kelly58 Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 My household insurance renewal is due later this month and had a call from the broker who did my insurance last year . We have your new renewal figures she said £212. the best price we could find " O " I said how is that compared to last year ? Last year you paid £196. " O " gone up £16 !! yes she said not too bad an increase she said , would you like to renew it ? not at the moment I will have a look around for 3 different quotes if you do not mind , Ok she said thats fine . When I came off the phone I dug out last years papers and there it was full premium that I paid £139. !!!!! Just had a look at some of the " Compere Sites on net avaerage cost for my property £147. Time for a bit more digging me thinks . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 We have been with Tesco the last couple of years, I rang around for a cheaper quote, rang them back and they gave me another quote about £20 cheaper so it is worth shopping around plus you get points :-D I think!! cant remember now but you can ask to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 If your figures are for Building and contents that seem quite reasonable. We are paying £274 with the Co - operative insurance. That is for Building + contents + personal possessions, it also includes £ 1000 cover per bicycle home and away. Brian B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Do take into account that there are some insurers that will offer you a bit of paper that tells you that you are insured. But their financial strength and claims paying ability is such that their claims paying history is poor - if not non-existent. The old adage - "you get what you pay for" is very true in this market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 thebishbus - 2013-01-05 5:48 PM If your figures are for Building and contents that seem quite reasonable. We are paying £274 with the Co - operative insurance. That is for Building + contents + personal possessions, it also includes £ 1000 cover per bicycle home and away. Brian B. I assume your bicycle insurance cover requires your bikes to be secured to an immovable object at all times when not in use and therefore the bike rack of a motorhome would NOT be covered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 The Co - operative insurance have settled our claims promptly. The £ 1000 covers any one pedal cycle, wheelchair or invalid carriage and accessories. The pedal cycle has to be locked to a fixed point if left in a public place. Brian B. ps Quoted from the Policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddies104 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Hi The Halifax do a good insurance....Buildings and Contents with a £1000 for golf clubs etc at around £230, BUT get a cash back each year of £50 if we don't claim, so works out at around £180 Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 We had an appointment with Nationwide yesterday and the adviser asked us who our building/contents were with ! she was surprised that we hadn't asked them for a quote when we renewed in October ! I hadn't even thought to ask them I will next time though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Please be careful with anyone on the “High Street” trying to sell you insurance. A good example of what I mean is indeed Nationwide. Nationwide are one of my favorite providers for cash accounts and cash ISA’s etc – BUT!!! – their House Insurance is provided and underwritten by “UK Insurance Ltd. – Look on their homepage and you will see this down at the bottom in the small print. So who are UK Insurance Ltd. ?? Well they run Churchill and Direct Line for starters! And they have a somewhat dubious reputation having been caught in breach of FSA guidelines this time last year and fined over £2M http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/FsaWeb/Shared/Documents/pubs/final/uk-insurance.pdf First para of the above :- “17 January 2012 1. ACTION . 1.1. For the reasons given in this notice, the Financial Services Authority (the FSA) hereby imposes on UK Insurance Limited (UKI) a financial penalty of £2,170,000 for the failings of Direct Line Insurance Plc (Direct Line) and Churchill Insurance Company Limited (Churchill) for breach of Principle 2 (skill, care and diligence) of the FSA’s Principles for Businesses (the Principles) which occurred between 8 April 2010 and 16 April 2010 (the Relevant Period). . 1.2. The FSA takes this action against UKI for Direct Line and Churchill’s breach of Principle 2 during the Relevant Period. ………………………. So do bear in mind that the names on the High Street often just repackage what is often available to you Direct. I would also suggest that these firms can have poor claims paying history and as exemplified above, failures in the area of “Skill, Care and Diligence” such that when it come to a claim – your experience is not a good one. So my thoughts are that if you want to be covered by the likes of UK Insurance Ltd. then go direct. Why pay Nationwide an introducer fee? I would also suggest that going direct is often no cheaper than cover that a good general insurance broker can get you and the cover they recommend will have been assessed for Financial Strength and Claims Paying History before they make the recommendation. That broker is also there for you in the event that you have to make a claim. They do not recommend companies that muck you about because they do not want to sitting in front of you, trying to explain to you why a perfectly valid claim is being refused by the company they recommended! So they use companies that “Treat you fairly” Something that the FSA found that UKI (the firm Nationwide uses) failed miserably on such that in Jan 2012 it fined UK Insurance Ltd over £2Million. You pays your money, You makes your choice. :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 So what would be your thoughts on the free travel insurance that they are offering with these accounts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 maggyd - 2013-01-10 9:05 PM So what would be your thoughts on the free travel insurance that they are offering with these accounts? With the restrictions they apply to your getting what is really pretty basic - even poor - cover, I personally, and professionally would suggest people take out cover that they need - not something that is given free like a plastic toy at MacDonalds or in a Cereal packet. I object to a bank or building society dictating to me that I would have to transfer all my DDM's and SO's to a Flex Account just so I can get a free but dubious value holiday insurance! I take this from their own website:- ........................ "What is the eligibility criteria for free Travel Insurance? To qualify for travel insurance you must: Be a permanent resident of the UK Be aged 16-73 (view our FAQs about age criteria) Hold a Visa debit card (not cash card or cash card+) and either, Switch all your Direct Debits and standing orders to us from another bank or building society to your FlexAccount, using our Account Transfer Service – backed by our Account Transfer Promise OR pay in at least £750 per month into your FlexAccount for at least 3 consecutive months (excluding internal transfers) Eligibility will be assessed when the account transfer is complete or at the end of the month, when you have deposited £750 or more. Important: Your travel cover will start once we have informed you of our offer in writing. To maintain cover you must: Continue to hold a Visa debit card (not cash card or cash card+) Pay in at least £750 into your account per month (excluding internal transfers), and Remain a UK resident for the cover to be valid. We will review eligibility each year and customers not maintaining a deposit of at least £750 per month will be notified when their cover will be removed. All customers Your FlexAccount Travel cover will stop: When a FlexAccount is closed If you swap to a different Nationwide current account (like FlexDirect) If we notify you that you no longer meet the eligibility criteria On the 31 December after your 75th birthday. You will be notified that your cover will end during the September of the appropriate year If an account holder is removed from the account - cover will cease with immediate effect for that person only ............................. From a professional viewpoint (tho I have nothing to do with general insurance) I would never advise someone to rely on a freebee policy such as this one from Nationwide. Imagine the scene - you are in a part of Europe or wherever, where there are more sheep than people and you have a major car accident. You need hospital treatment for you and or your spouse and or children and all you have is a piece of paper that says you have some sort of cover given free to you as long as you comply with a long list of criteria that at that point you are not sure still applies for you. Do you REALLY want to put your own, your spouse and your loved ones life and health at risk because Nationwide wants to con you into transferring all of your DDM's to one of their accounts? For goodness sake maggyd (sorry to be blunt :-S ) get real! Take out proper cover with a reputable company. As I say - You pays your money - You makes your choice. If you pay nothing - have a guess as to the real value of the cover when you need it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 For goodness sake maggyd (sorry to be blunt ) get real! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (lol) I only asked :'( We have always bought our own travel Insurance + health BUT we always think!! millions dont ! and when we were in Nationwide at the beginning of this week we were told they are bringing in a new account that is fee paying ie; £10 a month but the extra,s you get are Free RAC membership Free travel Insurance !! no age limit!!? (as yet the fine print isnt clear) and a couple of other things that as yet the the adviser doesnt know ! she goes to the information day at the end of next week, but she will inform us of the terms when she has them. I must admit paying to give them our money has never appealed to me especially as the interest we are getting on the rest of our investments have dropped to an all time low!! and we are paying to get at our money when abroad!!! BUT hold on that is one of the other Benefits!! NO charge to take our money out abroad. So wait and see what is in the pipeline! and relations of ours have been getting free Travel Insurance from their bank for the last 4 or 5 years and they havent turned their noses up at it. We intend when we have ALL the facts to make a calculated decision as to if it is worth £120 a year to get what could add up to a few hundred pounds of freebies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 SORRY! Maggyd. - I know what I wanted to say and it was not how it ended up being written!!! 8-) Very sorry - simply wanted to point out that we all need to be realistic about free offers in such an important area such as Travel Insurance. I am sure some of the "packages" on offer could be good value. But to my mind - there is no such thing as a free lunch and you will pay for that freebies somehow. The Banks and the Building Soc.'s are not known for their generosity to their customers. They can be extraordinarily generous to their sales people though. Be warned! Ask what commission the "adviser" gets! Ask if they are Independent or tied to one provider! Ask if they have a bonus structure dependent upon signing people up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 CliveH - 2013-01-11 4:41 PM SORRY! Maggyd. - I know what I wanted to say and it was not how it ended up being written!!! 8-) Very sorry - simply wanted to point out that we all need to be realistic about free offers in such an important area such as Travel Insurance. I am sure some of the "packages" on offer could be good value. But to my mind - there is no such thing as a free lunch and you will pay for that freebies somehow. The Banks and the Building Soc.'s are not known for their generosity to their customers. They can be extraordinarily generous to their sales people though. Be warned! Ask what commission the "adviser" gets! Ask if they are Independent or tied to one provider! Ask if they have a bonus structure dependent upon signing people up! No offence taken ;-) I like honest answers or I wouldn't have asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Thanks- It is strange sometimes when you whip off a post and think that is fine - that is OK - and then you read it back through the eyes of someone else and you think ---- whoops! -- I never meant it like that!! 8-) 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 As an aside to this, we've just opened up a new current account with Santander - their 123 Account - which gives cashback on direct debits of 1-3% depending on who they are for. The cost for the current account is £2 a month, but we get 3% interest on our savings (maximum £20,000 - can't remember the minimum amount to get 3%, but there's a 2% and 1% cut-off). Having worked it all out we should get at least £300 a year 'profit'. We've also signed up for their credit card which also gives cashback between 1-3% and also costs £24 a year (waived for 1st year if you have a current account with them) so we'll see how we get on with it and hopefully will get some dosh off that too. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddies104 Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Mel B - 2013-01-11 11:37 PM We've also signed up for their credit card which also gives cashback between 1-3% and also costs £24 a year (waived for 1st year if you have a current account with them) so we'll see how we get on with it and hopefully will get some dosh off that too. :-D If you use the Caravan Club, there credit card gives a free night at a caravan club site or a Camping cheque for every £3000 spent, we use the card for everything now, almost don't use cash anymore........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Yes there are good deals out there - I have used an AA credit card (Bank of Scotland run that) that gives bonus points and I use it for all my fuel costs - after all i have to buy the damn stuff anyway :-S - pay it off every month and the points build up. This year was the same as last - I got free AA membership, £48 cash back and 6 nice bottles of wine for Christmas. Still not sure I would trust a freebee for Travel insurance tho :-S :-S :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Caddies104 - 2013-01-12 12:02 AM Mel B - 2013-01-11 11:37 PM We've also signed up for their credit card which also gives cashback between 1-3% and also costs £24 a year (waived for 1st year if you have a current account with them) so we'll see how we get on with it and hopefully will get some dosh off that too. :-D If you use the Caravan Club, there credit card gives a free night at a caravan club site or a Camping cheque for every £3000 spent, we use the card for everything now, almost don't use cash anymore........ We used to use the Caravan Club card for everything - it was the first 'cash back' type card we ever had, but that was when you got a free night's camping voucher for every £2,000 you put through it, it then changed to one for every £2,500 and at that point we got the Capital One card instead as they had a promotion on for a few months which, I think, gave 3% cashback on purchases. We only stopped using the Capital One card when we found out about Tesco vouchers and so changed to using that, however, as we've got loads of Tesco vouchers we'll give the Santander one a go and get cashback on that instead. The Caravan Club vouchers are okay so long as you use their own main sites ... which we don't (although Ebay is apparently a good way to 'exchange' them for cash!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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