Buildings insurance increase

[a twig]

It’s because most people claim on house insurance for anything and everything, so a low excess means you are more likely to claim, increasing the insurance company’s costs.

Putting the excess right up shifts you out onto a much lower risk profile, so not only would their payout be less, the expected number of claims will be a lot lower. In short the insurance company’s perfect customer

Hence the price incentive to have a massive excess. Worth noting that most of the population wouldn’t be in a position to put aside the “saving” for a rainy day though…

 

[CliffordPope]

Just remember that that your optional excess is added to the compulsory one, and has to be paid upfront before they start to investigate the claim.

I've only just noticed that, never actually having made any kind of insurance claim. I'd just assumed that the voluntary excess replaced the compulsory.

 

[Cubist]

we're buying our first thatched house so have been playing the insurance game. The thing I have found that I don't understand is that increasing the excess makes a far greater difference to the premium than I expected.

For example, one quote was £1500 with the standard £200 excess, with an excess of £1000 it comes down to £900. So in two years I'd have saved enough to have paid that back.

NFU was even more dramatic (and expensive!) - with the standard excess it was a shocking £3600, with an excess of £1000 it came down to £2400 - saving more than the excess would be??

If you're still in the throws of buying, and haven't already done so - ask the present owner for a copy of their current Electrical Installation inspection report and make sure that it has a few years to run. If they do not have one it may be something you want your solicitor to ask for as a condition of the purchase. Insurers tend to only give new owners 30 days to submit copies of acceptable certificates and some will require more than just a 'Satisfactory' report. As a consequence any delay, while required remedial work is completed may result in the insurer imposing conditions/limitations that may be unacceptable to you.

 

[Mrs McG]

In case it’s of any use to anyone, last November I used the insurance broker who the previous owners used and they got my buildings insurance £486k for £750 from Prestige. I also contacted Period Property Owners Club who said they couldn’t beat that premium as they also use Prestige. I don’t have a log burner though, so that would make a difference. Good luck.

 

[jdsnape]

If you're still in the throws of buying, and haven't already done so - ask the present owner for a copy of their current Electrical Installation inspection report and make sure that it has a few years to run. If they do not have one it may be something you want your solicitor to ask for as a condition of the purchase. Insurers tend to only give new owners 30 days to submit copies of acceptable certificates and some will require more than just a 'Satisfactory' report. As a consequence any delay, while required remedial work is completed may result in the insurer imposing conditions/limitations that may be unacceptable to you.

Yes, thanks - we have that in hand. The insurer needs an electrical report, chimney inspection and thatch inspection documentation before they'll be happy!

 

[Bogart]

Fresh in quote up 9% on last year could be worse. This year though will tout around for alternative, any suggestions as to good provider for 6 bed thatch?

Thanks

 

[ramases]

Our renewal premium went up £500 (36%) to £1890 (buildings £675000 & £65000 contents) this year despite having been claim free for 10 years. Our broker said that because we have a log burner (despite only using it at Xmas) it limits us to just one insurer on their panel. Increasing our excess to a more realistic £1000 reduced the quote to around £1450.

I then asked what they could do if we removed the log burner and they said the would contact their other insurer for a quote. It cost £225 to remove the stove (and for the confirmatory paperwork) and we sold it on for £40.

All of the terms with the alternate firm were the same or better than the original policy - and the quote was £740. The log burner has been removed and a policy taken with the cheaper company (an established Defacto 5 star rated company). Of course one only knows how good an insurance company is when a claim is made but I'm happy to have made the switch.

 

[Mrs McG]

Grrr. I’ve just spoken with my insurance broker as my renewal is due next month and they have been taken over by Thatchline. They told me that they will wait until current provider issues a renewal quote before they will look at any other providers which seems incredibly lazy to me as this only gives 2 weeks to find an alternative.

If anyone can recommend an insurance broker or provider please let me know!

 

[tobydog]

Grrr. I’ve just spoken with my insurance broker as my renewal is due next month and they have been taken over by Thatchline. They told me that they will wait until current provider issues a renewal quote before they will look at any other providers which seems incredibly lazy to me as this only gives 2 weeks to find an alternative.

If anyone can recommend an insurance broker or provider please let me know!

We currently get our thatched house insurance through the broker Lloyd & Whyte. They were very professional and helpful after we left NFU due to ridiculously excess premium hikes. They worked to get us cover with one insurer while we took our old wood burner (with no flue liner) out, and then moved us over to another when we fitted a new one with a fully compliant flue. Our renewal premium in March this year was essentially the same as 2022 which was a big surprise. I am expecting a reality check in March 2024 but fingers crossed it's manageable.

 

[Mrs McG]

Thanks. I got a quote from NFU today for £1354, I couldn’t get through to L&W so I asked for a callback via their online chat, hopefully they can beat that as my current premium is £970 so that’s quite a hike from NFU.

 

[Mrs McG]

No luck with Lloyd & Whyte sadly, they said that they own Thatchline and therefore can’t give a comparative quote. If anyone else can recommend a good insurance broker or insurance provider then I’d appreciate it, thanks!

 

[frustin]

No luck with Lloyd & Whyte sadly, they said that they own Thatchline and therefore can’t give a comparative quote. If anyone else can recommend a good insurance broker or insurance provider then I’d appreciate it, thanks!

who did you end up with?

 

[Mrs McG]

I’m finalising that now. My brokers said that the premium from my current insurers Prestige has gone up from around £900 to over £2,000 and the best alternative they could find is Aegas for £1150. However I’ve had a quote for around £900 from Thatched Owners Insurance for £900 so I’m going with them

 

[elizabeth]

We received our renewal from Lloyd and Whyte and it has doubled as their underwriter Axis has pulled out. We are thatch and listed. So we are looking elsewhere. Will let you know how we get on.

 

[tobydog]

We're listed, timber framed, thatched, and have a wood burner, and arrange our insurance through Lloyd & Whyte. Our insurance renewal in March 2024 was £1,168 which amazingly was pretty much the same as our March 2023 renewal. It's placed with Ageas so we're hoping they'll still be gentle with us in 2025.

Elizabeth - did Lloyd & Whyte not have an option for you with Ageas?

 

[Cubist]

We're listed, timber framed, thatched, and have a wood burner, and arrange our insurance through Lloyd & Whyte. Our insurance renewal in March 2024 was £1,168 which amazingly was pretty much the same as our March 2023 renewal. It's placed with Ageas so we're hoping they'll still be gentle with us in 2025.

Elizabeth - did Lloyd & Whyte not have an option for you with Ageas?

I hope you checked the Re-build Cost they included and adjusted it to what you think it should be. We've been with L&W for a few years now and they always pushed that value up automatically each year while insuring with AXA - but didn't revise it when moving to Ageas this year.

Also, any claim at all leads to a heavy 'loading penalty' affecting the entire risk value - even if its just the theft of a few tools from an outbuilding.

 

[tobydog]

Yes, the rebuild cost was index linked and the price still remained almost unchanged. We are probably due an proper updated rebuild cost anyway as the last one was done a few years back when NFU sent one of their surveyors round. I don't intend to make minor claims for the reason you have given but thanks for the reminder.

 

[elizabeth]

Thank you tobydog and Cubist for your advice. We contacted Lloyd & Whyte and they explained because of our log burner Ageas are not taking on any new clients. Lloyd & Whyte are going to try to lower it for us but it’s not looking promising. We are seriously considering removal of our log burner after Christmas as we rarely use it.

 

[tobydog]

That's a little worrying. Hopefully they'll continue covering existing clients who have thatched houses with wood burners at not too extortionate premiums. If not, we might have to think about taking it out as well. It's only been in for a few years and is fully compliant unlike the one it replaced. Interestingly, Lloyd & Whyte managed to get our house temporarily covered by another insurer with our non-compliant burner on the basis we made a written statement to the affect that we wouldn't use it. The policy stated that there was no cover if we did and a related claim arose. This worked fine and gave us time to get round to fitting the compliant one. That's when Ageas took over. Elizabeth - rather than taking your burner out, it might be worth asking L&W if you can keep it in but make a similar declaration to Ageas or another of L&W's insurers. I know NFU wouldn't have it, and maybe the insurance market has moved on, but worth asking. At least you could still look at a nice wood burner even if you couldn't use it.