Hi all,
I’m in the process of rejecting a renewal quote from John Lewis Insurance, and whilst gathering quotes I’ve been mighty impressed with Halifax. Adding named high value items has been easy and cheap. 222 and SCM40As added for less than £4 per month.
John Lewis had previously counted hifi as a ‘non valuable’, but have recently changed their policy and wanted an extra £10 per month! On top of an already 18% increase!
Good buy John Lewis, hello Halifax.
Daz
Did you also try Aviva? We use them and they seem to be good value. There is a lot more to insurance than the bottom line price. Of particular interest to us are security requirements. Some companies stipulate that all windows are closed and locked when you are out, or that windows are locked in unoccupied rooms at night. We like to leave the upstairs windows open for ventilation when we are out, or at night. Aviva is fine with that, as we are in a low risk are. The other thing is legal cover, which we used when I was knocked off my bike. It’s the best £25 we’ve ever spent, and I wouldn’t be without it.
I’m with Aviva at the moment as, they, like several others, have ‘unlimited contents’ cover (excluding ‘valuables’), which the hi-fi kit falls in to. IME, an insurer’s definition of ‘valuables’ means stuff like jewellery, watches, and other intrinsic value mobile items (which a material hi-fi certainly isn’t) i.e. as I define it, stuff which would disappear were there a break-in – and there’s often a cap on values/insured levels (AIU).
Also, Aviva don’t apply ‘item limits’ within their general contents cover – well, not with me anyhow, and I always ensure they are fully informed about the hi-fi at each renewal (taped calls work both ways!).
It sounds like JL didn’t interpret the ATCs as a ‘non-valuable’, which is surprising IMHO, as the intrinsic value is modest.
Yes, legal is included. And I couldn’t agree more. Especially when so many insurance companies/parties will fight tooth and nail to outlay the minimum when required. After a car crash, my father had to use the legal cover provided, against the insurer providing it!
Daz
I was with JL for many years, then they started asking extra questions about hifi, cameras and tools. I was told that all cameras were now valuables and had to be listed. Asking them questions, even a smart phone was a camera and they would not insure outside the home without extra premium. I then asked what happened if I took my turntable to Leicester for a service. That means a one off payment and only covers whilst in the car. I asked if that meant it was not covered if I dropped it getting out of the car… that’s right…
When last years renewal came through, they tripled the cost.
Hello Aviva.
Good timing for me, so a helpful thread.
Thanks,
G
From experience, if you want ‘complete’ cover, fuss free claims and like to actually speak to people about your cover, NFU is the place to be. That said, Aviva/Halifax cover does have good claims rates in comparison with other similar brand names.
In my experience you really only find out how good your insurance company are when you make a claim, watch the fine print!
We had a new for old cover with named items with listed values yet when we made a claim for a tv we were offered 25% of its value as compensation and then the fun starts, pays to go by a recommendation not just price.
I won’t list the insurance company but be very thorough when checking their policies out would be my advice👍
If an insurance company tries to wriggle out of paying a claim the the Insurance Ombudsman will sort them out.
It took a few months (just post lockdown so may be quicker now) but I ended up with three times what I’d hoped for!
Some years ago i had a Ducati 1098s with full Termi race exhaust insured with Aviva, it was stolen out of my locked garage. They paid up in full for me to buy another Ducati 1098s with a full Termi exhaust. That was the first time i had ever come across an insurance company that was easy to deal with and paid up to my expectations. Since then i have moved my home insurance to them as well. What i have found with Aviva is that when you add high value items to you home contents, it’s easy to do and also at very little overall cost. Even adding a Hegel Viking at £4500 only cost £4.50 a year. When i buy my next Picaso to add to my collection…i think it might be a bit more 
Similar experience here, with NFU. Legal cover is prudent as others have mentioned.
In NFU’s case, a legal claims agent is used for such claims and that is one weakness to note with NFU. If the legal claim is straightforward, likely works well, when it is more complex, unlikely local legal firm will be used. Might be a drawback, caused by the agents lower scale rates. IIUC legal cover doesn’t automatically mean legal expenses incurred by a policyholder are covered; ymmv.
One important factor, which has not been mentioned is the ‘house’ cover. Easy to concentrate on contents and fail to ensure re-build cover is adequate. Relying on the inflation ratchet that many insurers apply, should be avoided and a periodic assessment or professional rebuild cost obtained. Building industry costs have risen significantly in recent years; no correlation either with house prices.
I have found M&S insurance pretty good (no claims experience though, I am pleased to say with fingers crossed). Unlimited buildings cover and contents, valuables not too widely defined, no windows/locks conditions. Best of all adding 2 e-bikes was unexpectedly good value and the security conditions not onerous.
M&S just whacked our renewal up by 50%, so will have a shop around.
G
Was with UIA for many years until I realised they’d moved the full spectrum from superb cover at a ludicrously cheap price to much less cover at an exorbitant price. At the recommendation of a debt adviser I worked with I explored LV and was very impressed at both cost and cover. The acid test of course is what happens when you make a claim and last year I had to do exactly that after a living room flood caused by a British Gas Service. Entire ceiling had to come down followed by a full room redecoration. For the most part LV were superb but on renewal the price didn’t rise by the market average of 34% plus loss of no claims. Instead the rise was closer to 150%.
Have moved on.
I explored LV as I’ve a friend who’s recently retired from their IT team after 35 years. Decided against them when he explained what they call their “quiet protest” level i.e. those people who experience appalling service and opt to never return. One of the highest in the industry over the past 3 years apparently. Their materials, policies and initial customer service are superb. After that, they are effectively run by private equity and don’t really care. He’d insured with them at a preferential rate for about 30 years and then had to make 2 claims in a relatively short period - one for theft and one for a kitchen extension which went very wrong - and he found himself not just taken aback by the experience but actually having to complain. One claim took more than a year to get to the point where remedial work was done.
Explored similar with Admiral as my friends wife set up and ran their IT going back many years. Suffice to say they don’t insure through them.
I suspect nowadays you largely look for the policy you want/need and after that it’s lap of the gods stuff. There are no market leaders etc.
Yes - mine went up a fair amount in March (not 50% though. Eek!) but I could not find anything else at a better rate for a similar cover especially as I particularly value the unlimited elements and the fairly relaxed conditions.
Part of the problem has come about through legislation which stopped insurers offering preferential rates for new customers, the theory being that this would make the market fairer, more competitive and thereby cheaper! Plus insurers would have to work harder to keep the biz right?
However, we’ve seen the exact reverse. Insurers, particularly the household names, no longer need to be price competitive to attract new biz as they’re not allowed to. As a result they all charge far higher prices than just a few years ago and almost cartel like keep jacking their prices up by ‘inflation +’ figures.
They then really don’t care much about customer service because we all have to have insurance and if consumers vote with their feet and leave one insurer, others arrive who have had a bad experience elsewhere.
Straightforward claims are often paid out very speedily because the machine comes into play and it’s all about costs management but the same machines break down if anything less than simple comes up and then people who often have no idea what they’re doing and perhaps don’t really care get involved.
Profit margins have increased tremendously as a result, which is helping them to offset losses achieved through poor management and decision making elsewhere in their businesses.
Imo an example of a very poor result from Government interference in free markets through setting out their desires and wants and insisting on a course of action that was always doomed to fail (the results are exactly as I anticipated, exactly) and without monitoring and policing appropriately (indeed at all) afterwards.
I don’t disagree with any of that but then when I put in for a fresh quote from LV as if I was a new customer, albeit who’d lost no claims because they’d just funded work to the tune of a couple of grand, their quote was about 40% lower.
Had an interesting experience with Sky. Been with them 22 years; have VIP perks etc. Bill keeps going up for things which new customers pay substantially less. Rang them up and pointed this out. They do the usual of finding some discounts but nothing you’d applaud. Asked them what would happen if I ended all contracts and my wife then opened a new account in her name. They went very quiet; muttered about us losing the largely irrelevant VIP status and gave us full discounts as though we were a new costume. Saved about £40 pcm across broadband; TV and mobiles.
Yep I had very similar experience with Virgin earlier this year
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