Home Insurance

djsim

Guys, need some help. Any info on Home, Life & Mortgage protection is needed. Who are the best to go with? Cheapest? Best?

Thanks

muffler

Im fairly sure that if its mortgage protection you need in the form of life assurance you are entitled to take it out with whoever you wish no matter which lending company you are with. Its normally cheaper to do it this way.

For home insurance its a matter of shopping around for the best deal. Some of the companies can quote online.

Personally I'm with FBD and before renewing the house insurance I rang round for a few quotes but FBD were still the cheapest. I do have the car insured with them also so maybe this would reduce the cost of home insurance a wee bit.

rooferPete

Hi,

Take care when comparing quotes, if you only look at the price it could be very easy to buy a policy that covers very little and has more exclusions than inclusions.

I had a client who changed his insurer for a saving of just under 100 euro, it looked a lot but cost him 6,000.00 because the small print on the cheaper policy excluded disposal of his asbestos slate roof that had been damaged by a chimney falling in a storm.

Try to compare like with like when buying insurance, although that is easier said than done as the print tends to be very small, I would recommend a good insurance broker, one you can talk to and explain the level of cover you want and what you are willing to accept as exclusions for the cost savings.

ck1

Can only really comment on the life assurance. Mortgage Protection is basically Decreasing Term Cover whereby the premium remains level throughout the term of the contract however the sum assured goes down generally in line with your loan. These contracts cannot be altered in any way. An alternative is Level Term Cover whereby both the Sum Assured and Premium remain level throughout the term. There is another type, Whole of Life, but there are too many variables on this for me to explain at the moment.

Premium rates are based on age, smoking status, occupation, pursuits, personal health and family health history and of course sum assured and term. If you are young, Eagle Star, Caledonian, or Hibernian tends to be the cheapest, older generally Friends First, Canada Life are quite good. Life cover is purely premium driven, as they cannot dispute whether you are dead. If however you wish to effect Serious Illness, then the Illnesses covered would generally determine whether the contract is best. Cheap on Serious Illness or PHI is not always the best. Top companies for Serious Illness Cover are Canada Life, New Ireland, Hibernian, Eagle Star, Friends First. Caledonian Life don't do Serious Illness nor does Standard Life. Standard Life have terrible rates on life assurance, basically Standard Life are not in the market for this type of policies and have no interest in getting into the market at this moment, there really are an investment company.

In relation to life cover and Serious Illness in the same contract, there are two terms you should be aware of - Accelerated cover and Additional Cover. Accelerated cover is where the life cover is reduced by the level of claim under the serious illness. Additional is where the life cover is not affected by any claim under serious illness.

Victor

For the house insurance, you are insuring the buildings, not the land, i.e. you value the reconstruction cost of the building not the market value - the price that you have paid.

There is guidance here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=790497&postcount=4[/url

Most property insurance includes public liability insurance, but check this.