Home Insurance

[Lordbenny]

When it comes to car insurance, every year I shop around looking for the best deal. Home insurance is a different matter, I rarely change my home insurance provider. That was until I noticed that this years premium from Aviva has jumped from £343 to £519. I've made no claims in that time. Straight on the phone to Direct Line and not only did they offer a 'like for like' policy it also included a few extra that the Aviva policy didnt cover for......£345!

Aviva obviously think that they can ramp up a premium as a matter of course, well it didnt work with me this year and it wont be happening again!

[anonymous-user]

They are all the same! Lure you in with a good price, then try a stealthy price hike the next year! I check all insurances at renewal time, the days of loyalty have long gone...

[5potTurbo]

It ALWAYS pays to shop around for Insurance quotes in the UK

My Dad, foolishly, used to just cough up the premium he was asked for - car, buildings, contents.... God knows how many £ thousands he's chucked away over the years.

[Simpo Two]

It's the same with anything financial. Loyal customers get raped to pay for the special offers to attract new business.

It's amusing but sad to see people start complaints with 'I've been with this bank for 14 years and...' You think that makes a difference? Nope. And if HSBC are so damn clever at knowing about the Hong Kong Festival of Chung-ping-ho, why can't they pay some interest on my damn current account?

[RemainAllHoof]

Jimboka said:

They are all the same! Lure you in with a good price, then try a stealthy price hike the next year! I check all insurances at renewal time, the days of loyalty have long gone...

Agreed. It works both ways, doesn't it. If they're not going to reward us for staying with them, then why should we stay with them? I call about 5 rivals and get quotes, then negotiate them down.

[E36GUY]

It's a ball ache but I do the search rigmarole every year for three cars, home insurance et al but it's worth the effort!

[Deva Link]

My next door neighbour asked me the other day how much I was paying - it's £210 buildings & contents with full accidental damage on both with Liverpool Victoria - his renewal from SAGA was £800!! He'd paid (without even noticing) £600 last year.

LV is the only insurance company I've ever used for both home & car where the renewal premium is usually lower than you can by re-checking using comparison sites.

[Chrisgr31]

Deva Link said:

My next door neighbour asked me the other day how much I was paying - it's £210 buildings & contents with full accidental damage on both with Liverpool Victoria - his renewal from SAGA was £800!! He'd paid (without even noticing) £600 last year.

LV is the only insurance company I've ever used for both home & car where the renewal premium is usually lower than you can by re-checking using comparison sites.

I used to have home insurance with LV and never agin. I had to claim on both Buildings and Contents insurance. We had a fire which started in a neighbours garden and burnt down the fence (his) and our shed, and destroyed the contents of said shed. Our claim was for a new shed and a few tools totalling about £2,500 his claim was for £10,000 including replacement greenhouse, patio, fence, shed, pond filtration equipment etc.

His claim was sorted and damged repaired within a month with an insurance company I had never heard of. Ours took 9 months to get sorted and they wouldnt pay out for stroyed plants etc even though they should have been claiming off next door as the fre started there. Tok them ages to even agree to chase next door for the excess which they eventually did.

I also had problems with them on a drainage claim which took ages to deal with. In fact it took so long they refunded my excess.

I know that they are ok for car insurance, but I would never use them for house or contents again.

[number2]

Lordbenny said:

When it comes to car insurance, every year I shop around looking for the best deal. Home insurance is a different matter, I rarely change my home insurance provider. That was until I noticed that this years premium from Aviva has jumped from £343 to £519. I've made no claims in that time. Straight on the phone to Direct Line and not only did they offer a 'like for like' policy it also included a few extra that the Aviva policy didnt cover for......£345!

Aviva obviously think that they can ramp up a premium as a matter of course, well it didnt work with me this year and it wont be happening again!

Same every year.

Direct Line - year 1 - reasonable quote of about £450.

Direct Line - year 2 - increased to about £700 - phoned up to see what they could do and they reinstated the "discounts" I had in year 1.

Direct Line - year 3 - again around the £700 mark - phoned up and they wouldn't offer more then a nominal discount. I cancelled the policy then went on-line and got a fresh quote for about £450!

[Deva Link]

Chrisgr31 said:

I used to have home insurance with LV and never agin. I had to claim on both Buildings and Contents insurance. We had a fire which started in a neighbours garden and burnt down the fence (his) and our shed, and destroyed the contents of said shed. Our claim was for a new shed and a few tools totalling about £2,500 his claim was for £10,000 including replacement greenhouse, patio, fence, shed, pond filtration equipment etc.

His claim was sorted and damged repaired within a month with an insurance company I had never heard of. Ours took 9 months to get sorted and they wouldnt pay out for stroyed plants etc even though they should have been claiming off next door as the fre started there. Tok them ages to even agree to chase next door for the excess which they eventually did.

I also had problems with them on a drainage claim which took ages to deal with. In fact it took so long they refunded my excess.

Oh - that's not good. Although why didn't you claim from the neighbour for the fire, and in what circumstances is drainage covered?