# Have home insurance costs increased (in general) this year?



## IWONDER (5 Aug 2008)

Hi,

The reason for my query is that my home/contents policy cost has increased by over €60 from last year's - €305 --> €367, for no obvious reason.

(The re-instatement cost for the property is €223000, contents cover €55000).

I will be in contact with the brokers (AA) later today or tomorrow to query this with them, but I just thought I would ask here first.

Can I ask also, do the brokers automatically go with the renewal policy from the previous years Underwriters, or do they 'shop around' again for me for the best qoute available? Last years underwriters were Royal and Sun Alliance and these are quoted as being this years also.

Thanks in advance for any replies.
IW.


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## kceire (5 Aug 2008)

i just got my renewal from www.123.ie and im nearly sure it has rose!

i am in work now, i got my renewal notice by email so i will check last years price to see by how much?

my renewal is €362.07, thats for : Policy Excess € 125Buildings € 272,850Contents€ 53,500Unspecified All Risks € 2,140Specified Items


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## ClubMan (5 Aug 2008)

*ALWAYS *shop around for the best quote (subject to the _T&Cs_ being appropriate for your specific needs) for the level of cover required when it comes to home insurance renewal. Never just automatically take the renewal quote from your existing insurer.


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## IWONDER (5 Aug 2008)

Oh I will *most* *definitely* be shopping around .  I was just curious as to whether anyone else experienced a jump in costs/quotes.
Thanks.


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## MB05 (5 Aug 2008)

I recently renewed mine and I switched from FBD to Bank of Ireland.  Bank of Ireland were recommended on AAM when I did my search as they had a price guarantee.  They promised to match the lowest quote.  I looked up a lot of online checkers and the prices varied wildly.  I found LA Brokers the cheapest, then Simply Mortgages, then Zurich.  You have to ring BOI and initially they were dearer than most but when they asked how they compared they dropped the price by 25% instantly.  Their policy was as good as what I had with FBD and they had less stipulations than some of the others.  I gave FBD a chance to match it but all they could do was a 5% discount.  I saved €130.


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## mimmi (10 Aug 2008)

Just starting my annual ring round.My FBD policy has gone up from  €475 to €642 - €422k building and 20% contents, so they'll have to come down if I'm to stay with them.


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## MB05 (10 Aug 2008)

I couldn't get them to budge.  5% seems to be the most they will give.  They used to be much more competitive but it seems to me that they would rather lose the business than compete.  They kept trying to point out parts of their policy that beat their competitors and that others were much stricter on payouts etc. but when I pointed out that some of the cheaper policies I was looking at had equal or better cover than theirs they ran out of steam and gave up.

Beware of some policies.  I have a flat roof extention and I found this was an issue for some insurers.  Some of them didn't include this in their standard construction prices and others limited it to 20% of the total roof area etc.  That's why I went with BOI in the end as they allow up to 50%.


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## yob (10 Aug 2008)

my ins' came up back in may and had risen dramaticly,went on line got the same policy with the same co' wait for it---- can you believe over 300 euro saving,i went back to broker,he said he cant get that policy for that money,he wanted over 700 euro.also tryed quinn direct who where very competative.


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## ClubMan (10 Aug 2008)

mimmi said:


> Just starting my annual ring round.My FBD policy has gone up from  €475 to €642 - €422k building and 20% contents, so they'll have to come down if I'm to stay with them.


€422K buildings sounds high. Are you sure that you're insuring for the reinstatement costs and not the market value? See www.scs.ie for a guide to estimating the former.


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## IWONDER (12 Aug 2008)

I finally managed to speak to someone in the AA this afternoon, and found out something very interesting.

*They ONLY deal with one home insurance provider, and this is Royal&Sun Alliance PLC.*

I find this very odd considering they use *seven *insurance providers for their car policies. I didn't bother asking why, as the agent probably wouldn't have known anyway.

So I'll see how I do over the next few days. It does look like a number of people are in the same boat though, so I hope I manage to get a cheaper one.


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## z105 (12 Aug 2008)

> €422K buildings sounds high.



Sounds high against what ? The market value could be perhaps 700k ??


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## ClubMan (12 Aug 2008)

Havealaugh said:


> Sounds high against what ? The market value could be perhaps 700k ??


So what. The market value may have little bearing on the reinstatement cost.


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## z105 (12 Aug 2008)

> So what. The market value may have little bearing on the reinstatement cost.



More than likely this will be the case, but the question is why do you think that 422k sounds high for "buildings", surely this could be any amount ?

I'll rephrase - 





> €422K buildings sounds high


, against what ??


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## mimmi (14 Aug 2008)

ClubMan said:


> €422K buildings sounds high. Are you sure that you're insuring for the reinstatement costs and not the market value? See www.scs.ie for a guide to estimating the former.


 
Well 4,500 sq ft is the size of the property.

I have eventually gone for 400k building costs and 20% contents for €510 with AIB. FBD could only do €579 that was after a discount of €37. They were not prepared to come down, seems like orders from above. I have been with them for 3 years, oh well their loss.


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## MB05 (15 Aug 2008)

My Dad's policy renewal arrived in the post this week from FBD - €65 dearer than last year. Buildings €225,000, contents 30% = €345.  So far I have been able to knock €100 off it and I haven't checked all the online checkers and played one off the other.  Even their own online checker is cheaper than the policy they sent out.  I know not all policy's are the same but some of them are similar to what he has.  FBD are not competing.  They will knock 5-6% off and that's it.


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## Ed054 (16 Aug 2008)

If you have a house of 4500 sq ft and you are insuring it for €400,000 you will have a serious problem on your hands if you have to make a claim.
I would sugest that you speak to a builder or your architect to get a accurate figure for rebuilding but at the moment you have a serious under insurance issue.
We have our house insurance arranged through a good broker (there are some!) with LLoyds and when we renewed it I did check around but the next nearest was €200 more expensive.


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## IWONDER (26 Aug 2008)

Zurich came back with just about the best quote - e262, so I went with them.    I decided that I could live without being insured in case I had to go on jury duty, which is just one of the unnecessary items of cover offered in my renewal policy


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## ClubMan (8 Sep 2008)

My premium increased from €217 to €236 (c. 9% hike) but a quick enquiry/haggle and they brought it back down to €217. I also had chosen a higher (€500) excess to reduce the premium but they told me that reverting to the standard excess (€250) would cost nothing. I would not have known had I not asked! Accidental damage would cost an extra €20 but I will just skip that again this year as I don't have any need for it. My outline details are:

Broker: www.simplymortgages.ie
Underwriter: _Prestige Santam_
Location: _D7_
House: 3 bed terraced, 1995 build
Alarm: No
Smoke alarms: Yes
Neighbourhood watch: Yes
Claim free: 13 years
Buildings: €231K (2007) indexed to €246K (2008) - probably slightly overinsured based on the www.scs.ie figures
Contents: €60K (2007) indexed to €63K (2008)

I'm still shopping around. _123.ie _ostensibly promise to match lower renewal quotes for same or higher cover as they offer and their quote is significantly higher (c. €325). And they claim to offer an additional €100 back if you switch! Too good to be true?!?

I sort out my mother in law's too and her renewal premium was c. 11% higher but they also agreed to drop that back to the 2007 premium too.


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## ClubMan (8 Sep 2008)

ClubMan said:


> I'm still shopping around. _123.ie _ostensibly promise to match lower renewal quotes for same or higher cover as they offer and their quote is significantly higher (c. €325). And they claim to offer an additional €100 back if you switch! Too good to be true?!?


Seems not - their standard quotes were higher so they will match the original renewal premiums and refund an additional €100 in each case on switching. 

The original _SimplyMortgages _renewal premiums printed on the renewal notices were €258 and €292 but these were scratched out and cut to €236 and €267 respectively before being eventually dropped further to the 2007 prices of €217 and €240 respectively. The original higher figure is the one that _123.ie_ will match and so the effective 2008 premiums with _123.ie_ would be €158 and €192 respectively - a 27% and 20% discount respectively on the lowest premiums on offer from _SimplyMortgages_.

Obviously I am concentrating mainly on price here but am pretty sure that the cover in both cases is equivalent but will verify this by referencing the relevant policy booklets.


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## PaddyW (8 Sep 2008)

Went onto 123.ie to get quoted for insurance for my house in kerry. 26 euro cheaper this time round. Happy days


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## Bronte (9 Sep 2008)

In the last few years insurance companies have been automatically increasing the level of rebuild, as the cost of building has gone up, if rebuild costs have gone down (which I believe they have) then the premiums should also go down. Ed504, you may think that MB04 is under insuring but some people will not hire architects etc to rebuild and know other ways to avoid high build costs.  There is a major difference between what a builder will charge you for building and what it would cost if you do it yourself.


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## ClubMan (9 Sep 2008)

I always use the _SCS _guide to get a rough estimate of my rebuilding costs. I then add a fudge factor on the basis that I'd prefer to be slightly over rather than under insured. 

*SCS House Re-Building Insurance Guide- May 2008*


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## aircobra19 (9 Sep 2008)

My insurance dropped this year after renegotiating it with the same company.


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## ClubMan (9 Sep 2008)

Is €314K a reasonable reinstatement cost to insure for in your case? How did you arrive at that figure?


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## Bronte (9 Sep 2008)

Yorky said:


> My renewal premium went from €274 to €397 (through a broker underwritten by Zurich) but I did have two claims in the last period of insurance.


  I always thought house insurance premiums could not go up because of a claim unlike car insurance where you have a no claims bonus.


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## Ed054 (9 Sep 2008)

Are you sure that your contents sum insured is correct?
It does seem very low.
Unless all you kitchen appliances are built in they would be considered as contents let alone the usual carpets surtains e.t.c.


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## Ed054 (9 Sep 2008)

Bronte said:


> In the last few years insurance companies have been automatically increasing the level of rebuild, as the cost of building has gone up, if rebuild costs have gone down (which I believe they have) then the premiums should also go down. Ed504, you may think that MB04 is under insuring but some people will not hire architects etc to rebuild and know other ways to avoid high build costs. There is a major difference between what a builder will charge you for building and what it would cost if you do it yourself.


 
You are correct but Insurers will calculate rebuilding costs to include these fees and if the figure does not correspond you can have a issue with underinsurance.
The SCS guide is a good guide and should be used as a base figure to calculate rebuild costs.


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## ClubMan (30 Sep 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Seems not - their standard quotes were higher so they will match the original renewal premiums and refund an additional €100 in each case on switching.
> 
> The original _SimplyMortgages _renewal premiums printed on the renewal notices were €258 and €292 but these were scratched out and cut to €236 and €267 respectively before being eventually dropped further to the 2007 prices of €217 and €240 respectively. The original higher figure is the one that _123.ie_ will match and so the effective 2008 premiums with _123.ie_ would be €158 and €192 respectively - a 27% and 20% discount respectively on the lowest premiums on offer from _SimplyMortgages_.
> 
> Obviously I am concentrating mainly on price here but am pretty sure that the cover in both cases is equivalent but will verify this by referencing the relevant policy booklets.


Followed through on this and _123.ie _matched the lower renewal premiums on offer elsewhere and will be issuing 2 x €100 refund cheques in the coming days. As I said the cover from _123.ie _is comparable to what was already in place and this cover is adequate for the needs in question.


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