Yet another house insurance renewal rant.

[ColinJ]

My sister got really stressed a few weeks ago when it was time to renew her house insurance. She was quoted £2,000-3,000 by multiple companies!!!

The 2 problems are that the property is a very old cottage made of Devon Cob (dried mud and straw!), and it is across a narrow road from a stream which has been assessed as a potential flood risk. Dried mud and flood waters would not be a good combination!

After days of trying she finally got it down to just under £1,000.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Shop around regularly or find a broker who will do that for you.

I used to crab about the cost of insurance until I had a house fire. They covered all of the excess costs of living some place else for the 3 months it took to repair my home and spent over $100,000 making it look exactly the same as it did before so I don’t crab so loudly anymore.

its a necessary evil.

 

[Beebo]

My sister got really stressed a few weeks ago when it was time to renew her house insurance. She was quoted £2,000-3,000 by multiple companies!!!

The 2 problems are that the property is a very old cottage made of Devon Cob (dried mud and straw!), and it is across a narrow road from a stream which has been assessed as a potential flood risk. Dried mud and flood waters would not be a good combination!

After days of trying she finally got it down to just under £1,000.

Well done for shopping around.
Non standard construction is away tricky to insure.
anything very old, timber framed, listed, prefabricated or thatched needs special cover. The worst thing you can do is not disclose this when you buy the policy, as it will be a problem if/when you claim.

 

[OldShep]

My home, a log house, isn’t easy to insure. For 20+ yrs the CooP covered it then they changed and wanted ridiculous amounts. Shopped around and Santander ( with AVIVA) covered me no problem was cheaper than the CooP and had a small reasonable annual rise until the last renewal where it reduced by 10%. Needless to say I didn’t shop around and quickly paid my £268 for house and contents.
Another bonus is you get to speak to love people in Perth.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I must be the exception to the rule, my existing insurer not only lowered their renewal price compared to last year when I called to commit they lowered it further. Hastings Premier if you want to try them.

I've also declared my eBike battery (with conditions such as following UK .Gov guidelines on charging) to them, thats following me reading the tow bar thread this week. Better safe than sorry!

 

[Drago]

I foxtrotted up my renewal this year.

It ran out on the 30th of October but for some reason I had a brain fart and forgot there are 31 days that month, and thus bought a new policy to start 1st November.

Once I realised my error I called them back asked them to bring it forward one day. They were happy to oblige but wanted £60 for the privilege.

I told them to stick it up their behinds and instead took great care not to burn the house down or get burgled on the 31st October. I don't have a mortgage so have no contractual obligation with anyone to be insured at all so the absence of a days cover didnt matter. And insurers wonder why they're less popular than estate agents and 70s DJ's.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

My renewal jumped to £944 from £644. After 20 minutes on the phone they got it down to £45 under lowest premium I could find via the meerkats, so i ended up paying £748. It’s still a hike from last year but worth 20 minutes of my time to save almost £200.

 

[PaulSB]

That looks like they are changing the market segment they want to target, and you are no longer their demographic.

We pay a lot more than that and have had exceptional service and value for money over a long number of years.
I got more than my premium back this year to redecorate a whole room where one wall was damaged following a roof leak.
Claim by phone. Submit quote by email the next day. Cash in the bank the same day weeks before work done.

With insurance, as with anything else, you get what you pay for.

While i agree with your general view you get what you pay for I'm not sure you're correct in this situation. If you are paying a lot more I suggest you could be overpaying.

With insurance I believe the company quality and reputation is equally important, if not more so, than the premium.

We have twice had to cancel holidays and received full pay outs quickly and without quibble. Both were competitively priced.

This year our building and contents was £311 from M&S under written by Aviva. It wasn't the lowest cost but it was the most competitive that I felt comfortable with.

The renewal premium is £378, an increase of £67, 21.5% but........this year I had a claim in excess of £6000. I was in an RTC last June and claimed this amount for my bike, Wahoo, helmet and kit. Paid out in 10 days without a murmur. Great service all the way through the process. The Wahoo was with a voucher, the rest in cash, which was very important to me.

For me neither M&S nor Aviva wish to risk reputational value. For an extra £67 I'll simply renew.

I don't feel one has to pay very high premiums for insurance. It is essential to use quality companies. Charlie's Complete Cover just doesn't hack it.

 

[Electric_Andy]

It is essential to use quality companies

I agree. Our cheapest quote was from a company called "Lemonade - Wow". So we went with the next cheapest who I'd actually heard of

 

[mistyoptic]

While i agree with your general view you get what you pay for I'm not sure you're correct in this situation. If you are paying a lot more I suggest you could be overpaying.

With insurance I believe the company quality and reputation is equally important, if not more so, than the premium.

We have twice had to cancel holidays and received full pay outs quickly and without quibble. Both were competitively priced.

This year our building and contents was £311 from M&S under written by Aviva. It wasn't the lowest cost but it was the most competitive that I felt comfortable with.

The renewal premium is £378, an increase of £67, 21.5% but........this year I had a claim in excess of £6000. I was in an RTC last June and claimed this amount for my bike, Wahoo, helmet and kit. Paid out in 10 days without a murmur. Great service all the way through the process. The Wahoo was with a voucher, the rest in cash, which was very important to me.

For me neither M&S nor Aviva wish to risk reputational value. For an extra £67 I'll simply renew.

I don't feel one has to pay very high premiums for insurance. It is essential to use quality companies. Charlie's Complete Cover just doesn't hack it.

OTOH

We’ve been insured with M&S for years (Aviva in recent times). This year the premium had gone up unreasonably and the attitude was “we don’t negotiate, that is the price”. So I went out to the market and got a quote for identical cover, at half the price, from… Aviva! Go figure

 

[bikingdad90]

If it’s a normal 2 storey house made of brick not stone then £2000 per square metre would be a good start.
You need to include for both floors.

That is probably slightly underestimating the rebuild cost. Unfortunately builders can pick and choose their jobs due to loss of resources in the sector due to changes linked to immigration and Brexit.
BCIS inflation has gone up massively due to tarriffs and levies of one sort or another which has increased material prices.

In the northern part of the world an average house built to NDSS standards is around £2,400per sq metre, more for higher quality and less for lower quality often built to renting standards.

 

[Beebo]

That is probably slightly underestimating the rebuild cost. Unfortunately builders can pick and choose their jobs due to loss of resources in the sector due to changes linked to immigration and Brexit.
BCIS inflation has gone up massively due to tarriffs and levies of one sort or another which has increased material prices.

In the northern part of the world an average house built to NDSS standards is around £2,400per sq metre, more for higher quality and less for lower quality often built to renting standards.

I agree but my original post was 3 and half years ago. Inflation would bring that up to £2400.

 

[bikingdad90]

@Beebo, can’t believe I missed the date stamp!