House Insurance – How much ….. Options needed!

Afternoon All,

Renewal for house insurance has come through and the renewal is cost is huge an increase of ~40%.

We’ve never, ever had a house insurance claim (over 15 years), live in a low to non existent crime ravaged area, no flood risk etc.

I called the company and they just simply said the premium was he premium and “stuff has gone up”.

I could have stomached this easier during COVID but our premium is more now than it was during that time. Yes “stuff” has increased but nowhere close enough to warranty the increase seen here.

We have a couple of named items listed – bikes, musical instruments but nothing out of the ordinary.

So with needing to find a new house insurer by Friday where do I start!

So with needing to find a new house insurer by Friday where do I start!

The comparison sites or call your local broker! Yes, local brokers do still exist!

And really think if you need all the cover you have. We took accidental damage off as we concluded most of the stuff in our house we’d probably just replace ourselves anyway if we spilled wine over it or knocked it over.

We have a multi policy with Admiral for the house insurance and all the cars.
Saved a fortune compared to insuring it all separately especially the car insurance for the kids cars.

where do I start

Admiral for us, 500ish car and 700ish house. No idea how that compares to the average.

@perchypanther / @db – just so long as you don’t need to claim (granted my experience – which was identical to most of the feedback here – was for their travel insurance)… https://smartmoneypeople.com/admiral-insurance-reviews/product/travel-insurance

Don’t have their travel insurance but my son made a claim on his car insurance and it was no bother.

If you want to keep to the same company do a new quote and take it out if happy.

Or try Halifax.

*Don’t have their travel insurance but my son made a claim on his car insurance and it was no bother.*
Yeah, it is weird – the home and car insurance doesn’t seem to get the slating that their travel insurance does. We were properly screwed over by them.

We’re with LV* for car and home – my wife has no complaints and she works in insurance.

(*she works for NFU but LV is better value for this sort of stuff! 🙂 )

Ask for a quote with a higher excess?

We just got our renewal through from Nat West and it was up from £510 to £670, I knew we were paying way over but the renewal was ridiculous, we were victims of our own complacency and not calling them up every year when they hiked the price up, checked comparison sites and we got the same cover with a couple of extra bits for £255 from Admiral, took no time to fill in the forms and set up a DD.

Three bed bay over bay Victorian job in Cardiff.

We have a couple of named items listed – bikes, musical instruments but nothing out of the ordinary.

I’m basicaly the same… I feel I’m overpaying, or over-insured with Admiral.

For a wider comparison, there’s actually a long thread here on this very subject!  https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/how-much-is-your-house-insurance.18984204/

Just renewed our house insurance , Was with admiral , but they wanted a £230 increase even though we’ve had no claims etc …quick 10 mins on compare the market and I’m now insured for less than last year ! … get onto the comparison sites

Worth checking at least one of the big names (direct line, Aviva etc) who don’t pay commission to the meerkats!

consider if you need the legal protection add on they all want to add – the cover often isn’t great and is expensive.  You may have similar cover through a professional body, union etc anyway.  If not you can often buy a specific policy for less and get better cover.  Then for many people here the bikes will either be pushing premiums up or restricting options where you can go… consider if you need it/separate bike cover/if the standard cover is enough.  If you keep 3x 2500 bikes in a wooden shed it may not be.  If it’s two 1200 bikes inside your house you might decide to take your chances.

M&S want 35% more this year for no good reason other than blatant profiteering.

Where are most people with bike collections looking at the moment?

I went with M&S this year, selected Premium on everything, & saved £300 on my renewal with another company I’ve used for years.

Lots of expensive bikes covered plus covered world wide which we never had before.

Was about £650

Our house insurance went up 50% (I have never ever claimed in 30+ yrs) unfortunately it was auto renew & happened whilst we were away…

Just got my Aviva home and contents renewal through. Up 19% from £442 to £536. I’ll have a look to see if I can beat it

Gob smacked at what people pay. Maybe I have a very safe postcode or a tiny house but never paid more than £200 Inc legal cover and emergency assistance. But I religiously switch every year and get hopefully most of the soft money through Quidco or Topcashback.

Be very wary of multicar or multirisk. You might assume it’s cheaper but check the cost of individual covers at renewal .

May I present to you, what’s known in the buiseness as a pi$$ take…

Sigh…

DrP (Not Florence, BTW)

LV wanted to increase our insurance from £300 a year to north of £500. Went on the usual comparison sites and Aviva matched everything for a cost of only £250.

Last year was £163 buuldings and contents with Direct Line. 3 bed semi in low crime area just north of Glasgow. Includes accidental damage, legal protection, and home emergency c0ver. Many years since we claimed anything.

It is the basic cover. Only £500 per bike. I’m happy to risk that as my bikes are between 10 and 20 years old and there has  never been a house or shed broken into in the street in 35 years.  We have the benefit of more expensive houses between us and Glasgow  which act as a buffer zone I think.  Much of the shed/house crime in our area is by neds on foot from neighbouring areas of Glasgow. We are an hour’s walk from the city boundary.

Just got my Aviva home and contents renewal through. Up 19% from £442 to £536. I’ll have a look to see if I can beat it

That was easy. Quidco comparison site got me the exact same cover with Admiral for £400 plus £35 cashback!

The M&S quote on the comparison list was £1,000😳

LV= quote.

Last year’s total price £772

This year’s total price £1,428

FFS. Well that’s tomorrows job then.

We’re with esure, bikes are specified items.

M&S (axa) here. House and contents. It’s gone up a chunk this year.

Spent a while filling in the meerkat forms with a variety of specified items including jewellery, bikes, etc. No results returned, ‘give these people a call’.

This is where useful AI could help: video or pictures, analyse, inventory of stuff produced, image lookups. Output a rough estimate of things, prices, and quote. Unlikely.

With Tesco. Renewal came in 40% more. Went on comparison site 3 weeks before due date and got slightly cheaper quotes by about 75 quid. Forgot about it for a couple of weeks and then revisited comparison site. Original quotes still valid so was about to press go when I remembered that the question about have you got a massive tree within 5m of your property was no longer yes as we’d had it chopped down due to it dying. Great that should reduce the quote – change answer and…….all quotes went up by about £100. Old quotes no longer valid. Apparently this was because I’d originally got the quotes in the ‘magic’ three weeks before window and now its only 5 days before and even though I’m now a lower risk I’m a higher risk because I’m disorganised or whatever.

its a scam.

its all a scam. they charge what they know they can get away with and we have no choice but to suck it up. The insurance industry are now nothing more than grifters.

MoreCashThanDashFull Member
We’re with esure, bikes are specified items.

Same here, but leaving them on the 22nd. Just near doubled my renewal, M&S were half what they were quoting

standard profiteering. you pay heavily for loyalty these days in every walk of life from bills to pay packets. Seems counterintuitive but it must work and make some evil manager look good at a board meeting.

M&S Bank for us. Timber framed house so not too many insurance companies to choose from. £900 for the house, contents, and bikes.

In the Grauniad yesterday, which reminded me of this thread – https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/sep/04/a-sorry-saga-as-our-home-insurance-rockets-to-an-astronomical-4730

My premium only up 15% this year, and with thatch, precious few underwriters prepared to quote.

With Admiral Multicover, they wanted an extra £300, I emailed them and said don’t be silly. They then wanted an extra £12. For the lack of hassle, we’re back with them. House part is £380 with three named bikes on the insurance.

I’m with Youi (Australia) my policy went up to $2800 which I thought was extortionate. After a bit of shopping I found nothing cheaper than $4000. Went back to Youi and increased the excess to $2000. This saved about $800 off the premium as we really only have it for bushfire, which will take the whole house if it gets us.

I’m around about £110, and with the co-op. Been with them for easily 20 years, and with no claims made is probably why it is so cheap.