Home insurance recommendation?

[wheeliebin]

My home insurance quote from Direct Line has shot up this year, I haven't made a claim in 20+ years, no unusual risks to the building etc. and they want £800+ for buildings and contents cover. I got some quotes from comparison websites that start at £175 but as soon as I start reading the policy details I lose the will to live, there seem to be more exclusions and weasel words than things they actually cover.

Can anybody recommend a provider? I'm not necessarily after the cheapest but a sensible level of cover and good service if I did have to make a claim. It's probably asking too much that they won't try and rip me off for renewals in subsequent years.

 

[LimeBurn]

Fresh. My policy even went down this year and by quite a substantial margin too

 

[slowmotion]

Ecclesiastical are usually pretty good. Try NFU as well

 

[welsh dragon]

You might be better off going to a comparison site. That way you can put in what you want and see what they come up with. Or going to an insurance broker. Tell them what you want and let them have the headache of finding it for you at the best possible price.

 

[ASC1951]

My home insurance quote from Direct Line has shot up this year, I haven't made a claim in 20+ years, no unusual risks to the building etc. and they want £800+ for buildings and contents cover. ...

A radical suggestion, maybe, but why bother with contents insurance? That's the expensive bit, at least in my area.
IME Direct Line are ludicrously expensive for many types of insurance. +1 for trying a broker.

 

[cosmicbike]

I presume what you have is a renewal letter/email? Go online o Direct Line, get a quote which is more or less guaranteed to be significantly less than your renewal quote, call them and they will honour the online price. Been doing this for years with them, my car is due now, renewal said £587, online £318...

 

[MrGrumpy]

it is what I do as well, was with RBS last year and they have just tripled my renewal so jumped to Direct line whom were same price as I paid last year.

 

[Beebo]

it is what I do as well, was with RBS last year and they have just tripled my renewal so jumped to Direct line whom were same price as I paid last year.

You will be surprised to hear that RBS and Direct Line are the same company.
Do you need contents cover? Think about whether you would be able to replace everything if your house burnt down or flooded.
Do you want accidental damage cover as well as standard perils?
The one thing you need to do is ensure the sums insured are adequate to replace and rebuild everything if you lost the lot.
Most well known providers will have very similar policy wordings and exclusions. Check security requirements.

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

Saga.

 

[nickyboy]

All insurer have basically similar T&Cs. They are always complicated because they form the basis of a legal contract between them and you with potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds at stake. If you can't be bothered to read them or can't understand them clearly then use the services of an insurance broker.
Oh, and never go without contents cover. It's more expensive for a reason; it is much more common to have a fire, water ingress etc than your house falling down.

 

[ASC1951]

Oh, and never go without contents cover. It's more expensive for a reason; it is much more common to have a fire, water ingress etc than your house falling down.

Er - fire and flood are part of the building cover. And if you don't have any valuable contents there is no reason to insure them - despite having suffered a couple of burglaries I have saved £10-12,000 over the last 30 years by not insuring mine.

 

[sheddy]

http://www.co-operativeinsurance.co.uk/homeinsurance

 

[Beebo]

Even the most basic of 'contents' would cost a surprising amount to replace if you lost it all in a fire, for example. Try costing the stuff in the room you spend the most time in.

As a rough rule, the contents of a basic 3 bed house would cost between £40 - £50k to replace once you add in everything, including clothes, carpets, curtains, furniture, electrics, white goods, jewellery, bikes, etc etc etc.

 

[wheeliebin]

Thanks all, lots of food for thought. I've got a couple of weeks to sort it out so time to read some more policies!

 

[Kiwiavenger]

+1 for nfu mutual. they have just changed their policy on pedal cycles which means replacement cost with no wear and tear deduction. plus they dont quibble/wriggle out of claims and come highly rated.

youll also be suprised at how much contents cover you need, try a contents calculator (nfu have one on their website) just to see how much contents cover you need