Make cancelling your home insurance the last resort

Today, we see news from the Association of British Insurers that throughout the UK, up to 1 in 4 - yes 25% - of people are cancelling their home insurance. Well, we would like to help insurance shoppers see that this may not be the right answer.

Money is tight, but perils aren’t affected by the news.

In reality, accidents, floods, burglaries and fires are things we can mitigate but not completely prevent. Unless you have undertaken a risk management programme at home, has the situation changed? Indeed statistics show that in a time of recession, burglaries increase for obvious reasons.

None of these causes for a potential claim give one jot about the recession. They are not reduced because our bank balances are being squeezed, so it might be wise to consider whether you could afford any one of them occurring without any insurance cover.

Cover should be right, not absent

Perhaps you felt you were paying too much for your policy? If this is the case, there are lots of things you can do to reduce the cover but ensure you are insured for the “worst case scenario”. That would be the equivalent of a home fire or a flood causing catastrophic damage to your house and contents.  Likewise the average claim following a burst pipe is £25,000.

Here are a few options that might help your premium down:

•    Do you really need to cover accidental damage?
  
•    Increasing your excess, reduces your premium
  
•   Check to see if you have garden coverage, only include this if its absolutely  necessary
  
•  Make sure you have insured the correct value of your contents 

    

Naturally, you don’t over-insure (you will only get what an item is worth in the event of a claim) but likewise, make sure the cover is sufficient for all your contents (under-insuring is a false economy as it will result in any claim being reduced)

What we do:

All of these tips can help save you money, as part of our product set, we built a value home insurance product for exactly this eventuality- why not take a look? Get an immediate quote online at www.insurance4everyone.co.uk.

In addition we offer a price beater pledge and a price freeze guarantee at next renewal (* terms and conditions apply – see our web site for details).

Consider increasing your cover

You purchased home insurance for a reason, perhaps re visit that reasoning. Make sure you are investing in the right cover.

Consider the following points:

• Do you feel appreciated by your insurer?
  
• Have the claims or customer service experiences matched your   expectation?
  
• Did you have the right cover in the first place?
  
• How flexible was your insurer able to be?
  
• Stick with insurers who promise not to raise their premiums next year (like us!)
  

 

Insurance is a hedge and an investment, its peace of mind

Make no mistake, insurance is not as tangible as the food we need or the clothes we buy for the kids, but it provides an invaluable peace of mind. It is a hedge you place to protect you against the unknown and the financial downside of life.

In uncertain economic times, insurance gives you one less thing to worry about. Look after your worst case scenarios and treat the purchase of Home insurance as a long term investment, not an unnecessary cost.

If you don’t claim from it, you should consider yourself fortunate as this means you have avoided some headaches and heartaches. Now is the time to be shrewd and think laterally.

Be careful if you have a mortgage, the mortgage lender normally stipulates buildings insurance is required, you wouldn’t want to inadvertently cause more problems by trying to save a couple of hundred pounds. After all, if mortgage lenders ask for a form of Home insurance, there must be a reason?

We know times are tough, but hang in there insurance shoppers, Home insurance is your ally and there to protect you from uncertainty.

Make sure you ask questions of your insurer, feel free to pick up the phone to us and ask our staff for a few options. Cancelling should really be the last thing you consider doing.

 

Thanks,

James*

Marketing & Branding Team