Just had my renewal quote for home insurance from Aviva and it’s a massive 11.3% up on last year so it’s time to have a look around at alternatives. Of course, given that we all have a fair amount invested in hi-fi, records and the like, it makes things a bit more challenging to find a policy that covers things.
I know we’ve covered this before - possibly a few years ago now - but do you have any suggestions for insurance providers that are both reasonably priced and able to cover your system?
When I renewed in July I ended up staying with LV. I price checked them and found the other prices were within a few percent. I think insurance has taken a big hike this year.
With our bushfires, floods and all sorts of crisis’s this year ours went up considerably as well. Shopping around just made frustrating instead of just the regular annoying. We have laws to make the policies “Plain English” but their still confusing.
I just switched from Axa to Aviva, they were half the price…Axa had also put my premium up 12%. Aviva with unlimited building and contents cover seemed a good deal.
Insurance is a bit like Hifi, the cheapest is not always the best! Though the most expensive may also be poor value…
If you want to receive your money in claim, NFU are a very good insurer imo. They will not be the cheapest but they will very likely pay out.
I believe LV payment history has been pretty good historically, though now they are geared to competing more on price I don’t know if that’s changed. Aviva are thought of as middling and AXA not always great.
Could try Hiscox, though they’ve just done a deal with their ‘old guard’ at the top for a couple of years, belief is that they will sell to another firm after that.
My previous insurer refused cover unless we had a fancy alarm.
As a side issue alarms with an exterior bell are normally set to cut off after 20 minutes unless thet are deactivated. The police have little interest and if you have a land line to a central station it can be easy to get in their bad books with false ones.
Back to insurance cover. I have a pension with Aviva and this gave me 10% discount on house and contents. More importantly they covered my Linn/Naim/B & W hi-fi with no hassle. Most insurers are not bothered about big heavy boxes as they are difficult to move on. The things which are easy to steal, watches jewellery etc. are the things insurers worry about. All back to risk which dictate the premium you pay and where you live.
Its a competative industry and they often rely on the customer just accepting the usual annual increse. Always worth a haggle. I found that with boiler service.
We insured through Nationwide for quite a few years, who are underwritten by Royal Sun Alliance. This year we swapped to Aviva and it was much cheaper with fewer restrictions. They have the standard policy and Aviva Plus, which may or may not be cheaper. We went with Plus. I’d suggest you get a Plus quote as a benchmark.
Saga may be worth trying for a quote, but be prepared to haggle hard! I did, and got really good deals on a standard type buildings policy with a tailored contents policy (really good cover for hi-fi, jewellery and e-bikes!).
Of course, Dave may not be an old git like most of us. We used Saga on the car for a while and they got really pricey. That’s with Aviva too these days.
I am insured with NFU.
When my garage was burgled and two of my expensive mountain bikes stolen there was no quibbling, they just told me to get three quotes for replacing them.
My work collegue used be a loss adjuster and file dropped on his desk and the insurer was NFU he was happy because he knew it would not be a lot of hassle, unlike other companies.
No they are not the cheapest. IMHO you only get what you pay for with insurance.
What a coincidence! I’ve just received a renewal notice for my car insurance … up by 11.225%. And I was hoping for a lower premium given the reduction in journeys we heard about for 2 - 4 mths (presumably = less claims). We’ve driven 1,420 miles these last 12mths (c.w. 4,485 miles the previous 12mths) so a 'phone call is on my agenda.
Back on topic, we’ve been with NationWide the last few years and each year I get the telephone representative to confirm that the Naim kit is covered … it’s worth much more than both cars!
Mitch
First thing is to make sure it is on a New For Old basis, then look for accidental damage , as an someone who worked in general insurance , I look at cover before price .
Then XS that’s excess nothing to do with Naim.
I came within a whisker of Direct Line’s Select policy but went with L&G’s Gold (though it is underwritten by L& G) I didn’t like their excess .
The cheapest is often not the best value and we all have much more expensive kit , I suspect many of us have decent cameras, computers and watches, I haven’t claimed in 25 years, but the last time they took out my window frame and the Naim with it .
Thanks for the warning! It got me to revisit the documentation and I will admit I can’t see those lovely words: “New for Old”. However the policy schedule states “Unlimited Contents Cover” (and the Hi-Fi is not part of the separate Valuables cover), whilst the Policy Wording includes: "Wear and tear
If the sum insured on your Policy Schedule is less than
the cost of replacing your items as new, we may take
off an amount for wear and tear from the cost of the
new item. "
Which suggests (?) that cover includes New.
My policy also includes Accidental Damage Contents Cover.
But I shall note this for discussion when the policy is up for renewal.
Cheers!
Ah, Hifi is not part of the valuables it is domestic electric equipment .
It may be valuable to you, me Naim and the burglars but it is not classed as a valuable by most insurers. Having said that most insurers haven’t heard of a Naim Statement
Valuables are things like watches, rings, fur coats, paintings and sometimes cameras
I am listening to a NAT 03 as I write, if that needed replacing …
I suspect that system photos would be a very good way (especially with embedded metadata) of proving, along with boxes
As a retired insurance broker with 45 years in the industry, I dealt with numerous large, over £50,000, fire, storm, flood, theft claims etc.
Believe me, if you saw the distress they caused the policyholders, even those properly insured, you would happily pay twice the premium you do now if it guaranteed it would never happen to you.
