Your home insurance cost cutting tips

A question about : Your home insurance cost cutting tips

This discussion relates to the following article - click here !to read.

IF you have a suggestion or tip to cut the cost of home insurance click reply

Best answers:

• ;D A suggestion for those who don't know what they are doing as I've posted myself on here to say this one confuses me and seen several others say the same.
  Choose companies with 0800 quote lines - I spent 45 mins on the phone to Prudential yesterday chatting to a girl named Becky who was brilliant. I asked a ton of questions about how various bits of the cover would work and how they would suit me and she was patient and friendly throughout.
  Actually the quote was gobsmackingly good too - but my point is that it has given me the tools now to start the process as per the article with quote comparisons and haggling because now I understand more clearly what I do and don't need.
• Note about the locks/ alarm discounts
  -
  if claiming these discounts - make sure they are up to the specified requirements, and in the case of alarms may need an annual maintenance check.
  Also not using the security fitted (and discount claimed) could cause problems on claims.
  --
  Watch out for small claims - not only will you lose NCD (upto 30% in some cases) lots of small claims may mean new insurers are not keen to take you on.
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• After searching around for home and contents insuarnce recently, I was reccomended to try Liverpool Victoria. Their quote was approximately half any other qoute and a quarter of others! Unbelievable!! ;D
• I have been with Liverpool Victoria for over 2 years now. They give a blanket contents cover of Ј125,000 which is much more than any other. I have had to claim twice this year, once for a mobile phone and once for some lost jewellery. On both occaisions I was expecting to get 5 thousand questions and loads of hassle, but they couldn't have been nicer or had an easier process. One phone call with the details of the missing items and the cheque arrived 24 hours later. NO HASSLE!
  They were also by far the cheapest quote. I would definately recommend you check them out before deciding who to go with. Call on 0845 6064304. The other good thing is once your a customer all phone numbers are still landline numbers not 0845 or 0870 so are free if your on a calling package. You can also pay for your premiums monthly.
• Can anyone recommend an insurance company to cover a piece of jewellery on it's own rather than include it in a contents policy ???
  I'm thinking it could be cheaper that way ;D
• I've not come accros any for this purpose, however most policies will cover an individual item up to the value of Ј1000 without it being a specified item. If the value is over Ј1000 then it becomes a specified item and they add it to the cost of the policy. It depends on how much its worth as to how much extra it will cost to cover, but I've always found it to be quite reasonable for extra items.
  hope this helps.
  Mel
• I have great fun doing my insurance. I have all my insurance done through Lloyds TSB. Buildings, contents, home emergency, pet, car, you name it I've got it.
  The bit I love is the building and contents combination - I never lose.
  You phone them up on their freephone number (a good start - this you can get in any yellow pages - Lloyds TSB Insure Direct) and ask for a quote on both.
  Be realistic about the facts - don't insure the building for Ј100,000 if you only paid Ј100,000 (it is a rebuild cost not a building value - if you're uncertain speak to your mortgage company). A friend insured the contents of her freezer for Ј500 - Why? If you have bicycles be aware of the value they insure up to away from the home and at home. I had trouble when mine went walkabout. It was insured up to Ј500 but was worth Ј750. Remember - the higher the insured value the higher the quote value.
  As per previous responses be aware of the pitfalls of claiming discounts on alarm systems. If they are not armed but you get burgled you risk the policy being voided. I do believe Lloyds do not offer discounts for this reason.
  Anyway - the bit I love is when you get the quote you ask to claim the offer for the M&S vouchers Ј20 per policy so you get Ј40. At this stage you have to look at whether you are getting a better offer than you currently pay. I almost always do!! However you take Ј40 in vouchers off the quote value. Lloyds TSB obviously offer DD. Use it. After they have taken the 1st payment they despatch the voucher.
  Now then what you do is look out for the random "junk" mail from Lloyds TSB insure direct (the one piece of junk I do look out for). You should look for the ones with the M&S voucher offer. Open it up and call them again and take out the offer for the vouchers. REMEMBER to cancel the DD on your old policy. In the last 12 months I have had Ј80 in vouchers and still managed to reduce my insurance premiums - FANTASTIC. D'you know what I could give Ј20 in vouchers to my Mum every year and I'd still be saving money!!
  The replacement policy is normally the identical policy to the one I cancelled so NU are none the wiser. The losers are Lloyds TSB.
  ;DI LOVE MY BANK ;D
• [flash=200,200][/flash] You mentioned "Approved Locks on all windows and doors."
  MANY POLICIES WILL THEN VOID YOU IF THEY ARE NOT LOCKED, EVEN IF THAT WAS NOT CAUSE OF THEFT!!
  also mentioned "Obtain contents and building cover with same insurer. Be wary of this discount, often the cheapest separate policies still provide better value. This is especially true if you are in a higher risk category for either type of cover e.g. at high risk of theft for contents, at high risk of subsidence for buildings."
  IF YOU HAVE TO SEPERATE POLICIES, THERE ARE MANY GRAY AREAS, WHERE THEY PUSH YOU FROM ONE TO THE OTHER, WHERAS IF ONE POLICY, THERE WILL BE NO PROBLEMS.[glow=red,2,300][/glow]
• Ive often wondered if occupation affects your quote. I could class myself as a house-husband, fulltime carer, local government officer or self employed partime landlord! i would love to know which would get me the cheapest quote.
• ALL VG STUFF --------- heard somewhere that the HALIFAX do a House Policy that does NOT need you to put in the value of the house AND only costs approx. Ј250 PA. ANYBODY any experience of this?
• Norman, many policies around that have unspecified / v high block limits on building insurance.
  Like Halifax they are postcode/ propery type assessed.
• shared house? Almost no insurers seem to do it (except endsleigh, who always cost a fortune) and it never seems to be an option in online forms/comparissons...
  Surely there must be a lot of people out there in shared houses and people to insure them?
• Received my Direct Line renewal today for Home and Contents Insurance. They were "delighted" to tell me that my cover for next year would be better than before!! So was the quote- over Ј370 for the year and over Ј390 if I paid by instalments! An increase of Ј100 from last year and I have not even made a claim!
  So I went on Egg and got a quote from them. Because I am an existing customer the quote was.....Ј210 and just over Ј220 if I paid instalments.
  Thank you very much!!! ;D ;D
• I think it was More Than that I used when I was in a shared house. I had the same problem and was enthralled to discover that Endsleigh wasn't my only choice!
• Following on from my last post about my good deal with Egg insurance for house and contents... I have also been given a year's free travel insurance for the family for travel within Europe too. It can be extended for world cover at a small extra charge. Well done Egg.
• Thanks Steve for the tip to use Lloyds TSB. I managed to get my buildings/contents about Ј35 cheaper. Also mentioned if they still did the offer with the vouchers and will also qualify for Ј40 of these. Not a bad saving for 10 minutes work.
• LloydsTSB sent me a flyer-
  Ј30 M&S vouchers etc, just in time for my renewal next week.
  Promise of Double the discount max Ј100 - well even that was not enough to make them the cheapest!
  Tried to say typical 3 bed semi needed around Ј19000 contents cover. ( currently I have unspecified to Ј40K, and think I need it)
  Chap said they were quoting the best on the market-
  ( later clarified under questioning as "top 10 insurers"- a bit vague on how they work out which companies are the top 10)
  Their !building insurance alone was more than my renewal quote for Building and contents combined.
  ( and thats ignoring that my firm / I then get 25% commission on my own plan as well !)
• For home & contents insurance I'd recommend the Bradford & Bingley Market Place at:
  https://www.bradford-bingley.co.uk/insurance/home.asp
  You can get quotes from a panel of insurers.
  Last year for building + contents, I paid Ј69 for the year for a 3-bed semi + Ј15,000 contents (I did take some voluntary excesses).
• Don't quite understand this, but I've just got a quote from Bradford and Bingley Market Place (thanks for the link Suzz) for home contents. Anyway, put my boyfriend in as the main holder and the quote came out at Ј143.08. Put the same details in but with my name as main holder and it's Ј138. Not much difference, but a pint each in the pub!
  But, my boyfriend is in full time employment, and I'm going to be a student (which I put in the quote). How does that work?!