Hi everyone,

I'm after a bit of advice on home insurance if anyone can help.

Since my late partner passed away, I haven't had home insurance.  Silly, I know.  I've been thinking about it for the last few weeks and after a conversation with my Dad tonight, decided to get some quotes.

I went to a site where you give lots of info and they give you quotes from different insurers.

The thing is, on that site, I was asked what the cost of rebuilding my property would be.  They had a question mark by the question which you can click on to get some kind of idea, and all it said was the cost of rebuilding a house would be very different to the actual value of the house and to refer to mortgage papers as that would give some clue.  Since I own my house, I don't have mortgage papers, and so couldn't answer that question.  I gave up after that. 

So what I'm after is some advice on who to insure my home with, and who people have had experience with, good or bad.

If anybody has any ideas I'd be very grateful, it's building and contents insurance that I'm after.

Thanks
Lisa

Hi Lisa
Insurance cover does give you peace of mind so it's good that you're looking into quotes etc.
My home and contents insurance is with Direct Line and the premiums seem quite reasonable. I've never had to claim though (touch wood :) ) so don't know how good they are at paying out :-D

Hi Lisa,

I'm not sure exactly how rebuild cost is worked out, but it might be worth calling a couple of insurers to ask. I know our house is valued at £140,000 for mortgage purposes, but the rebuild value for insurance is around £73,500, so a little over half the 'value' of the house.

I assume it would change depending on whether your house is brick, stone etc

Claire

Hi Lisa,
We had the same problem!!  We are now with Prudential who offer unlimited cover for buildings insurance as our house is over a hundred years old and built out of stone instead of brick.

Sarah.

When I have applied for quotes they have calculated a figure for me based on the number of rooms, build etc.

Thanks everyone.

Sarah, mine is built of stone too, and was built around 1805, so some won't go near it insurance wise.

Lisa

Try the Halifax, I've got unlimited buildings and contents insurance together and it's £112 per year only.  That figure is £123 LESS than what Barclays were charging.  Worth giving them a phone - they're the cheapest I've found.

CG

I moved over to Halifax at my last renewal as my contents and buildings together with accdiental damage (something I'd never had before) were so much cheaper than my renewal from other policy.  Halifax was best for me.

Sainsbury's  insurance is underwritten by Halifax so if you have a nectar card you can get bonus points too.

Thanks all. :-)

Lisa