Non-motoring > House and Contents cover renewal Tax / Insurance / Warranties
Thread Author: Ambo Replies: 23

 House and Contents cover renewal - Ambo
I just got a quote from my broker for my renewal. There have been no claims under the policy but the premium is up 10.76% compared with last year. Have any other posters been subject to recent swingeing increases?
 House and Contents cover renewal - Falkirk Bairn
My Legal & General policy went up £5 - increase in tax was some of it.
My Aviva car insurance (CRV, fully comp £300 total excess) went up from £172 to £200 but the cheapest "known name insurers" were at least £25 - £100 more & HUGE excess.

No changes to the above but I renewed both.

Comparison sites, look for exclusions, excesses etc etc - you will either save money or
know you are getting reasonable deal.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Zero
10.76% is not a "swingeing" increase,
 House and Contents cover renewal - Bromptonaut
If it's a broker quote then you should be able to get a cogent explanation and some alternative figures once they're open tomorrow.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Manatee
With inflation at c. 3.5%? 10.76% would double the premium in real terms over 10 years. That what insurers do once they have got a new customer with an attractive quote, if they can get away with it.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Falkirk Bairn
>>10.76% would double the premium in real terms over 10 years

Call it 11 % - Rule of 72 applies
Divide 72 by 11 = 6.5 years

11% would double the premium in just over 6 years.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Manatee
See "in real terms". I can do sums too.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Ambo
My broker now says there has been a premium increase across the market of 6% to 20% so we are all in the same boat/trap.

I will make a comparison trawl but a problem with these searches is that different providers ask for different details and one can never be sure that all of the many eventualities are covered.
 House and Contents cover renewal - sooty123
Ours has gone from £91 to £114 like for like this year. That's contents only.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Zero
>> With inflation at c. 3.5%? 10.76% would double the premium in real terms over 10
>> years.

With inflation at 3.5% the increase is only 7.26% "in real terms", how long will it take to double from there
 House and Contents cover renewal - Ambo
>>Ours has gone from £91 to £114 like for like this year. That's contents only


It seems I have got off lightly, then.
 House and Contents cover renewal - sooty123
>> >>Ours has gone from £91 to £114 like for like this year. That's contents only
>>
>>
>> It seems I have got off lightly, then.
>>

It's more than i thought %wise but not a huge amount cash wise. I'll do a bit of shopping about.
 House and Contents cover renewal - sooty123
In the end i got it knocked down to 99 quid, not too bad I suppose with the general increase in insurance.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Manatee
Almost exactly 10 years. 1.0726^10=2.015
 House and Contents cover renewal - Zero
Funnily enough, my pet insurance renewal notice came in today, that has an increase of 19%

A quick meerkat reveals it to be a: still very competitive, b: less than a new customer at that insurer under the same schedule.

So there we are, quick shrug, thats the market naf all we can do about it. I shall look with interest at my BMW renewal in November.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Duncan
>> So there we are, quick shrug, thats the market naf all we can do about
>> it. I shall look with interest at my BMW renewal in November.

Do your motor insurance people still ask about your, er, incident with the bus?

Or is it just your friends on t'interweb?
 House and Contents cover renewal - Zero
In insurance terms, the bus incident has disappeared into the sands of time, only to be resurrected when the phone rings with the words " I am ringing about your accident". they soon hang up when I tell the tale of a school bus knocked off the road....
 House and Contents cover renewal - Manatee
To get a comparison you'd really need the dog to stay the same age. I imagine it goes up exponentially as the doggie ages.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Zero
>> To get a comparison you'd really need the dog to stay the same age. I
>> imagine it goes up exponentially as the doggie ages.

exponentially? you bet your boots, when she is around 9 or ten, the price will rocket up to near 4 figures on the "we dont want your business principle". At that point you put a price on the dog that you are prepared to pay for treatment, beyond that its curtains.


A meerkat search is still a valid comparison for price tho wherever you are on the exponential scale.

What really ticks me off is when the cost of your insurance is more than a new customer for the same schedule, at that point they get the elbow as a matter of principle, as they are treating me like a mug.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 19 Aug 19 at 16:54
 House and Contents cover renewal - No FM2R
>> as they are treating me like a mug.

Yes they are. And sadly, even though you are not one, experience has shown them that the vast majority of their clientele is exactly that.
 House and Contents cover renewal - Slightlyfatdirector
Whenever we get the renewal through for insurance (be it house, car or pet) we calculate the % increase and then call them to talk it through - normally when it gets a bit closer to the renewal date.

We then highlight that it has increased by a lot more that we would have expected and that we would prefer to stay with them, but not at all costs, and can they look to see what they can do to save us from having to look at moving our business elsewhere - which we will happily do if they are to stick to that premium - then lets discuss it.

Almost without exception they start saying that they could look to change the cover (ie: reduce it in some way), but we insist that we want to keep the cover level, just reduce the premium.

These conversations are always pleasant and positive as that is the way we contact them. The person on the other end of the phone sees the same things as we all do, and if approached nicely they will (from our experience) see what they can do to help.

Pet insurance for our 6 year old dog went up just under 20%. I called them, had a nice chat, explained that we expected a small increase but not that big and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we ended up with a c. 5% increase and I was happy with that, and could only find it cheaper with companies I had never heard of.

With only one exception we have always negotiated a better rate than the renewal. With the house and contents we managed to negotiate an actual reduction of premium for a few years in a row, sometimes by them also arranging M&S vouchers to offset a reduced increase that gave us a net-win.

That company eventually twigged that our premiums continued to fall and then went to hike them and would not renegotiate, and at that point we shopped around and because we had moved address we found a better deal anyway.

We like to find a good deal with 'reputable' and known brands and rather than the pain of a detailed review every single year with the comparison sites, etc, we tend to review it every 2 - 3 years and negotiate a better deal when the renewal comes through in the meantime.

It works for us anyway.

I wonder if you will get a better deal direct rather than through a broker Ambo?
 House and Contents cover renewal - smokie
"I wonder if you will get a better deal direct rather than through a broker Ambo?" I thought that possible too.

It is all a bit of a charade as I'm sure many many hundreds of people (if not more) do exactly as you say. I know I do. But by doing what they do, you actually come off the phone feeling pretty good about your insurer if they've done you a favour - thus turning around your grouchy feelings when they tried it on with the more expensive premium, which many people (but I imagine lots fewer than in the past) would just cough up.
 House and Contents cover renewal - tyrednemotional
...I've just had my renewal notice. Up over 18%. Last year was less than 5% (not enough to provoke me into searching, and I'm pretty sure the IPT increase caused some of that anyway).

No changes, no claims, so as far as I am concerned this year's "swingeing increase" is taking the proverbial.

I was sort of ready for it, and so have on the stocks a comparable (detail differences only, all very acceptable, some positive, some negative) policy at 30% less than last renewal!

That quote clearly indicates that it has an introductory discount, and warns to expect a bit of a base increase on renewal next year, but it still has rather a lot of headroom before it goes noncompetitive again.

(Both are mainstream insurers)
 House and Contents cover renewal - Falkirk Bairn
>> warns to expect a bit of a base increase on renewal next year,

Aviva is not on comparison sites, 5 mins on their website gets a quote.

On TV, just now, they advertise renewals will be at same or better than new customer in 12 mths time.

My car cover is with them - history £172, £183 & £200 this month - no claims, same car etc etc-

Comparison sites - Other "known name insurers" were £25 to £100+ more expensive & most had higher excesses.
Latest Forum Posts