Home insurance

maceocc2

I need to get home insurance for the first time. Just a quick request for information and advice about different companies and others experiences.

I got a quote of 170 for a year with 123.ie, and a quote of 370 with hibernian.

Anyone got experience of either of these?

Thanks for the advice

BC

Is that contents insurance only or contents and buildings?
What value on the contents?

threebeards

maceocc2 wrote: »

I need to get home insurance for the first time. Just a quick request for information and advice about different companies and others experiences.

I got a quote of 170 for a year with 123.ie, and a quote of 370 with hibernian.

Anyone got experience of either of these?

Thanks for the advice

123.ie is a broker while Hibernian will be quoting you for a Hibernian policy. Check out what the excess on the policy is i.e. the amount you would have to pay in the event of a claim. This can be as little as €125 or as much as €1,250 and will have a bearing on premium. Ask lots of questions about what you're being covered for.

maceocc2

Thanks for the reply,

Its in excess of 500 Euro, the contents is 10,000, and the actual building cover is 180,000.

I thought this was quite good value for 170 euro but i don't know how reliable it will be if i need to claim

Victor

maceocc2 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply,

Its in excess of 500 Euro, the contents is 10,000, and the actual building cover is 180,000.

I thought this was quite good value for 170 euro but i don't know how reliable it will be if i need to claim

€10,000 for contents is nothing. Add up your clothes, books, CDs, electrical goods, furniture and very soon that disappears.

Make a list of everything you have and put a current price on it. Allow for new purchases you expect to make in the duration of the policy.

Note, some insurers have increased contents value in line with property value, which may not be accurate.

Moonbeam

It is worth getting a quote from who ever you have your car insurance with.

I found fbd gave me the best price for the cover needed.

antoinolachtnai

You should ask 123.ie for a better quote when they ring you back.

Also, try insure.ie

I do not think there is anything wrong with the 123.ie insurance.

123.ie is a broker, but it is a tied broker, i.e., they sell you an eagle star policy no matter what.

Some of the quotes you get online are ridiculously high.

Also, I would suggest having the highest excess available. Trying to claim from insurance for damage less than eur 1000 is a waste of time (at least for me, it may be different for you).

BC

Sounds very high for 10,000.

I got 25,000 euro contents with FBD for 70 euro. Although as someone else mentioned that could be because my car insurance is with them.

Moonbeam

and also that they are insuring the building too:)

OP Definitely double your contents insurance though,imaging trying to replace everything for 10k

coxy123

I am in the process of renewing my home insurance for both building and contents cover ~ excess of €250, my current provider Allianz has quoted me €471 while I am getting a similiar quote of €305 for a web based broker called getcover.com. Has anyone any experience of this crowd?Tks.

Colonel Sanders

threebeards wrote: »

123.ie is a broker

123.ie is not a broker, its a tied agent of Eagle Star (with respect to Household insurance). All HH polices are underwritten by Eagle Star.

OP I guarantee your contents are undervalued at €10,000.

Btw also get quotes Eagle Star direct, Allianz, FBD and Quinn before decideing.

I work for one of the above companies as a disclaimer, but always shop around and never say 'that quote looks grand, I'll take that'. You could still get it cheaper elsewhere

Btw what area do you live

EDIT: Just re read your post, 170 sounds expensive with a 500 excess unless you are in a 'bad' area (i.e. liable to flooding etc) in Dublin or another city.

Colonel Sanders

Btw if you are under-insured the principle of average will apply in the event of a claim.

The link is for a site giving info to landlords but the principles are relevant nevertheless.

tinofapples

Our house insurance is up today and I've received a renewel quote from current insurers, FBD:

House: €310,000
Contents: €40,000
Premium: €437 rounded off to €420

House: €310,000
Contents: €62,000(20% value of house)
Premium: €500 rounded off to €480

Went online to 123 for quote and got:
Buildings Cover: €310,000
Contents: €40,000
Claims Excess: €500
Premium: €259.26

That's some difference.

astrofool

What was the claims excess on the first two?

€500 seems quite high.

antoinolachtnai

I can't see the point in having a claims excess less than EUR 500. That's just me.

Ring 123.ie and ask is that the best they can do.

astrofool

If your bike is stolen (which is usually covered), you'll get nothing due to the excess. Or if you lose something moderately expensive such as an MP3 player, or TV gets stolen.

Victor

tinofapples wrote: »

House: €310,000
Contents: €40,000
Premium: €437 rounded off to €420

Is that €310,000 the open market price for the house or the reconstruction cost? You only need to insure the reconstruction cost, the land will always be there.

http://www.scs.ie/press/2006scshouserebuild.doc
http://www.scs.ie/digital_publication.php?id=11

tinofapples

Is that €310,000 the open market price for the house or the reconstruction cost? You only need to insure the reconstruction cost, the land will always be there.

It's reconstruction cost as per FBD's calculations, think €140 per sq ft.

Jo King

Victor wrote: »

Is that €310,000 the open market price for the house or the reconstruction cost? You only need to insure the reconstruction cost, the land will always be there.

http://www.scs.ie/press/2006scshouserebuild.doc
http://www.scs.ie/digital_publication.php?id=11

Not necessarily. If your land becomes contaminated you would have to move. It happens quite a lot that oil tanks leak. The ground has to be de-contaminated and sometimes the house has to be re-built as well. In some cases it might be easier to get market value of the house and hand the site to the insurance company.

Victor

Jo King wrote: »

Not necessarily. If your land becomes contaminated you would have to move. It happens quite a lot that oil tanks leak. The ground has to be de-contaminated and sometimes the house has to be re-built as well. In some cases it might be easier to get market value of the house and hand the site to the insurance company.

This is covered by the occupiers liability part of the insurance.

I know someone who leaked about 15,000 litres. :eek:

Jo King

Victor wrote: »

This is covered by the occupiers liability part of the insurance.

I know someone who leaked about 15,000 litres. :eek:

That is if it comes from a neighbour. If it is your own oil, leaking onto your own land, it will be your own insurance cover. The occupiers liability only covers third party claims.

Rb

GetCover.com are dirt cheap, but their policy is pretty shíte tbh.

123.ie is cheap, but they'll price match, so knock 10% off the quote they gave you and tell them you got that figure from another company and they'll match it.

Same applies for house insurance in general, if you get your renewal in from the FBD and it's €500, ring them and tell them you got a quote from another company of €440 and they'll match it. They'll all try and get the most out of you that they can, you tell them you got a quote cheaper and they'll match it to keep your business.

Also, if you have your house insurance through your mortgage, you are 100% being ripped off an enormous amount. Find out the cost of rebuilding it and get quotes from other companies (and then tell said companies you got it for X (their quote) - 10%) and you'll save yourself a fortune.

I used to work in an insurance company so have loads of money saving tips, if you want any drop me a pm.

January

Try Royal & Sun Alliance, they do a policy called Homesure and are pretty reasonable.

Their excess is €200, they do both buildings and contents cover (Contents is minimum at €30,000, and buildings I think is €150,000.) To add specified items to your policy (laptops, mobiles, bikes, jewellry etc) is pretty reasonable and this means that you will also be able to claim if the specified item is stolen or lost while you are outside the home.

**Just so you know I don't work for Royal & Sun Alliance, but I work for a broker that deals with them**

I'd give them a go and see what happens.

johnnyskeleton

It depends on what you want it for. If you want it because you have to get a mortgage and don't really care about fripperies like whether they will actually pay out the full amount of your claim, whether they will dispute your claim, whether they will try to get out on a loophole, good customer service etc then go for the cheapest. Otherwise you might want to get a good policy from a reputable insurer and read the contract.

seamus

Guys, I'm in a duplex that has its buildings cover included in the management fee, so I'm really just looking for contents only cover. In the event of a fire or so forth, will buildings cover pay for repainting, reflooring and refitting the kitchen and bathrooms, or will it purely get me a structure with plastered walls and windows?

Also between jewellery and my bike, we'll need an extra €12k covered for "specified items". Problem is, we don't have the jewellery valued by anyone in Ireland - will any insurer cover us for jewellery for the moment and let us supply a valuation a few weeks/months down the line? If I give them a valuation in USD, will they apply the exchange rate to come up with a value or are they more realistic? From what I've seen in Ireland, the cost of replacing it here in Ireland would be about 1.5 times the USD valuation.

Rb

seamus wrote: »

Guys, I'm in a duplex that has its buildings cover included in the management fee, so I'm really just looking for contents only cover. In the event of a fire or so forth, will buildings cover pay for repainting, reflooring and refitting the kitchen and bathrooms, or will it purely get me a structure with plastered walls and windows?

Also between jewellery and my bike, we'll need an extra €12k covered for "specified items". Problem is, we don't have the jewellery valued by anyone in Ireland - will any insurer cover us for jewellery for the moment and let us supply a valuation a few weeks/months down the line? If I give them a valuation in USD, will they apply the exchange rate to come up with a value or are they more realistic? From what I've seen in Ireland, the cost of replacing it here in Ireland would be about 1.5 times the USD valuation.

The buildings cover which the management company has organised will cover everything that's fitted to your place, your kitchen, bathroom, cupboards,fitted wardrobes etc. All covered.

For the specified items for your contents cover, a lot won't need valuations unless they're over a certain price. A lot of companies only require valuations for items 4-5k+ in value.
Regarding the USD, what they'll do is they'll ask you to send them the valuation, then convert the price to Euro using xe.net/ucc or similar, print off the page and staple them together, leaving your item valued at whatever it came out as on xe.net at the time they did it. The only way around this is to get a valuation in Ireland.

As I said though, unless certain items of jewellery are over a certain price, you won't need a valuation for them. The price that requires a valuation changes from insurer to insurer (Eagle Star only require a valuation for items over €6k, however their contents only insurance is ridiculously expensive). AFAIK, Allianz is one of the cheapest for it.

seamus

Cheers rb

January

Homesure valuations are 5k+ and they give you a couple of weeks to get a valuation.

Purple Rain

Good Quote I got a similar one in Dublin area for €254 but the excess was only €250. €500 is very high I think!

Rb

Purple Rain wrote: »

Good Quote I got a similar one in Dublin area for €254 but the excess was only €250. €500 is very high I think!

Well it really depends on the person tbh.

There's thousands of people out there who'll buy insurance just in case the worst happens and have no intention of claiming (and therefore affecting their No Claims Discount) for small things. These people will save themselves money by setting their excess as high as possible, once their happy to pay out for the first €X of any claim.

Others will be ready to claim for absolutely anything, they'll look for the smallest excesses, make small claims, affect their no claims discount and then complain about their insurance increasing at the end of the year.

At the end of the day it's up to yourself. If you specify all risk items, they're excess free so the voluntary excess does not apply in the case of a claim. However, it will affect the no claims bonus and your renewal prices. If you're happy not claiming for small things such as broken windows or small items damaged accidentally, then go ahead and put your excess up, otherwise keep it low but you'll pay more.

monkeytronics

Also try A.I.B.

I took out insurance with them this week:

190,000 building
55,000 contents

€212.00 p.a.

Altho, my mortgage and current account are with them and they do take that into account also.

Interestingly, in the policy document provided - they will pay me €20 per day up to a maximum number of days (cant remember how much) if I get called for jury duty. I have no idea what this is about at all to be perfectly honest and why that has anything to do with home insurance but there ya go,

oh the excess is €125