Home Insurance

My John Lewis home insurance policy up for renewal this month. Given the change of insurer to Munich re Group and others pointing out changes to the maximum value for a single item changing, I spoke to them to clarify. They said that they were maintaining the terms and conditions of the current policy. They asked for the value of the hifi and whether bought as one system or individual elements. I stated the latter and they wanted to know max value of single item and I used nd555 as an example. They went away to check and have confirmed via email that the system would be covered under the new policy as if it currently is. I have read the new policy wording and no mention of a specific contents maximum. I am exploring other options such as Aviva but it looks like they may have changed the contents conditions over the past few months.

2 Likes

Thanks for the heads up thatā€™s interesting, my JLP policy is due soon and I was expecting to have to move after my conversations with them last year. I did approach Aviva recently and they were considerably cheaper but I didnā€™t go into too much detail. Let us know how you get on, there is a dedicated thread for home insurance, perhaps this would be better there?

Hi Guys,

I do have a policy that includes a fix amount of money per mĀ² (a minimum fo 1.200 Euro is mandatory or they will cut away a couple of percentage by full damage). So I documented all property whith pictures/invoices and put a value behind every item. I decided to go for this rule over a thump: When I am looking at the common market what do I have to pay for and this was fundamentally o. k. for the insurance company. I ask for confirmation and after a couple of back and force the insurance company confirmed that everything is covered. I am reviewing this every 5 years or so and tell them changes. I strongly would recommend to do this so you will be relatively safe when you do have a damage. If you do not get an answer termination of the police could help. You will be surprised how quick they can answer!

Best regards,

Alexander

My insurer in the U.K. provides a new for old replacement cover.

However, when I submitted a breakdown of what that would be, including cables, it caused consternation. It meant that I needed to look at the type of locks we had etc etc. and the overall value didnā€™t land well with the underwriters.

Itā€™s an olive system. It is specifically called out in the policy because the separate boxes are seen to work together and because of the overall sum involved in assembling it as is, but presenting the sum on the basis of replacement on a box by box with todayā€™s closest equivalent left me with a mental image of tea being spat out in shock.

Iā€™ll have to think again before the next renewal. Itā€™s covered as it is to replace Olive with Olive but that is not new for old.

1 Like

Quite a few UK insurance companies now provide unlimited cover (i.e. no restriction on the total value of contents), which takes a lot of the stress and concern away.

They do e.g. Aviva.

I find itā€™s better to discuss and be open around the value of the hi-fi and anything else, and make of note of when you call them (as they record calls). This can play back in your favour and, if concerned, write them a note and ask them to ack. your general position.

Whenever Iā€™ve spoken to Aviva, theyā€™ve been relaxed on the hi-fi, the moreso when I explained the weight and other mitigating theft factors. Their risk focus has always been on ā€˜Valuablesā€™ (e.g. the easily portable & usually stolen stuff).

Anything which is an easy ā€œstealā€ seems to be the factor for premiums. Box based hi-fi looks not to be that important even with pretty heafty replacement costs.
Up-market watches: something else.

While in hospital I rang JLP to ask when my policy was due renewal (I couldnā€™t remember whether it was due or the policy on my late wifeā€™s house), they told me they had no record on the system and I should contact RSA because the policy had probably transferred to the original underwriters. Now Iā€™m feeling better I need to follow that up, I was less than impressed.

Oh dear that is worrying! RSA were the original underwriters and are still covering my policy, but it switches in December to the more restricted cover of the new underwriters. Although it does appear that they have relaxed their initial restrictions, last year it was very clear to me that Iā€™d have to find another insurer, but perhaps not now. Iā€™ll have to check Aviva again it looked attractive. Will report back!

We are currently insured with Arriva, with renewal at the end of this year, so this thread is interesting.

Early this year I bought an expensive e-bike, and wanted to cover it and my wifeā€™s against theft, anywhere, but especially travelling with a campervan. Specialist bike insurance was ridiculously expensive at something approaching Ā£500. I asked Arriva about upping the ā€˜contents away from homeā€™ to Ā£25k (from 15k IIRC), and it was about Ā£100 so did that.

N.B. My understanding is that this section includes all the things we may have away from home and want covered, not just the max at any one time, so a loss adjuster could visit and tot up obvious things still in the house in event of a claim (camera gear, binoculars, valuables like jewellery and watches, outdoor clothing, etc) otherwise weā€™d have left at Ā£15k because unlikely to have a lot of other value away at same time as bikes.

Deleted, please remove.

I paid over Ā£600 with JL last year, when they didnā€™t require you to list high value items, my policy is due Dec 1, not revived anything from them yet probably too early. I did start a quote on their website and it was coming out cheaper even listing high value items, Aviva looked even better value but I didnā€™t fully itemise everything.

I have used Aviva for ages (I think that they were Norwich Union when I started), and I donā€™t need to itemise high value items, but I do have a nominated ā€˜all risksā€™ sum itemised in the cover.

I must have a look at these sorts of things, to check that my cover is adequate.

Just renewing mine now. This year Ā£228. Last year Ā£252, year before Ā£234, year before Ā£179.

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.