House Insurance

donnacha

My house insurance is up for renewal and my current provider, allianz, has increased the premium by 50%! whilst also increasing excess to €250. Now I have no issue with the excess and may even go for a higher excess with a new policy to keep the cost down. I've checked out 123.ie and they are much more competitive. They also appear to be underwritten by a crowd called "Travellers Insurance Company Limited".

Any advice out there? I'm sure some of ye work for, or did work for Insurance companies at some stage.

As for the 50% hike, I hope everyone is watching their renewal letters. I have 7 years house insurance with allianz without a single claim!

Senna

Dont think i'd be too worry about who's underwriting it, if their selling insurance in Ireland they have to register and meet all the legal requirements.
Go with the cheapest, assuming all inclusions are equal.

Jo King

I would always go through a broker. If you have a claim it can be very important. Allianz are very good for dealing with claims and it is worth checking with your broker and or loss assessor regarding the track records of companies in dealing with claims. A friend of mine had a house 50% insured with Allianz and 50% with another company. He made a claim and he found Allianz were much fairer and easier to deal with than the other company.

D3PO

Im shocked to hear that. Im also with Allianz and my premium didnt go up by 50% last time i renewed (last august)

if they do quote me an increase like that they can go jump. Premiums should actually be coming down in line with reduced rebuild costs assuming your contents valuation and excess remain the same

Keith C

D3PO wrote: »

Im shocked to hear that. Im also with Allianz and my premium didnt go up by 50% last time i renewed (last august)

if they do quote me an increase like that they can go jump. Premiums should actually be coming down in line with reduced rebuild costs assuming your contents valuation and excess remain the same

Pffff what a ridiculas statement.
Tell me how has rebuilding costs saved insurance companies money, that they can pass on to consumers?
Household claims are normally jewellery or accidental damage claims and vastly outweigh any payments made in respect of rebuilding a home. :rolleyes:

donnacha

Thanks for the advice. I've always tried to go direct as I'd assumed it would be less expensive than going through a broker. Any recommendations on a decent broker?

I think premiums for house insurance are going up across the board in Dublin due to all the flood damage claims last year. Mind you, I live in Dun Laoghaire, miles from the sea and don't see why my premium should be affected. When I rang allianz and asked why I got no real answer and no willingness to negotiate!

Senna

Keith C wrote: »

Pffff what a ridiculas statement.

Dont jump down someones throat when they are right, you can adjust your level of insurance to account for the lower rebuild cost, so as the person said "Premiums should actually be coming down in line with reduced rebuild costs assuming your contents valuation and excess remain the same", so yes your premium can come down with reduced building costs.

D3PO

Keith C wrote: »

Pffff what a ridiculas statement.
Tell me how has rebuilding costs saved insurance companies money,

well if you house was burnt down and had to be rebuilt it would cost them less therfore saving them money on what it would have cost them previously its pretty straight forward.

Now wind your neck in will you. I never said that prices would go down I said they should go down in theory.

D3PO

Keith C wrote: »

Household claims are normally jewellery or accidental damage claims and vastly outweigh any payments made in respect of rebuilding a home. :rolleyes:

i never said they werent. what i said in my statement was that assuming excess and contents valuation insured remained constant there would be no reason for a premium increase and coupled with reduced building costs and in many cases reduced wage bills there is no reason to rip off the consumer.

Rabidlamb

donnacha wrote: »

My house insurance is up for renewal and my current provider, allianz, has increased the premium by 50%! whilst also increasing excess to €250. Now I have no issue with the excess and may even go for a higher excess with a new policy to keep the cost down. I've checked out 123.ie and they are much more competitive. They also appear to be underwritten by a crowd called "Travellers Insurance Company Limited".

Any advice out there? I'm sure some of ye work for, or did work for Insurance companies at some stage.

As for the 50% hike, I hope everyone is watching their renewal letters. I have 7 years house insurance with allianz without a single claim!

I went with getcover.com & saved a bundle.
They were a lot cheaper than 123.ie.

who_ru

insurance premiums are going up because insurance companies the world over have been stung by falling stock markets, where they traditionally invest their funds. AIG being a classic example - but here in Ireland they are limping out the excuse of an increase in claims which is nothing but lies.

i rang aran insurance today for motor cover (apologies for going off topic) and was quoted 535e for fully comp - this with 7 yrs no claims, no penalty points, full licence in my thirties. i mean where do they get off with that?

anyway shop around as always - don't hand over your hard earned cash easily.

Xiney

I switched us over to 123.ie for this year's contents insurance as well. Saved 100 euro (instead of 270 with AXA we got it for 170)

I probably wouldn't have even looked into it but AXA were going to charge us 60 euro more than the year before because we were moving to Galway - even though our house in Sligo was in a worse area than our new place in Galway.

donnacha

So I'm split now between getcover.com and 123.ie ... 123 is costing €30 more so I'm wondering if anyone has used either / claimed off either and could give advice on how easy they were to deal with.