# Home Insurance Premium Increase



## milic

I have just received my renewal notice from FBD for my home insurance premium.

It has increased from €530-00 last year to €680-00 this year. An increase of  28%. Can anyone out there beat that?

BTW. I had no claim in the past year.


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## Michael Pat

I also had an increased premium total  E623.I rang BOI for a quote which was a E186 less.I then rang Alz and they requoted me and brought it down to E213 less including govt levy.Im staying with Alz.Ring around and ask them whats the best they can do.


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## peteb

Im sure you have read everywhere that insurance costs are on the increase.  Get some quotes online, ring a broker.  But look at your buildings sums insured as the rebuilding cost has decreased this year and you are probably over insured after many years of insurers increasing these in line with index linking.


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## Jethro Tull

peteb said:


> But look at your buildings sums insured as the rebuilding cost has decreased this year and you are probably over insured after many years of insurers increasing these in line with index linking.



Absolutely. However also look at the contents sum insured as a lot of people upped the spec of kitchens etc over the last 5 years or so without upping contents sums insured.


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## ailbhe

> Absolutely. However also look at the contents sum insured as a lot of people upped the spec of kitchens etc over the last 5 years or so without upping contents sums insured.


 
General rule of thumb is buildings would be anything you would leave if you sold the house and moved out. So kitchen, built in wardrobes, tiles, carpets, wooden floors, fireplace......all classed as buildings.


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## milic

Thanks to all. I have phoned 2 other insurers so far i.e. Prestige and bank of Ireland. Prestige were slightly cheaper and B of I a lot dearer.

I will shop around some more. I think sum for buildings is reasonable. I might be able to reduce contents cover a little though.


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## milic

Correction to my last post. It was AIB and NOT B of I. that I got the dearer quote from.

I will try Bank of Ireland.


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## lukegriffen

I just thought you might be interested in this.  I checked out a home insurance co for an online quote, 
for a 2 bed semi-d  Buildings  €215000,  contents 25000  and I got the following, based on changing the  postal code and then selecting suburb from dropdown list.  For those not familiar, Kimmage is beside Terenure, & Crumlin is beside Kimmage

Kimmage Dublin 12  :  €288.32
Kimmage Dublin 6w  :  €386.65
Terenure Dublin 6w :  €386.65
Crumlin Dublin 12  :  €306.17
Drimnagh Dublin 12  :  €297

So people who like their fancy 6W post code are paying for it 

I never realised quotes could change that much for neighbouring areas.


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## bond-007

peteb said:


> Im sure you have read everywhere that insurance costs are on the increase.  Get some quotes online, ring a broker.  But look at your buildings sums insured as the rebuilding cost has decreased this year and you are probably over insured after many years of insurers increasing these in line with index linking.


They are still increasing cover like this. Crazy in a recession.


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## FilthyRich

We received our renewal quote this week.

Last year, our home insurance cost €347. This year, the same insurance broker has quoted us €511 using the same insurance company as last year.

In the quote, the figure for rebuilding our house has increased by €20 000! I would have thought that, if anything, the rebuild cost of a house would have decreased this year. 

I haven't yet done any looking around, primarily because I haven't a clue how to value the rebuild cost myself. I know there are websites which help with this, I'm just not confident that I'd do it properly.

Anyway, I'd better get my act together and sort it very soon as the renewal date is looming. I very much doubt I'll be paying €511 though.


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## Ed054

ailbhe said:


> General rule of thumb is buildings would be anything you would leave if you sold the house and moved out. So kitchen, built in wardrobes, tiles, carpets, wooden floors, fireplace......all classed as buildings.


 

I agree with most of what you have written but please note that carpets are actually treated as contents and not a building item.


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## Bronte

Watch out for FBD insurance as if you make a claim it appears you will not be allowed to pick your own builder.  I would be willing to pay extra so I could chose my own builder.


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## oldtimer

Like others here I received my home insurance renewal from Zurich and it has gone up from €337 to €387 (no claim). I find this amazing. Have spent past hour on line looking for other quotes and best I got was from www.getcover.ie €240.34 for the very same cover. Is there something I should know? what a difference.


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## mercman

oldtimer said:


> Is there something I should know? what a difference.



Have you compared and checked the Policy details. The wording of the policies often varies where one might seem to have the same cover at a cheaper price but on reading a Policy,details often vary. You might have variances in the T & Cs. 

The devil is in the detail.


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## peteb

make sure it includes accidental damage. a lot of online insurers/brokers will quote without it and then charge extra for it.


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## maura

I got a quote of €640 with 123.ie and with Get cover got quoted €456.64 for the same cover.

 I went back to 123.ie and they examined my building sum insured and thought I was over insured according to the Chartered Surveyors report so they reduced the premium accordingly, but did a further check with getcover.com at the lower building sum insured and it is still cheaper with them.

 I eventually ended up with a quote of €393, which as you can see is a huge difference to what I started off at this morning with €640!. Definitely worth shopping around and checking your building sum insured is accurate.

I've looked at the 2 policy documents and can't see any great difference in cover and it includes Accidental Damage, Unspec. A.R. and Spec. A.R..  Hope this helps someone else.


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## Scotsgirl

I changed to Getcover in January because it was the cheapest i could find, and a good bit cheaper than my cover with 123.ie.  I just had a claim in for damage to a ring and the claim went through very smoothly.

Just curious to see how much my insurance increases to next year though :-(


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## ironman

oldtimer said:


> Like others here I received my home insurance renewal from Zurich and it has gone up from €337 to €387 (no claim). I find this amazing. Have spent past hour on line looking for other quotes and best I got was from www.getcover.ie €240.34 for the very same cover. Is there something I should know? what a difference.


I received home renewal notice from AXA and its gone up a massive €200 since last year. Haven't had any claims in past 10 years. got quote online for €345 which is more than half what AXA is quoting. So its time I gave AXA the AXE.


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## tweety76

milic said:


> I have just received my renewal notice from FBD for my home insurance premium.
> 
> It has increased from €530-00 last year to €680-00 this year. An increase of 28%. Can anyone out there beat that?
> 
> BTW. I had no claim in the past year.


 
I'm shopping around myself at the moment. My car insurance premium also went up. Insure.ie and AAIreland are quoting me dearer than 123.ie- give them a call, they told me if I renew the policy today the will drop it by 40 quid....

Also check that your contents cover hasn't increased since last year- it shouldn't have unless you speficied it.


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## tweety76

oldtimer said:


> Like others here I received my home insurance renewal from Zurich and it has gone up from €337 to €387 (no claim). I find this amazing. Have spent past hour on line looking for other quotes and best I got was from www.getcover.ie €240.34 for the very same cover. Is there something I should know? what a difference.


 
Check your excess, check your accidental damage & check the contents cover match your other quote


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## smiley

My premium went up 50%. I very quickly shopped around and got the increase down to 20% with Quinn direct.


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## Ed054

smiley said:


> My premium went up 50%. I very quickly shopped around and got the increase down to 20% with Quinn direct.


 

Better not have a claim they are awful to deal with


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## dewdrop

Reviving this thread. My home insurance with RSAlliance has gone up from 400 euro to 800 euro. They were not prepared to reduce by anything. I live in an area that apparently has been "blacklisted" due to subsidence claims. Tried some other companies but they would not quote so i am really over a barrel and will have to pay up.  I reckon there will be many uninsured properties this year as the premium will be prohibitive if the person live in an area prone to flooding or subsidence and they have little chance of getting cover elsewhere.  I hope my opinion can be proved wrong.


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## bond-007

> I reckon there will be many uninsured properties this year as the premium will be prohibitive if the person live in an area prone to flooding or subsidence and they have little chance of getting cover elsewhere.


I wonder what the banks will do about it when their mortgaged properties cease to be insured?


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## MandaC

My home insurance is also up for renewal.  I had unfortunately an attempted break in last July and my claim totalled approx 2,500.  I think my insurance previously was about 280 or something like that......my renewal quote is now 658.

Have just tried getcover.ie and my renewal cost is 242 and with some specified risks (expensive watch worth approx. 4k) the total is 311.  Brilliant.


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## allthedoyles

Our renewal from rsa  is € 473  and just checked getcover.ie and it works out at € 223.

Can you tell us who the underwriters are ?


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## dewdrop

In regard to my post no 23 Royal Sun alliance has now agreed t reduce the premium to 600 euro.  I dont know why but am not complaining!


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## ailbhe

allthedoyles said:


> Our renewal from rsa is € 473 and just checked getcover.ie and it works out at € 223.
> 
> Can you tell us who the underwriters are ?


 

Lloyds of London are the underwriters.
Seems to be cheap but accidental damage has to be added on as does unspecified all risks cover. Double check your own policy for these.


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## irishck

last year with aviva my house insurance was €420.this year it was €405.no idea how this works since most ppl here seem to have fgot an increase in their costs without having claimed. my partner and i both have car insurance with aviva maybe this was a factor..


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## AlbacoreA

Wondering how you are working out your reinstatement value. I assume it would have dropped etc.


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## bond-007

> I assume it would have dropped etc.


I made this point to several brokers and they all deny it. They are still adding 5% per year for reinstatement values. This is absolutely crazy.


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## AlbacoreA

How did you work it out or you just accepting the insurance companies valuation?


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## sburke72

Just to let ya know there that fitted kitchens / wardrobes / floors - These are all deemed as part of buildings -


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## MandaC

MandaC said:


> My home insurance is also up for renewal.  I had unfortunately an attempted break in last July and my claim totalled approx 2,500.  I think my insurance previously was about 280 or something like that......my renewal quote is now 658.
> 
> Have just tried getcover.ie and my renewal cost is 242 and with some specified risks (expensive watch worth approx. 4k) the total is 311.  Brilliant.




Just to update this.  My home insurance was up this week, so I phoned to follow up on the above quote.  Before they even got as far as the specified risk, they quoted now 488, which is more than double the original quote. Explanation given was that they have raised premiums substantially over the past 3 weeks!


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## AlbacoreA

Anyone notice any changes in whats covered in their renewal policy?


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## vfillafan

I just got a renewal quote from 123.ie for €529 (no recent claims) when last year it was €279. I will certainly be looking for other quotes. I dont see how they can justify the hike in premium. It seems like blatant profiteering to me.

I already have a quote for €313 from Quinn Direct.


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## RoryMac

I had two properties insured - the family home in Donegal and a rental property in Dublin that I bought ten years ago and my insurance went up from around 600 to 1154.00 - no claims made ever!!!


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## Henrys Cat

I just got a "contents only" renewal notice from Aviva ... and the premium has jumped from from €140 to €340. No previous claims either!


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## pjmn

Paid my Dad's house insurance within the last couple of weeks...

I did it with 123.ie last year - cost at the time E340.

This years quote arrived at E497 (no claims in last year - or ever as far as I can recall).

I rang - no move on same - I said no bother that I'd arrange with a broker locally (bluff on my part)...

Within 10 minutes I got a call from the 'supervisor' - apologising - 'the young fella' I had been speaking with a few minutes earlier had mis-quoted me in error (!) - he reduced quote to E394.  I took it...


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## ailbhe

AlbacoreA said:


> Anyone notice any changes in whats covered in their renewal policy?


 
A lot of companies have increased their excess in the last year. Most who had a standard excess of €120 ish have increased it to €250. The excess for water damage has increased with a lot of companies too.


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## Henrys Cat

I rang Aviva today to query my increase and was told there were not budging on it either. I mentioned a quote I had got from another company offering the exact same amount of cover but was almost €150 cheaper ... but again they said there was no room for change. So all in all it looks like I'll be switching insurance company.


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## bond-007

Their loss, not yours.


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## dewdrop

Henry Cats please ensure that the terms of your new insurer are not in any way less than your current insurer.


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## Henrys Cat

dewdrop said:


> Henry Cats please ensure that the terms of your new insurer are not in any way less than your current insurer.



Yep, doubled and treble checked before ringing Aviva.


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## allthedoyles

We found getcover.ie the cheapest  for home insurance .


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## babaduck

We were with 123.ie but their renewal quote was €300 more, so I did a lot of shopping around & moved to Allianz Direct.  €50 more expensive than last year's policy but we upped our contents & all risks significantly in the process.


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## sulo

I did this comparison on 123.ie:

And if you live in D24 - you pay €517 on buildings 200,000 and contents 35k   in Dublin 6 - you pay €243





lukegriffen said:


> I just thought you might be interested in this. I checked out a home insurance co for an online quote,
> for a 2 bed semi-d Buildings €215000, contents 25000 and I got the following, based on changing the postal code and then selecting suburb from dropdown list. For those not familiar, Kimmage is beside Terenure, & Crumlin is beside Kimmage
> 
> Kimmage Dublin 12 : €288.32
> Kimmage Dublin 6w : €386.65
> Terenure Dublin 6w : €386.65
> Crumlin Dublin 12 : €306.17
> Drimnagh Dublin 12 : €297
> 
> So people who like their fancy 6W post code are paying for it
> 
> I never realised quotes could change that much for neighbouring areas.


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## Henrys Cat

Henrys Cat said:


> Yep, doubled and treble checked before ringing Aviva.



Rang BoI yesterday and got a better quote again, with higher cover!


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## suzie

It gets harder with a claims history, nobody will touch you. Looks like the 50% increase will have to be swallowed until I have 3 years claim free. Unless people can suggest a provider other than 123.ie

S.


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## dowtcha

I am not sure does anyone have any opinions - got a quote for house ins from my present provider Aviva of +500e, up on last year, so checked with simplydirect, they quoted same over 100e cheaper - guess who the poilicy underwriter was? - Aviva my present provider - wtf???


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## Gooner84

this happens a lot, direct and broker pricing can be alot different. For the majority of Irish insurance companies the brokerage side of the business is alot bigger than the direct side which means there is far more room for movement with brokers. 

You will also find that at different times brokers have special discounts if they have started up a new relationship with a major company, hope that helps


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## dowtcha

Thanks for the reply Gooner, I guess the real concern with any insurance, is how well it comes through in the doomsday scenario, house gutted by fire etc. - hope I never find out!!!


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## potnoodler

seems to me this happens every single year with me for both house and car insurance, in a fair market insurance should drop every year as thankfully never had to claim of either , however every year without fail both increase significantly 15-25%, then I call around a couple or online quotes(couple of times didnt bother) and then go back to orginal insurer or whomever and they drop quote. I assume they try this with everyone as maybe 1 in 5/10/20 just renew without checking others prices or don't recall what they paid one year ago. In other words its underhanded sneakiness which is theft in the same way as shortchanging a tourist is because they are unfamiliar with the currency.


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## NowTime

Couldn't agree with you more Potnoodler!
Its such a waste of time and the 123 person I have spoken to over the last few years has admitted as much.
This time again it jumped up (no change % in sums insured) Rang back and the offered to review and reduce - I told them I am pi**ed off wasting my time every year doing this , said as much to them.  Going with Getcover this year.


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## txirimiri

potnoodler said:


> seems to me this happens every single year with me for both house and car insurance, in a fair market insurance should drop every year as thankfully never had to claim of either , however every year without fail both increase significantly 15-25%, then I call around a couple or online quotes(couple of times didnt bother) and then go back to orginal insurer or whomever and they drop quote. I assume they try this with everyone as maybe 1 in 5/10/20 just renew without checking others prices or don't recall what they paid one year ago. In other words its underhanded sneakiness which is theft in the same way as shortchanging a tourist is because they are unfamiliar with the currency.


 
I don't quite see why this is 'theft'. Insurance companies are businesses trying to maximise their profits. Presumably like any other business, they charge what the market will bear. In this case, there are a number of 'markets' i.e. some customers who are not particularly price sensitive/price aware and will just continue paying whatever amount shows up on their annual premium and other customers who are price savvy and look around for the best bargains. Why is that theft? Would you think that for instance, a bathroom showroom which sells a bathroom suite and tiles to someone who accepts the ticket price on the items and doesn't ask for a discount, is stealing from the customer?


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## potnoodler

bond-007 said:


> I wonder what the banks will do about it when their mortgaged properties cease to be insured?


 

Cancel their tracker mortgages to start with


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## potnoodler

txirimiri said:


> I don't quite see why this is 'theft'. Insurance companies are businesses trying to maximise their profits. Presumably like any other business, they charge what the market will bear. In this case, there are a number of 'markets' i.e. some customers who are not particularly price sensitive/price aware and will just continue paying whatever amount shows up on their annual premium and other customers who are price savvy and look around for the best bargains. Why is that theft? Would you think that for instance, a bathroom showroom which sells a bathroom suite and tiles to someone who accepts the ticket price on the items and doesn't ask for a discount, is stealing from the customer?


 
I do regard this as sneaky theft, the tiles analogy you portray is not a fair comparison, the insurance hikes happen on a renewal basis and attempt to fly in under the radar without the consumer being aware.
True, some are more savvy than others but that hardly makes it right , ya could say that about a dodgy taxi driver in Cuba, the practice is wrong and turns my stomach, insurance companies then are the ones who coin that phrase "utmost good faith"


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