WARNING: Please be careful if you're renewing your home insurance policy this year

_Whimsical_

This is a warning to please check your home insurance policy carefully when you are renewing it this year. I recently found out that a radical change had been made to my policy yet I was given no written notice of the change by my insurance company.

I live in an area of Galway city that has never been flooded. We are in an estate on a hill so it would be pretty impossible for us to flood.Galway city itself is not prone to flooding and was not flooded during the recent floods that affect parts of the West of Ireland.

We got our renewal notice for our house insurance from 123.ie last week.All seemed in order, no obvious changes in the policy, but it cost €150 more than last year. I rang them to see if they'd reduce the quote but they told me no. They rang me back a few days later however to say they'd "throw in storm and flood damage protection" for the elevated price as I was a long time customer.

Storm and flood damage has always been part of my policy in the past and nothing in the renewal contract I received stated that it had been removed. However after 2 checks with 123.ie an exclusion clause had definitely been added to my policy. The guy I spoke to said this is legal as somewhere in the several pages I recieved from 123.ie it says "*exclusions may be added to your policy".

The man I spoke to told me that it did not matter that I was no where near a flood risk.He said they were going to slap exclusions of flood and storm damage or increase the excess to €10,000 on householders in any areas of the country where they perceived an increased risk of future flood.According to him many other insurers will do likewise.

I believe this may be true as when looking online for another quote I found many insurers no longer will give an online quote to Galway customers while they will do so for other parts of the county. They tend to say "We cannot offer you insurance online.Call us to discuss this".

If you're purchasing new home insurance you will hopefully be carefully checking the policy to be sure that all is in order. However if you're renewing an old policy it's perfectly reasonable that you presume the terms of your contract are unchanged unless there have been express warnings to the contrary. Unfortunately,like in my case, insurers will not always inform you of radical changes like this.If you're renewing your policy, even if you're not near a flood risk area, please check with your company that you are fully covered or not lumbered with a crazy excess on your policy.

Senna

Was Storm and Flood damage mentioned in the old policy and not in the new one? i.e. was there a part left out in the new one.
Is 123.ie a brokers? could your renewal be with a different insurer?

_Whimsical_

Senna wrote: »

Was Storm and Flood damage mentioned in the old policy and not in the new one? i.e. was there a part left out in the new one.
Is 123.ie a brokers? could your renewal be with a different insurer?

Yes storm and flood damage were always covered in previous policies. The policy appeared to be exactly the same as usual on looking through it this year. It even mentioned storm and flood damage on the main page list of things covered so I presumed it was fine. However during the phone call to 123 they told me that they had placed an "exclusion" on my policy. I explained that the information I had been sent did not have this stated on it. The man I spoke to told me that was the standard page I was sent every year to renew my policy .According to him it was sufficient that it was written somewhere in the several pages I was sent that exclusions may be applied to a policy even if it was not specifically stated that there was an exclusion on my policy.

I think that 123.ie is now being underwriten by a new company but the issue here is not that I am covered by a new insurer. It is that now new areas have been identified as possible flood risks and not all of these areas are flood risks.Having a 10,000 excess would render a home insurance policy useless in most cases. I explained this to the man I spoke to. His response was "Well how did you think we were going to pay for all the policies that lodged claims this year and might do the same next year?"

I had expected insurance to be a bit more expensive this year and it was. I think everyone should shoulder a small increased cost to ensure those less fortunate have their policies honoured. I just don't think increased cost AND a change in coverage is fair,particularly if it's a change that is not clearly labeled for your attention.

I did get insurance with www.getcover.ie eventually. My policy covers everything now and was €70 cheaper than 123!

robd

Was with 123.ie for contents only insurance until renewal last month. Policy was circa 200 more than last year. Seem to have changed over to Travellers as the actual insurer.

Queried price as was 200 cheaper on insure.ie. They wouldn't do anything so I moved obviously.

More of a warning about 123.ie and change of underlying insurer than anything else.

Victor

Isn't there an insurance ombudsman? I'd be having a word.

I've recently found out something about 123.ie.

They use the best technology in the business (apparently) and so their prices can be changed to reflect floods etc within days. I was informed however, that other insurance companies, such as hibernian and the likes (not just this company, just an example) can take a couple of months to update their systems to reflect changes so their premiums will be cheaper initially. Also, their policies won't change that quickly.

In other words, shop around, 123.ie are probably going to suffer loss of business because of their hi tech systems!!!

Carawaystick

chilly wrote: »

However during the phone call to 123 they told me that they had placed an "exclusion" on my policy. I explained that the information I had been sent did not have this stated on it. The man I spoke to told me that was the standard page I was sent every year to renew my policy .According to him it was sufficient that it was written somewhere in the several pages I was sent that exclusions may be applied to a policy even if it was not specifically stated that there was an exclusion on my policy.

That definitely seems an unfair term, where the business has a huge balance of the power over a consumer.
I'd ask for the info from the call to be sent in writing. I'd then complain to the insurance ombudsman as Victor said.

moviesrme

I got insurance for €240 last yr with them. Everything cool. This year quoted €352 from them with a sly little proviso buried in the small print that I was not covered for flood. My house never flooded last year nor did it look like it was going to nor did anyone in the area. Just the usual minor road "puddles" of gargantuan proportions.
I rang them and the guy said he was sure it'd be fine. But he'd check with their new underwriter (Travelers) to see. Then he came back and said no that the original position held viz no flood cover. Sorry about that but hey that's life. Said that they'd probably all say the same to me. Scared the s**t out of me.
I reasoned he was probably right. They would all probably do the same. If my house does flood I'd be ruined. I would never sell it with inability to get flood insurance. Not a small thing at all. In fact quite a milestone to now not be able to get flood insurance. I had a sleepless night.
Today I called the AA and FBD. Both said don't worry your pretty little head you're covered. FBD was the best at €340 including flood insurance (after I specifically told them what happened with 123.ie) and an excess of only €200. ie cheaper than 123 AND WITH FLOOD COVER.

Shop around folks. Some of them wanted €550 odd.

I've been thinking about this whole debacle and it comes down to the frighteners being put on the insurance industry with the recent big floods. There is another thing tough. The ESB are in hot water over the Iniscarra dam releases and not warning Cork earlier etc. Thus when the East got a drenching a week later they were taking no chances and warned all towns along the Liffey of flood potential. I live in such a town. The river rose about a foot (ie minimal). I think this was picked up by 123s' underwriter.