house insurance cheaper if no alarm and unocc in day?
Discussion
Anyone have a theory or the correct answer why when I have got quotes through a comparison site it is actually cheaper if my home is NOT fitted with a security alarm and is UNoccupied during the day??
Baffles me - but ultimately will save me the cost of the maintenance contract on the alarm as well - BONUS!
In other news my bike insurance was cheaper with the bike being unlocked and parked on the road as opposed to it being locked and in a garage??
I may of course be living in a parallel universe I suppose..
Baffles me - but ultimately will save me the cost of the maintenance contract on the alarm as well - BONUS!
In other news my bike insurance was cheaper with the bike being unlocked and parked on the road as opposed to it being locked and in a garage??
I may of course be living in a parallel universe I suppose..
Like most, if not all, insurance, premiums are based on historical claims statistics based on the variables of the individual. They must have paid out more in claims to those who either occupy during the day or have a burglar alarm. Doesn't matter if that doesn't seem to make sense as long as that's what the stats show and hence those people have to pay more to cover their bigger risk. It's the actuarys that work it all out, those people who found accountancy to exciting.
I think.
I think.
Like most, if not all, insurance, premiums are based on historical claims statistics based on the variables of the individual. They must have paid out more in claims to those who either occupy during the day or have a burglar alarm. Doesn't matter if that doesn't seem to make sense as long as that's what the stats show and hence those people have to pay more to cover their bigger risk. It's the actuarys that work it all out, those people who found accountancy to exciting.
I think.
I think.
Welcome to the absurd world of Insurance universe
You are not the only one "amazed" by this. I am insured with Zurich Insurance for both car and home. The same as you if I don't list ANY security improvements such as alarm etc my quote was £87 quid cheaper than with THE security
The car....parked on the driveway £187.36, parked in the locked garage LINKED to the house alarm.....£284.27 Following one of the comments above...my payout conditions are THE SAME in both cases, no differences at all on terms, conditions etc.
A friend of mine received a quote for his 2006 Porsche Boxster that is £120 quid cheaper that for his 2011 Fiesta Diesel
Both cars listed as every day used with the same annual mileage It was even cheaper if I said it was parked on the road rather than our driveway.
I do believe its something like.
"Car in the garage, thief can work on it and drive away once running without anyone seein etc"
"Car on driveway means thief knows which house to break in to, to get the keys as opposed to the car bein on the road and having a few houses to choose from"
Insurance = minefield.
I do believe its something like.
"Car in the garage, thief can work on it and drive away once running without anyone seein etc"
"Car on driveway means thief knows which house to break in to, to get the keys as opposed to the car bein on the road and having a few houses to choose from"
Insurance = minefield.
Unfortunately, an alarm is no deterrent these days. Burglars know they can break in and have several minutes before anyone does anything. I phoned the police on a Friday night at midnight once to report an alarm sounding in a high street town shop. It took 15 minutes to get to speak to someone and when I finally did, the response was " don't worry, sir, they switch off after 20 minutes" When I pointed out that he was missing the point - it was Friday night, the pubs had just thrown out and this was shop premises, so someone may have broken in, he just repeated his statement that it would switch off itself! Not interested in the slightest. I used to work for an insurance company and we never gave any discount for alarms being fitted simply because no one takes any notice of an alarm sounding - not even the police. If anything, having an alarm fitted is advertising that you have something worth stealing
chibbard said:
I didn't have an house alarm fitted for insurance premium reductions. You do it in hope you never have a break-in. There's a lot of break-ins going on around my area at the moment and I don't think I could sleep at night without an house alarm....
Precisely. I wouldn't get rid of my alarm for cheaper insurance. I'd rather pay more insurance and keep the alarm.
The garage is an easy one, I bet there is a far far higher chance of scraping the car along the wall when driving out when still asleep/bashing a wing mirror off , dropping something in the roof(ie stuff hanging on the walls), accidently dragging the lawn mower against the side of it etc etc then the "perceived" risk of some local oik running over the roof of it.
As for a house, more security = more to hide? Yet nobody bothers with house alarms. I do hesitant to add, if our neighbours alarm went off I'd go and have a poke around.
As for a house, more security = more to hide? Yet nobody bothers with house alarms. I do hesitant to add, if our neighbours alarm went off I'd go and have a poke around.
hman said:
We have an alarm - linked to the cops so they should attend.
Linked directly to the Police? I didn't know that was possible - how does it work, does the system dial 999 or something?hman said:
we also have a German shepherd who would wag her tail a lot as she mutilated an intruder.
Burglars drugged a big dog our friends had. Police told them it's very common.Alarm is by a monitoring centre who call the police who are duty bound to respond to a confirmed alarm signal from an alarm monitoring centre.
And the thing about poisoning the dog is that they would have to break in to poison the dog - the letterbox is clamped shut.
So the alarm would be going off, the police are in their way and the dog would already be trying to eat them. Worst case the police turn up and the dogs dead but nothing's been stolen as they could only throw poison meat through the break in point and couldn't get any further as the dogs trying to eat them.
Poisons aren't immediately effective remember, they need time to be absorbed and take effect, and most burglars would use rat poison as it's the easiest to source and you need a lot to kill / have an effect on a dog.
The dog is a guard dog and can be replaced so the concept of the dog dying protecting the home is one that it's prepared to do.
Anyway this thread was about why the premium goes down for not having an alarm etc. Not how to protect your home effectively but in typical PH fashion here we are LOL
And the thing about poisoning the dog is that they would have to break in to poison the dog - the letterbox is clamped shut.
So the alarm would be going off, the police are in their way and the dog would already be trying to eat them. Worst case the police turn up and the dogs dead but nothing's been stolen as they could only throw poison meat through the break in point and couldn't get any further as the dogs trying to eat them.
Poisons aren't immediately effective remember, they need time to be absorbed and take effect, and most burglars would use rat poison as it's the easiest to source and you need a lot to kill / have an effect on a dog.
The dog is a guard dog and can be replaced so the concept of the dog dying protecting the home is one that it's prepared to do.
Anyway this thread was about why the premium goes down for not having an alarm etc. Not how to protect your home effectively but in typical PH fashion here we are LOL
The "car insurance cheaper parked on-street" is a sign of the changing patterns in car theft.
Back when you could drive away a Mk2 Escort with a rusty teaspoon, having the car out in the open was the higher-risk. A private driveway or, even better, a garage, reduced the risk of theft a lot.
Now, it's very difficult to steal a car without the correct key, and the easy way to do that is beak into the owner's home and steal them. If a car's parked on a busy residential street, it's difficult for the thief to identify the owner's home. Parked on the driveway, or in a garage? Easy.
Back when you could drive away a Mk2 Escort with a rusty teaspoon, having the car out in the open was the higher-risk. A private driveway or, even better, a garage, reduced the risk of theft a lot.
Now, it's very difficult to steal a car without the correct key, and the easy way to do that is beak into the owner's home and steal them. If a car's parked on a busy residential street, it's difficult for the thief to identify the owner's home. Parked on the driveway, or in a garage? Easy.
My alarm was FUBAR'd so I called my insurance company to tell them I'd be without it for a bit, and to pay the extra premium so I'd still be covered. The lady on the phone went away, came back and said my policy was going down by about 20%! I queried this, saying it made no sense at all - to which she went away again and came back with 'no change to your policy cost'.
It looks like I shot myself in the foot there, and shouldnt have argued a reduction!
It looks like I shot myself in the foot there, and shouldnt have argued a reduction!
Maxf said:
My alarm was FUBAR'd so I called my insurance company to tell them I'd be without it for a bit, and to pay the extra premium so I'd still be covered. The lady on the phone went away, came back and said my policy was going down by about 20%! I queried this, saying it made no sense at all - to which she went away again and came back with 'no change to your policy cost'.
It looks like I shot myself in the foot there, and shouldnt have argued a reduction!
Doh!It looks like I shot myself in the foot there, and shouldnt have argued a reduction!
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