House Insurance premiums inflated

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vidapura

Registered User
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39
Hi,
Just got a renewal from Zurich .. gone up from €370 last year to €536 this year..
Went lookin at alternatives and got numbers like €735 and €915 !!! All for the same 4 bed bungalow.. sheesh...

Has anyone got house insurance lately ? Noticed any daft increases like this?

Thanks
 
vidapura said:
Has anyone got house insurance lately ? Noticed any daft increases like this?
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Not quite that bad but prices seemed to have jumped this year for me too.

Massive decrease in home insurance costs!

My renewal quote was 360 euro. I generated a new quote for increased buildings and contents value from the same company, came in just under 320 euro. Spoke to their customer service representative, who couldn't match my renewal with the new quote!
www.askaboutmoney.com
All you can do is shop around a widely as possible.

Make sure that you're insuring for a reasonable rebuilding cost and not the market value.

SCSI House Rebuild Calculator – Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland

scsi.ie scsi.ie
 
I got my renewal few days ago, gone up a lot but because they said a 25% index linking was applied, well I haven't phoned them yet but that's way too much based on a very accurate measuring and pricing last year. A new house was built near me this year by neighbour's child and I know what it cost and it's way bigger and higher spec than mine even if I had to replace mine from the ground there is no way it would cost the now higher sum insured. I insured it very accurately last year, measured it all etc and I'm not going with a 25% increase on that!

That said I haven't shopped around yet, it could be even worse based on OPs experiences, mine is Zurich too.
 
vidapura said:
Went lookin at alternatives and got numbers like €735 and €915 !!! All for the same 4 bed bungalow.. sheesh...
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Those were FBD and AA respectively.. 300k rebuild cost.. and nothing out of the way about the house.. normal roof and all that... 25k contents (the minimum) and one engagement ring.. oh and no claims in over six years...

I'll have to keep lookin I reckon..
 
vidapura said:
Those were FBD and AA respectively.. 300k rebuild cost.. and nothing out of the way about the house.. normal roof and all that... 25k contents (the minimum) and one engagement ring.. oh and no claims in over six years...

I'll have to keep lookin I reckon..
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Maybe I better just pay my renewal and stay quiet based on that! :eek: Mine is 515 for 462k rebuild and 62k contents, normal enough 1990 bungalow including converted attic, 2500 sq ft or thereabouts. No jewellery though, that can be expensive!
 
vidapura said:
Hi,
Just got a renewal from Zurich .. gone up from €370 last year to €536 this year..
Went lookin at alternatives and got numbers like €735 and €915 !!! All for the same 4 bed bungalow.. sheesh...

Has anyone got house insurance lately ? Noticed any daft increases like this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
380 last year Chill. Quoted me 495 this year. Lazy me one call to Axa and paid 375. That was 8 weeks back.
 
gipimann said:
I am with Zurich. I got a higher renewal quote earlier in the summer, but got a cheaper quote online from them by signing up as a new customer.
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Yah, did that last year.. didn't work this year..:(

Axa.. €753 .. sheesh..
 
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Aviva - 675 listed on renewal, up from 519 last year - no change in cover/sums insured. Quote as new customer is 50 euro less.
Although I normally avoid like the plague for "extras", I did check BOI - as a customer and with the discounts, for increased cover of both buildings and insurance vs Aviva (I was planning to increase this year), they come in at 570 with either similar or lower excess and Aviva. That quote is underwritten by FBD.

Trying a few more also, but I think I'm done with Aviva anyway. When I increase the buildings and contents it's only going one way with them. Seriously considering BOI, perhaps because I have a supersaver account with them now, which also provides 100 euro cash back if I purchase a home insurance policy from them. Will do a lot more small print reading, but it's shocking how much they keep ramping up home insurance premiums. Last year Aviva hiked it by 15%...
 
vidapura said:
Hi,
Just got a renewal from Zurich .. gone up from €370 last year to €536 this year..
Went lookin at alternatives and got numbers like €735 and €915 !!! All for the same 4 bed bungalow.. sheesh...

Has anyone got house insurance lately ? Noticed any daft increases like this?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I'm with zurich too and due for renewal mid October. I recently reviewed by rebuilding costs and rang them in september to amend. I had been badly underinsured as per the chartered surveyors rebuilding costs guidelines. The renewal increased this amount again now by 25% so I will be phoning them on Monday to amend back down and see if that helps my renewal premium. They still seem to be the most competitive around atm. An Post are their nearest rivals in my analysis so far. If anyone finds better please share, thank you. I already tried Supervalu and Chill.
 
I amended mine last year to correct amounts as that guideline but the renewal with Zurich was index linked 25% which to me is a ridiculous amount even with the increase in building costs, anyway I rang broker and had it brought back down to the amount the chart agrees with and a more realistic figure for my house. Brought the cost back down to 450ish for 380k cover and 60k contents, plenty for my house.
 
Sorry folks.. I was sure I had replied to this with my what I paid in the finish, but I don't see my message.. here goes again so...

After hearing me laughing manically at the latest quote of, I kid you not, €1030 via BOI.... my wife got in on the act and did up a quote via Bonkers.ie.. and it turned out to be with.. taa daa.. Zurich..

She had a bit of trouble retrieving the quote .. so she ended up ringing Zurich.. spent a while talking to a nice girl who did her best to help and eventually gave her a discretionary discount...
So we ended up at ... €395.59... which is by far the cheapest we could get.. Its Up on last year... (€370)... but it does include an upward adjustment in the rebuild cost.

So I'd say definitely get on the phone and see what you can wring out of them.
But for gods sake don't go cheap on the rebuild cost... that will come back to bite you if, god forbid, you do need to rebuild.
 
vidapura said:
So I'd say definitely get on the phone and see what you can wring out of them.
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100% - always shop around - at least online if not even more widely - for home, car, health, life insurances.
vidapura said:
But for gods sake don't go cheap on the rebuild cost... that will come back to bite you if, god forbid, you do need to rebuild.
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Ditto. Err on the side of caution when choosing what rebuilding cost to insure for.
 
with axa, no claims over 10 years, normal semi D. cost went from 580 to 805.
did some research and have other quotes from 495 etc. crazy stuff
 
I got a renewal notice for €499 from FBD.
I went online with the same criteria and all quotes were north of €700.
Just wondering if there's a cartel going on??
 
Yah, you'd have to wonder wouldn't you?
But that piece on the news this morning saying that the average rebuild cost has increased 12% isn't helping.

Try Bonkers and see what you might get.. we keep ending up back to Zurich.. not sure why.. might be our part of the country.

I do know that my wife ringing up to discuss the quote helped a lot cos she got a "discretionary discount" from the person she was talkin to.. that was Zurich trying to hold onto us as existing customers.. so maybe a bit of leverage there.. You could try the same with FBD.
 
got 3 years insurance with Zurich last year, one less thing to worry about for a while.

Rebuild costs are sky-rocketing though, had to increase ours by about 50% at the time. As I understand it if you have to make any claim, and the assessor finds you are under-insured, your claim will be reduced by the same percentage.
 
shweeney said:
As I understand it if you have to make any claim, and the assessor finds you are under-insured, your claim will be reduced by the same percentage.
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That is correct and why it's so important to review this regularly.
 
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