Home insurance quote jumped by 54% this year, is this normal ?

MéFéinAmháin

Hi,

I just got my renewal quote and it is up 54% from last year, is this just me or has all home insurance gone up by this sort of amount ? Is there somewhere I can check online to give me an idea of what kind of rate the average home insurance has changed by each year so that I can know what to expect from year to year ?

Thanks,

MFA

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058314206/home-insurance-quote-jumped-by-54-this-year-is-this-normal

A lot of companies have raised the rebuild cost of policies in line with inflation and other factors so check your rebuild cost here https://scsi.ie/consumer/build/calculator/ My insurance went up 30% but they were adding way too much for my rebuild costs so I got it back to near enough the same as last years policy. Make sure you ring around or do online quotes to get the best deal though, don't just stay with the same company if they are over the odds.

naughtysmurf

Shop around, I switched from Aviva to Zurich, only because I couldn’t find a way to up my rebuild cost online in ‘my Aviva’ switched to Zurich, very similar cover, upped my rebuild value & they still came in cheaper than my Aviva renewal

Gilly43

Cost of claims are well up, given labour and materials prices going up. Also as referenced previously, SCSI rates are reflective of this so sums insured for Buildings are going up. For example a bungalow rebuild has gone up by 12% from 2022 to 2023 in the region I live in.

Dont cut the sum insured short though. Most policies have Average (or proportionate settlement) & if you have any decent claim the arse will be cut out of it if you’re substantially underinsured.

Heighway61

Would there be a rule of thumb percentage to add on to house value for sums assured to cover rebuild cost?

Damien360

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121421586#Comment_121421586

I used this site and my quote also went up about 30% this year. Went through about 5 other providers and all were much higher.

https://scsi.ie/consumer/build/calculator/?gclid=CjwKCAiA9ourBhAVEiwA3L5RFpMriPo0xqCylfr92g9YM5WlcXRoOldnaB9k_JVqXKD9lBSyT3AI2RoCmOoQAvD_BwE

NIMAN

House insurance has really increased last few years.

Tried a load of quotes and getting nothing lower than my renewal with AXA.

coylemj

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121421586#Comment_121421586

If the site on which your house is built has a relatively high value, the rebuild cost could be less than the sale value of the house. The opposite can be the case in less desirable suburbs, depressed towns or in remote parts of the country. In those places, the sale value could be less than the rebuild cost because of low demand.

To answer your question, as a 'rule of thumb', I would completely ignore the sale value of your house, it has very little to do with the rebuild cost. The size of your house clearly has a bearing on it's sale value but the principal determining factor is 'location, location, location'. Whereas the rebuild cost is determined by the cost of labour and materials and the availability of a builder to take on the job. All of which are going to be pretty much the same within a specific geographical area.

Cape Clear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121421658#Comment_121421658

Try Bank of Ireland they offer cover via RSA & FBD. My cover with FBD came in much cheaper this way than had I gone direct with FBD also they will allow you to pay via DD in 12 monthly instalments at no extra costs. Most other providers including my current provider look for circa 8% on top of premium for a DD. If you are a BGE customer you may qualify for a 35% discount with Zurich

NIMAN

AXA with their renewal was still just about the cheapest. Tried BOI and was about €80 more.

Called AXA this morning and they knocked another 50 off, so happy with that.

Henry Ford III

A high renewal means the insurer doesn't want your business.

Get as many competing quotes as you can and decide from there

coylemj

For several years now, I have tracked the rate (per €1,000 rebuild) I am being quoted by the various companies when I shop around for my renewal.

Here is the lowest rate I was quoted for the past three years. This is the annual premium divided by the rebuild cost in €1,000s ......

2021 71.7c

2022 70.0c

2023 71.2c

Which says that, for a given level of cover, home insurance is not going up in price. If your premium is rising, it's probably because your insurance company has raised the level of cover. But if you get a renewal quote with a higher premium, even though the level of cover is the same or has not increased by the same % as the premium, they're screwing you.

FaganJr

I Checked my rebuilding costs on SCSI.ie and its giving a rebuild figure of 255k roughly, last house sold here in Sept 2023 for 205k.

That cant be right? Can it?

Cape Clear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121454050#Comment_121454050

Given scarcity of labour and material inflation it's very possible.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121454050#Comment_121454050

It can. Selling price and rebuild cost don't correlate.

Caquas

I was stung by Zurich with a 33% increase in my home insurance quotation. I am shopping around but I haven't found a better quote yet. Most of the increase is due to inflation in construction costs. Zurich added 25% to the cost of rebuilding our house based on SCSI figures i.e. two years' inflation.

I could save about €50 if I upped my excess from €250 to €500 but that means I wouldn't make a claim for anything less than €1,000 because I don't want to lose my no claims bonus.

Does anyone know of any insurer seriously competing for this business at present?

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121594167#Comment_121594167

Mine was over estimated on my renewal so double check for yourself. I got mine back down to close enough the previous year when I told them they valued the rebuild way to high. https://scsi.ie/consumer/build/calculator/

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121594220#Comment_121594220

Thanks for the tip but, sadly in my case, Zurich have applied a value consistent with SCSI estimates which have increased drastically in the last few years.

With all the talk about construction cost inflation, I don't think anyone in the media has highlighted this inflationary impact.

Ah shure, never mind, it only costs an extra couple of hundred Euro a year for every household in the country!

coylemj

With all the talk about construction cost inflation, I don't think anyone in the media has highlighted this inflationary impact.

They have, multiple times over the past couple of years.

Charlie Weston (Indo) has written articles and frequently tweets about it. Here's an example from last April...

https://twitter.com/CWeston_Indo/status/1646195127524769793

And Conor Pope (IT) wrote this article highlighting the issue, also in April 2023 ....

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2023/04/11/home-insurance-warning-amid-spiraling-rebuild-costs/

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121614586#Comment_121614586

I saw a number of articles like that - "be sure to up your insurance cover or you'll regret it".

I'm making a separate, though related, point: inflation in construction is not just an issue for those building or buying new properties. It will add to inflation in the broad economy and hit householders in their pockets i.e. we will pay more for the same thing.