Home Insurance FAQ
How can I save money on my home insurance?
What affects Home Insurance costs?
What’s the difference between building and contents cover?
How do I value my things?
What types of Contents Insurance cover are there?
Does buying Combined Buildings & Contents Insurance save me money?
What does Buildings Insurance cover?
Who needs Buildings Insurance?
Do I have to buy my Buildings Insurance from my mortgage lender?
How much Buildings Insurance cover do I need?
How do I reduce the risk then?
Is it worth trying to hide material facts?
To save money on your home insurance you’ll need to do two things.
Firstly you need to shop around. Luckily Plan Insurance will do that part for you.
We deal with over 80 home insurance policies. So we can offer you the best cover, the lowest price and impartial advice.
Your mortgage provider can only offer one price, and that’s their own.
Secondly you need to make sure you arrange the right cover. There’s no point cutting corners on your insurance for a short term saving. If you’re under insured and something major goes wrong, you could loose thousands of pounds in the long run. Likewise if you’re over insured, you’re wasting money paying for cover you don’t need.
So it’s best to check the information below to make sure you arrange the correct cover.
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Insurer’s costs are affected by the level of cover you set and the amount of risk you present to them. The less cover you insure and the less risk you present to the insurance company, the less they stand to payout, and the less you pay.
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Contents cover is insurance for all your movable assets, the things you’d take with if you moved house i.e. insurance for clothes, books, furniture, carpets, etc.
Buildings insurance covers the house itself.
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Normally you define a specific ‘sum insured.’
The
total contents of the average home are said to be worth around £25,000! The average living room alone actually contains around £5,000-worth of property!
The ‘sum insured’ is the maximum amount the insurer might have to pay out in the event of a claim. If you set the amount too low, the amount the insurer pays out might not cover your losses. It’s especially important to set the right amount when you’re in a high risk area for contents cover, e.g. you’re at risk for burglary or flooding. However if you set the amount too high, the insurance premium will be overly expensive.
To work out the correct amount walk from room to room, noting down what everything would cost to replace on a new-for-old basis, including fittings. It soon adds up.The Association of British Insurer's website (ABI) has a useful calculation form you can complete.
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Once you’ve defined the cover level, make sure you know what type of cover you want;
New for old. You receive the original price of the items. However for clothing there’s usually a wear and tear deduction.
Indemnity cover. Is cheaper as the insurer only pays out the current value of your possessions.
‘All risks’ cover is for valuables outside of your home. For example laptops, jewelry, wallets etc
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Combining both policies together means that some insures will allow extra discounts that will lower the cost of your insurance.
However if you have time, obtain quotes for separate buildings and contents policies as well. If the price difference btween seperate and combined policies isn’t great, combined policies have the benefit that if a claim could be covered by both the contents and building policies, then there’s no disagreement between your insurers as to who is liable to payout. This means the claim should be settled quicker.
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This covers the house’s structure and all permanent fixtures and fittings against floods, storm, fire, explosions, malicious damage and other risks.
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If you’re renting a property your landlord should have Buildings Insurance. If you have a leasehold housing agreement, then the freeholder will usually have the Buildings Insurance policy that you will pay for via the ‘Ground Rent’. We recommend you make sure though.
Freehold homeowners generally need to arrange buildings cover.
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Buildings insurance is usually a mortgage requirement. Mortgage providers make a lot of money selling you their often over priced Building’s Insurance policies. Yet you are not obligated to purchase the mortgage company’s Buildings Insurance. Plan’s Building’s Insurance is usually substantially lower in cost than your mortgage lender's prices.
At Plan Insurance we deal with over 80 home insurance policies. So we can offer you the best cover, the lowest price and impartial advice.
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A common mistake is to cover the amount that your home could be sold for. This would result in you paying way too much for your building insurance.
The amount you cover (again called the ‘sum insured’) should be the ‘rebuild value. This is the cost of rebuilding the house from scratch. That’s the total value of materials, labour and architects' fees. It’s important that your building’s insurance covers the cost of your alternative residence whilst your home is being rebuilt.
A survey is the most accurate way to establish the total cost to rebuild, but surveys are expensive. It is not necessary unless you’re getting one anyway when purchasing a new home. If you are unsure simply call Plan Insurance on 0870 066 6855 and one of our experienced staff will give you a rough value based on standard assumptions.
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As stated above reducing the risk, reduces the cost of your insurance. Fitting approved locks and alarms, joining neighbourhood watch schemes etc will result in the lower cost of your policy. Increasing the excess on the policy (the amount you need pay towards any claim) will also reduce the cost.
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Remember, with any insurance policy, no claim will be paid if you are found to be in breach of any stipulated obligations under the policy. This leads on to a second point, when you receive your policy - read it! Make sure it provides the
cover you expect it to provide.
Click here for your low cost home insurance quote
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