Home Insurance

[Efrogwr]

Our home insurance renewal premium is massively more than last year. It's currently with Nationwide BS.

I looked at a couple of co parison websites, but the premiums anc cover vary wildly.

I don't mind chasing quotes, but where to start? I've got quotes from Tesco, Marks&Spencer and John Lewis. I'll try Adrian Flux and NFU Mutual, but that means phone calls... I'll need to make time.

Can anyone suggest more providers? And also point out pitfalls/snags?

[Flite]

From the Consumers Association:

NFU Mutual was our only Which? Recommended Provider (WRP) this year.

We have had all our house, vehicle and bike insurance with the NFU for about 50 years.
For service when you need it (and we certainly have!), you won't do better.
When we phone, it's answered quickly by a real person in a local office, who has an accent I can understand.
We do compare every so often, but checking like for like is difficult.
When car insurance premiums went up last year, I phoned and we adjusted the estimated mileage and excess, and it came down quite a lot. (Better than LV)
And when there was a delay in our payment last year (slow Royal Mail), they phoned to check:
"Don't worry, we will keep you covered, we know the money is on it's way"

[rr]

Halifax have been good for us and bikes for the last couple of years.

[MikeFromLFE]

NFU are selective about which areas they will cover - my postcode is excluded by NFU (and bizarrely by the Coop).
After experience of the level of service from a cheap car insurance provider I deliberately looked at the service reviews for claims on house insurance before I looked at the price.
I'm currently with M&S (who I think are fronting for Aviva) although John Lewis was a close second.
Thankfully I've not yet had to test the claims process - which is where the proof of the pudding comes in.
I'm extremely sceptical about cheap insurance - where are they cutting costs? I'd guess it's in the claims handling.

[Jurek]

The above ^ echoes my experience both with the NFU and M&S.
The impression I had from the NFU was that they'll cover you if you live in the countryside, but not in London - but I may've imagined that.

[slope]

This thread reminded me that I never did get around to insuring my current home contents for 20 years now in a rented property after previous decades of home ownership mortgage related buildings insurance insistance, so I phoned NFU Mutual today.

Got a surprisingly small quote, including 2 x E-bikes + 3 others bikes, whilst at home and out and about (no specific lock requirements, other than locked to an immoveable object - this being rural Wales and not no city scenario?) - and their minimum £25,000 contents cover, which I'm sure I don't need at all - ain't got that much shit? Perhaps? Nah.

However, for various reasons I spoke to 3 different very friendly and efficient "associates" . . .

Unfortunately, their accents were tres tres broad specific Scottish region methinks - and I struggled with persistent requests of "could you repeat that please?"

But it was nevertheless a pleasant and reassuring experience, definitely enhanced by one cheeky chappy (associate), who referred to one of his colleagues as a bit of a wee donkey and called me a superstar!

They got my money and I got me insurance

ps am going to have to brush up on Scottish accents - even though I thought I could 'hear' and get them all, having many varying linguistic friends north of that border

[De Sisti]

I was going to go with NFU, but I could not guarantee that I could always lock my bike to an
immovable object when out and about. Lock it, yes, but sometimes finding sometimes finding
a thing to lock it to isn't always achievable. YMMV

[Paul H]

I was going to go with NFU, but I could not guarantee that I could always lock my bike to an
immovable object when out and about. Lock it, yes, but sometimes finding sometimes finding
a thing to lock it to isn't always achievable. YMMV

Isn't that going to be the same with any insurer?  Some have vague terms like "appropriately secured"  but good luck arguing a claim when there's differing opinions on what's appropriate.

[Wombat]

We're with NFU Mutual, and I have to confess I've not hunted around for alternatives for some years. The customer service is top notch, in our case we walk into the local branch and talk to the helpful people there, to discuss my awkward requirements for my photographic equipment and my live steam locomotives, both of which can travel in my car with me, and are each worth several times what the car is worth!  We do also insure our two cars with them. Our bikes are only covered in the normal way as household items, as they never go out and get left elsewhere, and the their value does not warrant special cover these days.

I do have to see them again soon, as I have a new locomotive coming, which is a special commission build, and will be worth over £10k, and will get carried to events.  It'll have a chip (like a cat chip) a tracker, and will be in a bloody great box with my name written all over it in big letters, and will be locked to an object at any events if its on display.  Not looking forward to that chat with NFU!

[HTFB]

Hmm. I suspect even this rural corner of Southwark is not rural enough for NFU. Though I did, about thirty years ago in Jordans Quaker Meeting House, once talk with an old woman who remembered cows being driven along Lordship Lane in East Dulwich.

LV (on my union's discount scheme) has just refused to give me an online quote at all. Wonder what I've typed in wrong? Also the broker for our previous insurance didn't pick up my email. This is difficult on a Saturday afternoon. Anyway, more recommendations?

[Mr Larrington]

Hmm. I suspect even this rural corner of Southwark is not rural enough for NFU. Though I did, about thirty years ago in Jordans Quaker Meeting House, once talk with an old woman who remembered cows being driven along Lordship Lane in East Dulwich.

Up until the last foot'n'mouth outbreak certain folks were permitted to graze their cattle in Epping Forest.  Causing not a little consternation when they went walkabout over the Whipps Cross Road and into the mean streets of Leytonstone.  I came home from jbex one afternoon and found a large bovine contentedly snacking on the front hedge.

[Efrogwr]

Thanks everybody.

In the end we went for Tesco, because the cover is very similar to what we already have, but better for uor bikes.

[robgul]

Hmm. I suspect even this rural corner of Southwark is not rural enough for NFU. Though I did, about thirty years ago in Jordans Quaker Meeting House, once talk with an old woman who remembered cows being driven along Lordship Lane in East Dulwich.

Up until the last foot'n'mouth outbreak certain folks were permitted to graze their cattle in Epping Forest.  Causing not a little consternation when they went walkabout over the Whipps Cross Road and into the mean streets of Leytonstone.  I came home from jbex one afternoon and found a large bovine contentedly snacking on the front hedge.

You reminded me of the sight of my mother, in a dressing gown, wielding a badminton racquet to drive a couple of cattle out of our garden in Buckhurst Hill (we had a narrow 80 yard driveway from the road that they managed to wander up to the house)   

I assume that the cattle grids they installed in the mid 1960s on the Waterworks junction/roundabout are long gone? (Dunrunners will know the answer to that question)

[Ham]

Hmm. I suspect even this rural corner of Southwark is not rural enough for NFU. Though I did, about thirty years ago in Jordans Quaker Meeting House, once talk with an old woman who remembered cows being driven along Lordship Lane in East Dulwich.

Up until the last foot'n'mouth outbreak certain folks were permitted to graze their cattle in Epping Forest.  Causing not a little consternation when they went walkabout over the Whipps Cross Road and into the mean streets of Leytonstone.  I came home from jbex one afternoon and found a large bovine contentedly snacking on the front hedge.

You reminded me of the sight of my mother, in a dressing gown, wielding a badminton racquet to drive a couple of cattle out of our garden in Buckhurst Hill (we had a narrow 80 yard driveway from the road that they managed to wander up to the house)   

I assume that the cattle grids they installed in the mid 1960s on the Waterworks junction/roundabout are long gone? (Dunrunners will know the answer to that question)

The Waterworks have been substantially reworked (relatively) recently, which saw the end of them. (It was BSE not F&M that saw the end to the grazing)

On the home insurance front, don't forget to play with voluntary excess which can have a substantially beneficial effect on the premiums.

ETA : As a denizen of the Wanstead Flats area, the cows were a common feature here, often leaving the grassy lowlands to live the life of a flaneur and take time to smell eat the roses. Motorised traffic was in some cases infuriated by the impediment to their progress as they crossed the road, so much so that they would wield their noisy horns at the beasts with the horns. Of course the normal result of this would be that the cows stopped dead to contemplate the source of the noise, which was satisfyong to watch.

[Sergeant Pluck]

The impression I had from the NFU was that they'll cover you if you live in the countryside, but not in London - but I may've imagined that.

NFU seem happy to cover the wilds of East Twickenham. I think I'll go with them this time. LV doubled their quote.