try haggling since you have a cheaper quote for the same cover.

Crumbs that is way over the top. Are you sure you didn't declare it as a 20 bedroom bungalow?

I have seen some pretty wild quotes by companies that didn't want the business but never a range of >5x between top and bottom quote before.

Regards, Martin Brown

[Reentrant]

I asked them for car and home insurance quotes just after turning 50 - they were way more than my existing insurer (Direct Line) and it also turned on a flood of SAGA junk mail.

[Nightjar]

I suspect that 1958 throws up a red flag and some insurers just seem not to like bungalows. The post war re-building period, which continued into the 1960s, saw a lot of experiments in building materials, not all of them successful. Even where traditional materials were used, shortages meant that a number of short cuts, like missing out timber cross-bracing or wider spacing of timbers, were adopted.

There are also some quite specific risk factors that could lead to expensive claims on your property. Wall ties made to the 1945 British Standard had a predicted life of 60 years, although many did not achieve that. Asbestos was 'The Miracle Fibre' and was widely used in building materials in the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, depending where you are in Cornwall, radon gas may be a risk.

Colin Bignell

[Nightjar]

...

I suspect they just don't want the business, but don't want to actually refuse insurance. I found Hiscox very reasonable and have my house insurance with them.

Colin Bignell

[newshound]

I've used Co-op for contents for years, picked them on price. Never needed to claim but it was easy to "scale up" when I got round to it this year.

[Kevin]

Never had to claim from them, but LV= (aka Liverpool Victoria) gave me a good quote for a slightly unusual risk (business from home, with some business visitors, and a river within 1/4 mile)

Don't forget cashback sites, such as topcashback or quidco. You'll need to be very careful about deleting cookies if you've already visited the site, and sometimes it fails for no obvious reason, but in the past I've had £80 cashback on insurance. Don't spend it till you've got it - but that's always good advice.

[charles]

I use Lv for both house & car. i've just had a very prompt payout - personal possesions - hearing aid fell out and I didn't notice till later.

It isn't always worth going for the very cheapest - there can be serious hassles over paying out.

[jkn]

I'm probably being over-hopeful, but ... there must be some sort of metric for insurance payout for companies, along the lines of 'percentage paid out normalised against sensible claims'. This would be a very useful thing to know about when choosing between companies.

Any ideas?

Cheers J^n

[chris French]

In message , sweetheart writes

Hiscox always seem expensive. It's not worth wondering why the premiums vary so much. They are so many variables/reasons.

Well FWIW, I used to be with Co-op, later with Nationwide (a small claim with both, both dealt with efficiently) Currently with HSBC. The reasons I moved each time was really becuase my cover requirements change and another company was a better deal/better cover