Anyone recommend a house insurance company?

[andrewducker]

I've been generally very happy with the service I've had from Direct Line, but they want to charge me £450 per year.

I tried Compare The Market, and found I could get covered through Admiral (for example) for £150.

So I go and look at reviews of Admiral and find hundreds of reviews saying "They were cheap and easy to set up. Never had to claim. 5 stars." which is absolutely no use whatsoever.

Anyone ever had to claim on house insurance and had a good experience?

Comments

[doug]

No good recommendations, but worth knowing that many (most?) insurers don't actually do the customer-facing bits of insurance any more. There are separate, specialist companies they contract to do claims management, to do loss adjustment/assessment, and to manage remediation - and then the contractors who do the rebuilding work, and their subcontractors, who are the ones who actually turn up on your doorstep with tools. This confusing mess of subcontracting does not make things better. They don't make this clear or obvious.

I thought I'd avoided it with car insurance but was wrong. Latest example: I had a total loss event in late 2018 (long story for a different time). Then in mid-2019, I was contacted about renewing the insurance. They were cross when I said I no longer had the vehicle and said I should have told them. I said they had written it off, and sent me a cheque for the market value and towed the carcass away. They then said that was different companies (it was, under contract to them) managed via different departments and I should have told this department. They were unimpressed at my suggestion that perhaps they should improve their internal communications.

I've given up and just buy car insurance on price and budget for self-insurance like I do for everything I can. Not ideal but I do not have confidence in my ability to find better.

[alithea]

We haven't needed to claim but John Lewis have very good terms and have been cheaper for us than alternatives, and I'm pretty sure Kev found some good reviews from people who had claimed. Having said which, we had a somewhat restricted choice because the Turret is over a hundred years old and a stone building, which some insurers apparently won't cover for buildings insurance, only contents.

[drplokta]

NFU Mutual, though they may be a bit specialist, and you're not their target market. Claiming on a burst water pipe (under the front garden, so no damage, just the cost of fixing the pipe) was literally one short phone call and then one email attaching the invoice I'd paid.

[alithea]

A friend used to work for an insurance brokerage and they always recommended NFU.

[alithea]

What is the rebuild cost of your house btw? £450 doesn't seem unreasonable to me but then ours has to cover the fact that not all the flats in this building are insured :(

[andrewducker]

180k

[armiphlage]

Wow! That's amazing!


Average house price in Toronto is currently 514k GBP.

*jealous*

[andrewducker]

Oh that's the rebuild cost. The actual cost to buy it was 345k.

[armiphlage]

Still jealous!!!!

[rmc28]

I've claimed twice from Nationwide (once for a stolen bike on contents, once for a broken window on buildings, he latter also used their emergency callout service).

I've changed around a few times over the years and I think we are currently with Legal & General and have been for a few years.

I've also had occasion to use the legal advice service, which is often offered included or very cheap with home insurance. Always get it! My SIL used it to successfully sue a former employer for constructive dismissal; mine gave me helpful advice about a neighbour boundary issue, which I was able to resolve without having to invoke actual suing, but I knew I had the option after taking the advice.

[rmc28]

Oh, meant to say that Nationwide were really good both times we had to claim.

[naath]

We are also with NW, they were decent when we claimed for nicked stuff and broken windows, but were less good with "items of sentimental value and unclear provenance" (I guessed the monetary amount and they gave vouchers to a related shop which is not one I'd usually buy from) but were better at exact replacements for items of know origin (electronics mostly); the windows were mended properly and promptly.

[cmcmck]

Sometimes worth checking out local brokers if you have them which you should do in a city your size.

[emperor]

Churchill haven't been terrible so far.

[andrewducker]

Have you made any claims from them?

[emperor]

Yes, one that is completed, and another in progress (not a great end-of-year!).

[andrewducker]

On the one hand, useful to hear!

On the other hand I hope nothing else suffers a catastrophic existence failure in the near future!

[anef]

We're with Aviva and although they probably aren't cheap, if you fit their criteria for a claim in our experience they are fast and efficient in sorting it (through subcontractors, as noted).