Advice on Buildings and Contents insurance renewal

Hi there,
Am with Mulcahy Insurance a broker in Macroom, Cork. My premium/fee has gone up by over €150 this year. Might anyone be able to advise where to look instead? Was told it's the same across the board for house insurance.

Is it worth going to another company to dovetail with car insurance? Car isn't due to renew until July 2025, house insurance is up next week.
Thank you.

Well my broker told me same this year but I went to AXA where I had my car insurance and got a much better deal. You really have to shop around yourself.

Spooners said:

Hi there,
Am with Mulcahy Insurance a broker in Macroom, Cork. My premium/fee has gone up by over €150 this year. Might anyone be able to advise where to look instead? Was told it's the same across the board for house insurance.

Is it worth going to another company to dovetail with car insurance? Car isn't due to renew until July 2025, house insurance is up next week.
Thank you.

Click to expand...

Shop around as widely as possible online and maybe via a broker or two. That's the only way to get the best deal.

I would have thought that just by using a broker you'd be paying more as some charge a fee on top of quote
A broker is great for when you can't obtain a reasonable quote but otherwise it's normally cheaper to shop around yourself

I was amazed AXA quoted me 150e less than the nearest quote, despite having been with Zurich for 4 years

Clonback said:

I was amazed AXA quoted me 150e less than the nearest quote, despite having been with Zurich for 4 years

Click to expand...

That is pretty much exactly my experience this year too with same insurers!

I have no skin in the game but for anyone renewing their house insurance be very careful to calculate your building insurance cover properly and not end up under-insured.

- Building cost in general have increased greatly of late and there are very general cost calculators on the SCSI website
- Don't forget to include for demolition / site clearance / waste disposal costs
- Include for professional fees
- And VAT etc.

All this adds up and if you are unfortunate to have to claim, any underinsurance will be applied as a percentage to the claim regardless of the claim value.

Micks'r said:

I have no skin in the game but for anyone renewing their house insurance be very careful to calculate your building insurance cover properly and not end up under-insured.

- Building cost in general have increased greatly of late and there are very general cost calculators on the SCSI website
- Don't forget to include for demolition / site clearance / waste disposal costs
- Include for professional fees
- And VAT etc.

Click to expand...

The SCS provide useful guidelines for the use of their calculator/figures which cover most or all of what you mention.
E.g.:

The figures allow for demolition costs, professional fees incurred in reinstatement, and VAT at 13.5% on building costs and 23% on Professional Fees.

Click to expand...

For most people in "regular" properties the SCS calculator/guidelines are more than adequate for helping to determine an appropriate rebuilding cost for insurance purposes. Obviously being overinsured is better than being underinsured so no harm in adding some "padding" to their estimated figures - e.g. 10% or whatever.

ClubMan said:

For most people in "regular" properties the SCS calculator/guidelines are more than adequate for helping to determine an appropriate rebuilding cost for insurance purposes. Obviously being overinsured is better than being underinsured so no harm in adding some "padding" to their estimated figures - e.g. 10% or whatever.

Click to expand...

Absolutely add some ''padding'', the SCSI calculator is dated September 2024 and prices are rising all the time. Upping my rebuild cover by an additional €50k is only costing an extra €35 from my next probable insurer, I’m happy to pay it.