Home insurance price hikes are daylight robbery
The warning letter arrived from Halifax Home Insurance a fortnight ago. It said my new annual premium for building and contents cover is 553.67 C an 18% increase about the 467.84 I paid a year ago C and that it would be introducing surplus 250 for water-related claims.
After a lot of flat, or falling, home owners insurance premiums, the market is pushing through big increases,- terrified of the outcome burglaries and also the recession- can have on claims.
But you cannot find any reason to receive some insurance company raiding your wallet before the burglars get there. The property insurance sector is notorious- for ripping off “loyal” customers with annual increases that bear no affect on underlying costs. Here i will discuss three ways to conquer them in their own game.
? Get yourself a quote derived from one of and large number of comparison sites for example moneysupermarket.com or confused.com.
? Resume your overall firm like a “new customer” C discounts are huge.
? Cut out overinsured areas.
I did all 3 and am paying just around not too long ago C with extra cover.
My first stop was confused.com and moneysupermarket.com. They found two cheaper quotes C 509 from Liverpool Victoria- and 512 with the AA.
As it had been a saving of just 40, I decided to get back to Halifax and find out what I could knock-off its quote. Intriguingly, previous to my renewal date, it offered a 50 “thank you” if I returned in their eyes (you will find first got it, the promotional code is NF97).
I hadn’t actually left, but clearly they had been getting nervous. I rang Halifax per day after my policy had expired and failed to mention either we was very recently a client, or they already quoted me 553.67. I chose fully comprehensive at 543.72 C while using the 50 cashback it dropped to 493.72. I make the grade further by lopping out insurance for among the list of bicycles that nearly never leaves the household. Result? 467.72 C or 12p less than a year ago, but that’s only the main saving.
On a like-for-like basis, which includes a quote that included exactly the more limited cover I had not too long ago, the amount might have been around 360 C I could possibly have cut my costs by way of a quarter. But I thought we would include “home emergency” pay for another 50. I currently pay HomeServe 89.96 for just a separate policy C and since it does not take same company Halifax uses, it turned out a no-brainer.
I also put in personal belongings and legal insurance. The renewal quote said I could possibly integrate personal belongings for an extra 85.37. But on the phone, the saleswoman quoted 33. Well, i took it C feeling angry which they attemptedto over-charge to begin with. Before accepting the very last quote, I read through Tesco. I had created received a message promising a 45% discount for first time online customers. However it made a comeback having a quote of 658.35 for the “Tesco Finest” policy, which broadly equates using the Halifax. As that features the 45% discount, anybody can only imagine that Tesco’s standard costs are rather steep.
What conclusions should one draw? Prices seem set at whatever insurance carriers will get away with. The -special offer deals are barely worth bothering with, and existing industry is there to get fleeced. In the event it sounds a little bit tough, consider- so what happened to Jo Symons and her husband, Ray. Every year they accepted the premiums Prudential charged regarding their three-bed home. Once the bill hit 1,125, the bride and groom, from Kingston upon Thames in Surrey, sought for a new insurer using moneysupermarket.com. Halifax offered near-identical pay for just 150.96 C a large saving of 974.
“I was flabbergasted. It’s astonishing we were paying a great deal and passing up on this sort of good option,”- says Symons, who might be spending the money saved with a family visit to Crete.
The phrase “shop around” is overused by financial commentators, however it’s never truer when said about property insurance.
How much if you happen to pay?
We asked moneysupermarket.com to give us a sign the fact that providers are cheapest round the country for buildings and contents cover, which has an far more than 100, using a three-bed household:
London
Property in W4, market value 196,000
Sheilas’ Wheels 130.02
esure 134.80
direct choice 161.06*
Churchill 164.85
autonet home owners insurance 172.57
* Excess 50
Leeds
Property in LS18, value 147,000
Churchill 112.35
1stQuote 114.82
Sheilas’ Wheels 123.39
esure 124.98
Swinton 126.02
Manchester
Property in M20, market price 156,000
Churchill 148.05
direct choice 153.26
AXA 154.25
Cover Direct 155.20
autonet home owners insurance 157.82
Bristol
Property in BS2, cost 206,000
Budget 122.18
AXA 142.72
direct choice 143.72
Swinton 148.20
Cover Direct 148.41
Edinburgh
Property in EH4, price 200,000
Churchill 106.05
1stQuote 108.71
insure.co.uk 112.63
homequotedirect 114.69
Sheilas’ Wheels 116.04
Source: moneysupermarket.com. Information correct adjusted 12 May 2009
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