House insurance - again.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Renewal came in from my house insurer that I've been with for perhaps 25 years. Never made a claim of any sort.

I'm happy enough to chop and change insurers with the cars - but do prefer to have a history with something as valuable as a house. I could replace the car if it got totalled and no insurance, but not the house.

I'd noted down what I paid last year - both the original amount and the actual premium after getting their 'loyalty' discount. Which was substantial.

This renewal was some 8% higher than last year's full amount.

So I phones them up. Asked the very pleasant bloke to look at what I'd paid last year. And the figure he had was the high quote - not the amount I'd actually paid after discount.

After simply saying their price was way out of line with all of the comparison sites, he reduced the premium by over a third to almost exactly what I'd paid last year. Still quite a bit higher than I could have paid with a different company, but I decided on balance to stay with them.

[<no_spam]

I've just done the same with car insurance - querying the quote and mentioning a few alternatives saved about 10%. It seems that making a call is worthwhile for any renewal (especially the AA!)

[Mike Barnes]

On getting a house insurance renewal offer from M&S, I went comparison shopping and found a twenty quid cheaper quote from... M&S. Rang them up, they said they couldn't match that, the only way was to take out a new policy and allow the existing one to lapse. Not only that but when I accepted the new quote and came to pay, the price had mysteriously dropped another fiver.

They're bonkers, the lot of them.

[alan_m]

Probably 5 different owners of the company during that time.

Why this misplaced loyalty? You say that you have not made a claim so limited experience of their customer service - except you have seen that they are prepared to rip you off as a loyal customer with a renewal quote which wasn't the best price that they were later prepared to offer.

Was the loyalty discount more than the 30% that the same company probably gives to a new customer?

If you have never claimed consider what type insurance you really want. If you are prepared to exclude your own fault accidental damage etc. you may/will be able to reduce the price even further.

Last year my insurance for £1million building and £50,000 contents was £130. This week the renewal quote dropped through my letter box - £148 or an increase of around 14% if I chose to accept it.

[alan_m]

And quickly checking the renewal quote again the excess amount has been raised so its 14% more cash for less of a risk for them. The renewal cost is NOT a like for like quote with last years policy

[Mark Allread]

Which company?

That sounds remarkably cheap - does it cover for full accidental damage, valuables away from home, garden items and proper replacement of matching items if only one of a set is damaged beyond repair?

[alan_m]

Direct Line - but last year that was the company that matched my previous premium from another insurer that I ditched because of the high renewal quote. My insurance cost have remained virtually static +/- a few quid in the past 5 years by changing companies when the renewal quote was uncompetitive.

As I said - if you are prepared to accept certain conditions and accept the risk yourself for your own accidental damage etc. then the price can remain very low.

The add-ons from a lot of insurance companies can be overpriced and purchased cheaper from elsewhere - or you can easily live without them. These add-ons often are defaulted to be included (at an extra cost) unless you turn off the option(s). Some people pay twice for the same add-ons from the car insurance and the house insurance.

In the past, I've found that accepting a £50 higher excess can reduce the premium by £50 from some companies so again its the amount of risk that you are prepared to accept yourself that is important. The higher the excess the less likely you are to make a small claim.

The one for all £0.5/£1 million building and £50K contents policies can also work out much cheaper than a tailored policy.

[Bob Minchin]

Generally I'd agree but Direct Line won't play ball with this technique IME

[Sam Plusnet]

Depends how you look at it.

An insurer does its best to rip off its existing long-term customers. However, if you jump up & down they will drop the premium just enough to keep you with them.

Some customers pay the inflated price & increase their profits. Other customers haggle & get (roughly) the going rate. Win-win for the insurers who go in for sharp practice.

[Sam Plusnet]

And that's the problem with trawling the comparison sites.

You get a boat-load of 'quotes' but each & every one of them has its own fine print, exclusion clauses, excesses - which might never seem important until you have to make a claim.

Never assume that all the details you gave to the comparison site were faithfully transmitted to the insurers & that the insurers took them into account when creating a quote.

[Lobster]

On 29 May 2015, Sam Plusnet grunted:

Yeah there are often discrepancies. Plus, if you access the insurer's site via a cashback site there's aften a decent kickback to be had too - no point in giving that to the meerkats. I find my preferred insurer via the comparison sites, then quit, go to topcashback.co.uk, and log in to the insurera gain from there.

[Tim Watts]

This is true, but Compare The Market does at least take you to the insurer with most of the stuff filled in - it's a fairly simple matter to go through the insurer's online system and make specific tweaks and check stuff.

OTOH sometimes the insurer doesn't even understand their own product.

Them: Got any flat roofs?

Me: Yes:

Them: How much, by percentage?

Me: Percentage of what? Plan area or physical surface area? Do I include or exclude bays?

Them: ???

[Mike Barnes]

:-)

I recall one from many years ago - travel insurance.

Them: I see you list mountain climbing an activity. How high?

Me: How high above the ground, or how high above sea level?

Them: ???

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's DL I'm insured with.

[tony sayer]

In article , Dave Plowman (News) scribeth thus

Confucius he say,

"If ye don't ask ye don't get";!)...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They certainly give in a lot more quickly than once.

[Bob Minchin]

They must have changed their "policy" It was a few years back that I got blank refusal to discuss premiums. I've got both cars with SAGA now - under £200 for both fully comp on separate policies.

[GMM]

I think you'll find they have changed that approach: I'm useless at the insurance game and never seem to find time to do any comparisons. I called DL this year to renew on the day my car insurance expired, so no time to do anything else. After sorting the renewal, I was asked if I was happy with everything. I said it was fine apart from the price, whereupon I was offered a 10% discount. Not bad, considering I was over the proverbial barrel....

[Andy Burns]

The past decade or more I've alternated between Direct Line and Privilege, who are both part of the same group, they are always "surprised" when I want to cancel, but "sorry, that's the best we can offer" and the other of them is always cheaper than anyone else ...

[F]

No doubt you're aware, but others may not be... either delete cookies after quitting the comparison sites and before going to TopCashBack or, better, use a different browser. Don't do that and you don't get the cashback.