OT House insurance

Last year all my insurance renewals (car, house, business) went up, I cancelled all three, found cheaper elsewhere for house and business, and slight increase for the car.

This year car tried to go up again, have gone back to previous insurer who are now cheaper than they were two years ago. Other quotes not due until next month.

Hmm. I found a few niggles in the comparison site. Burglar alarm fitted? Company maintained? On at night? Within 400m of a water body? Was another! No interest in flood level status.

I'll see what a phone call achieves tomorrow.

Often the answers to that should be 'no', even if you have such a thing. If you run two quotes you may find the difference in the quote is only a few pounds. It's better to pay a couple of quid more than have the insurer wriggle out of a claim because the burglary was the one night you happened not to set it. Or means you can skip the professional maintenance (at £xxx per year, against saving £x on your insurance).

Comparison sites ask a superset of questions, ie if any insurer asks a question than the comparison site has to ask it to get quotes from that insurer. If you buy direct the insurers may not be so picky.

(it's often good practice to get a comparison site quote, pick your chosen insurer, then go direct to get a second quote. Then pick whichever quote you prefer. Sometimes they have different levels of cover etc)

Usually they ask if there has been flooding in the past, rather than any kind of flood rating.

Theo

Last year my car insurance went up by around 40% and on the compare sites like for like wasn't any cheaper. The top 4 hits were all within £10 of my renewal quote.

This year the renewal quote was 9% cheaper but I managed another 14% by shopping around on the comparison sites.

House and contents insurance is not due for another two months but last year my house insurance went up by 15% for the same cover. I've always found the £0.5million or £1million buildings, £50k contents type insurance packages to be cheaper than trying to find a policy based on house floor area. I don't list anything of greater than £1500 value and I'm prepared to take £250 of voluntary excess and I don't insure for accidental damage. It's the latter two I find that can push up premiums. I current pay around £150 for my buildings and content cover.

The Martin Lewis site recommends sorting out insurance 3 or 4 weeks before its due as quotes tend to rise the closer the date you want insurance.

Despite having a burglar alarm, I've always said that I do not have one. Declaring it takes £20 or so off the bill, but gives them a reason to refuse or reduce a payout, if someone breaks in while it is not on.

Same here. I eventually got a much lower quote from my current insurer for house+ contents, but changed for the car (went with the AA this time).

It's all a stupid waste of time.

You may well be right - I was just guessing at the figure based on the last time I looked at it (£10 many years ago).

One "funny" with the car insurance, two years ago I told them a towbar had been fitted, this year they'd remembered most stuff about the car, but the towbar didn't show on the paperwork, when I phoned to tell them, it lowered the premium by £7 ...

I would have though it might raise premiums for the chance of an accident involving a trailer, maybe they see the towball as protecting the bumper from an idiot running into the back of me, or me reversing into a wall?

As a point of principal I never ask them how much they can lower it, I look around and insure elsewhere then tell them to piss off, sometimes they whine that I didn't ask, so I tell them they shouldn't have sent a renewal knowing they could beat their own price.

Wot e sed.

I always have denied having a burglar alarm for the same reasons.

When I first moved here I could never set the already-installed burglar alarm without the motion sensors being triggered by the animals roaming around the house. When the energy crisis hit and electricity soared to around fifty pence per unit I realised that the modest 20w that the alarm consumed when running in "off" mode was costing me about £90 per year so I turned it completely off.

I live in a very low crime area (one of the reasons I chose this house) so with regard to switching off the alarm, YMMV. I still have and use 5-lever locks, window locks etc.

Nick

I walk into my friendly local insurance broker and use their expertise to get me the best they can cost/benefit wise.

The last time I had a claim - which, admittedly was a very long time ago - they also dealt with the insurance company for me. All part of the service though I'm not certain they still do that.

Nick

Or the logic is: if you can back up with a trailer you can drive? :-)

Thomas Prufer

Boy racers don't have towbars.

I wonder if you can get a discount by painting go slower stripes?

Some good points up thread.

Savings for working burglar alarm not significant. The questions lists have some other shortcomings:when purchased and how much clearly gives them an easy estimate of current sale value. However, what about intervening extensions and other added value.

Thanks all. Very useful.

I wonder what I should declare as modifications to my Land Rover? Rewiring it so that circuits are through separate fuses instead of all grouped on two (one unswitched and one switched with the ignition)? Adding heated windscreens for demisting? Fitting 3-point seatbelts instead of lap-belts? Adding a 50mm towball and 7-pin socket, although it already had a NATO pintle and 12-pin socket from new? Adding rear fog-lights and reversing lights? Adding spotlights to supplement the poor headlights? Adding a brake servo to improve braking? Fitting Defender seats, as the high backs help protect your neck? Different carb (for efficiency not power increase)? Fitting an overdrive? Removal of radios, side aerial mounts and wing aerial boxes? Removal of rifle clips and canteen holders? This could get complicated!

You can calculate the rebuilding cost yourself using on-line facilities provided by the Association of UK insurance companies etc.

quote The rebuild cost is the amount it would cost to completely rebuild your home if it was destroyed beyond repair. It includes the price of labour and materials. This cost is usually lower than your home's sale price or market value. Basing your policy on your home’s rebuild cost will prevent you from over-insuring and paying higher premiums than necessary. /quote

The land it's standing on unlikely to be totally destroyed. :)

As I've indicated up thread, you may find that some of the policies that don't bother with the actual rebuilding costs to the nth degree and just offer a blanket £0.5 or £1.0 million cover may have cheaper premiums. The insurance companies probably already know the typical rebuilding costs for your postcode, even down to street level. You may have to jump through more hoops if your home is significantly different to get a cheapest quote.

In message <vppn1d$342v3$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, SteveW snipped-for-privacy@walker-family.me.uk> writes

To be on the safe side, all of the above (plus anything else that might have changed since it left Lode Lane).

There was an article in the paper not long ago where an insurer had refused to pay out because of a mod (IIRC a tow bar) that was not declared, even though it was not relevant to the claim.

Adrian

Yes. It's time these insurance companies were reined in. Anything not relevant to the claim should not be able to be used as grounds for refusing it - neither should anything, even if relevant, that would not have increased the premium.