I've just cancelled my heating system cover from Corgi Homeplan as they have increased the premium by 21% and removed replacement boiler cover as the boiler is now over 10 years old.
Now I know we are supposed to do everything ourselves but since my boiler passed 8 years of age I have enjoyed the reassurance of an insurance cover.
Any recommendations for a company to use in place of Corgi?
Mike
All this sort of insurance is bollix. Put money by every week to cover any repairs. I only insure car and house. Only idiots pay for anything else.
They are out to make money out of you. Think of all the money you paid in for no good reason. Now the boiler is old, they don't want to know. Colloquially known as f****g crooks.
If you join another insurance at this point, you will pay through the nose.
These schemes border on being scams. Keep your money, spend it on the new boiler when the time comes. You're worse off with insurance.
NT
For what? Insurance? Service/maintenance?
What model boiler? People might comment on likely longevity/reliability.
Also, how critical is it to you? Could you manage for a few days without it if it broke, or do you need an instant repair?
Its a 11 year old Ideal Mexico HE30. The system also heats and provides hot water for our holiday let apartment so with me working away from home for up to 2 week spells STWNFI likes the reassurance of maintenance cover.
Mike
I'd guess it will cost a lot to insure an old boiler?
Getting a plumber out in Dec. was nearly impossible here in Cumbria, nearly all contacts said 'come back in mid-Jan' so if that's a problem you need something like the British Gas system where at least you get a plumber in the next day, even working Sundays.
Which? did a survey of these maintenance contracts reported in the Nov. 2016 issue (check public libraries for a copy). Yes, they make little sense in financial terms, but try saying that to someone freezing in mid-winter who has trouble getting a service engineer out. The OP's Gorgi contract didn't compare well.
That's what secondary heating is for, eg a gas wall fire or plug-in electri c. Insurance doesn't provide anything extra over calling a gas man out, unl ess you value having your wallet raided. IME again and again life has been better uninsured. These insurance policies just don't do the things one oth erwise would, like get parts for old boilers. It's a mug's game.
NT
You are going to guarantee a BG service contract will get someone out quickly who will fix it there and then? Not my brother's experience - and on more than one occasion. He cancelled his and now relies on a local plumber. To be able to fix every fault on the spot they'd need to carry every possible spare in their van. And they don't.
But sensible people have an alternate way of heating and providing hot water anyway. You can buy a couple of fan heaters for a lot less than a year's service contract.
That may be true in some analysis, but there is a place for them in the right circumstances.
In the OPs case it sounds like one of the primary requirements is a simple call out procedure for when he is not there, and peace of mind for SWMBO that one call is all it takes and someone will turn up next day without having to do all the donkey work attempting to get a suitable repairer in at critical times. The cost trade off is likely secondary.
Another option if you have an old boiler would be to get a new boiler installed, but retain the old one in the circuit as a backup. It's not complete redundancy (you could get a fault, such as a burst pipe, which took the whole system out), but you could have isolation valves fitted so that such a fault in either boiler could be isolated. I also fitted isolating valves to the key branches in my heating system, so I can isolate part of the pipework if it breaks, and keep the rest running.
In larger premises and those where the heating/hot water is essential, use of multiple boilers to provide at least some redundancy is not uncommon. Note that you do need to use them all periodically to know they are all working, otherwise you risk having one fail, and finding a backup which hasn't been used for ages also no longer works.
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