House Insurance quotes
How do i get a cheap House Insurance quote?
Read the below the things you need to consider and questions you need to ask when considering purchasing house Insurance.
Do I need house insurance?
- Whilst house insurance is not compulsory, if you have a mortgage then your lender may insist on you securing buildings cover as a condition of the loan. This is simply to ensure that if an event occurs that results in the home being destroyed or severely damaged the rebuilding costs will be met, thus safeguarding their investment.
- The means to find the money to replace everything following a loss involving buildings or contents (or both) would be a huge worry if you did not have insurance.
What exactly needs to be covered?
- In respect of buildings cover you need to consider the home in its entirety. That is, the home itself, including permanent fixtures and fittings, any outbuildings, garages, drives, patios, paths, fences and gates. Cover should also extend to permanent swimming pools, tennis courts, and fixed fuel tanks, underground service pipes and cables for which you are legally responsible.
- Consideration must also be given to the cost of removal of debris, and professional fees.
- Contents comprise everything that you could take with you if you were to move home. Go through every room making an inventory of contents including items in cupboards and wardrobes. Note also items in the loft, the garage, the shed and the garden. Any satellite dishes or aerials are considered to be an extension of the television and are therefore covered under your contents policy.
How do I calculate how much cover I need?
- The market value of a home is dependent on many factors, including locality, local amenities, size of plot, etc, and therefore bears no relation to the actual rebuilding costs.
- You may find your home’s rebuilding costs in any valuation report or survey that was carried out when you took out your mortgage.
- If you do not have a survey report, you may wish to instruct a surveyor to carry out a survey for you. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors will advise you of members in your area. The Association of British Insurers also offers useful advice and information on-line, together with a guide to calculate rebuilding costs.
- For contents cover you should calculate what it would cost to replace all your items at today’s prices.
Do I need to take into account inflation?
- Although you must keep the sums insured at a level that represents their full value, most insurers will increase them each month in line with the House Rebuilding Cost Index for buildings, and the General Index of Retail Prices for contents, or as instructed by your insurer. For your protection, should the index fall below zero, we will not reduce the sums insured. At renewal we will calculate the premium using the new sums insured.
Other questions for the Home Insurance company
- What type of policies do you offer?
- Can I go on cover straight away?
- Are my personal items covered when I take them away from home?
- What cover is provided for my PC?
- Am I covered if I work from home?
- Are the contents of my shed and/or garage covered?
- Is cover provided for items in my garden?
- Can I opt to pay a voluntary excess?
Read more about Life Insurance in Life Insurance explained: and House Insurance Explained here
Top tips to help you get a cheap House Insurance quote
Read the below the things you need to consider and questions you need to ask when considering purchasing house Insurance.
Tips to getting the best cover and cheapest house Insurance deal -What you need to do
TIP 1 – Get the rebuilding costs right
This is NOT the market value of your home. Often they’re less than half , as they don’t include the cost of the land you’ll overpay if you get this wrong. But if you underestimate it you’re in big trouble.
TIP 2 – Don’t Under or Over Insure – Be honest
Don’t under insure your possessions. Think about how much a new sofa, TV, oven, wardrobe, dining room table will cost. It is normally more than you think. Go through your possessions and make a good estimate. Be realistic about the replacement costs. For unique and high value items such as designer jewellery, collectables and antique furniture get an independent evaluation.
TIP 3 – Never accept your lender’s renewal , go shopping around (look at our carefully selected latest deals) than your lender’s offering and you could save thousands.
Our top 3 latest Home Insurance deals
TIP 4 – Secure your home properly Get the right security locks fitted such as mortice deadlock or rimlock conforming to British Standard 3621. If you install a NACOSS approved burglar alarm and join a neighbourhood watch scheme then this can lead to a 5-10% discount on your policy.
TIP 5 – Pay Annually. Home Insurers tend to make money from APR on monthly payments, so if you can afford it pay annually you may save 5-12% a year.
TIP 6 – Keep on top of your home insurance. If you splash out on a big new TV , stereo or jewellery. Tell the insurance company as you need to be insured properly. Additionally if you sell some valuable items, tell the insurance company and bring your premium down.
TIP 7 -Always read the small print. Home Insurance never covers you for everything, check the exclusions and be 100% what is covered. Cheap is not always best.
TIP 8 – Buy online. Why? – because Insurance companies have better deals online as administering an online booking costs less than speaking to a sales rep on the phone for 20 minutes.
Questions about House Insurance
Do I need house insurance?
- Whilst house insurance is not compulsory, if you have a mortgage then your lender may insist on you securing buildings cover as a condition of the loan. This is simply to ensure that if an event occurs that results in the home being destroyed or severely damaged the rebuilding costs will be met, thus safeguarding their investment.
- The means to find the money to replace everything following a loss involving buildings or contents (or both) would be a huge worry if you did not have insurance.
What is Buildings Insurance and what is Contents Insurance?
- In respect of buildings cover you need to consider the home in its entirety. That is, the home itself, including permanent fixtures and fittings, any outbuildings, garages, drives, patios, paths, fences and gates. Cover should also extend to permanent swimming pools, tennis courts, and fixed fuel tanks, underground service pipes and cables for which you are legally responsible.
- Contents Insurance comprise everything that you could take with you if you were to move home. Go through every room making an inventory of contents including items in cupboards and wardrobes. Note also items in the loft, the garage, the shed and the garden. Any satellite dishes or aerials are considered to be an extension of the television and are therefore covered under your contents policy.
How do I calculate how much cover I need?
- The market value of a home is dependent on many factors, including locality, local amenities, size of plot, etc, and therefore bears no relation to the actual rebuilding costs.
- You may find your home’s rebuilding costs in any valuation report or survey that was carried out when you took out your mortgage. It is important you have a good idea of this, otherwuise you may end up under or over insured. For example as a rule of thumb a 3-bed 1930’s terraced house in the London area in 2006 would cost around £130,000 to re build.(do not take our word for it though, make you own calculations)
- If you do not have a survey report, you may wish to instruct a surveyor to carry out a survey for you. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors will advise you of members in your area. The Association of British Insurers also offers useful advice and information on-line, together with a guide to calculate rebuilding costs.
- For contents cover you should calculate what it would cost to replace all your items at today’s prices.
Do I need to take into account inflation?
- Although you must keep the sums insured at a level that represents their full value, most insurers will increase them each month in line with the House Rebuilding Cost Index for buildings, and the General Index of Retail Prices for contents, or as instructed by your insurer. For your protection, should the index fall below zero, we will not reduce the sums insured. At renewal we will calculate the premium using the new sums insured.
Other questions to think about regarding Home Insurance
- What type of policies do you offer?
- Can I be covered straight away?
- Are my personal items covered when I take them away from home?
- What cover is provided for my PC?
- Am I covered if I work from home?
- Are the contents of my shed and/or garage covered?
- Is cover provided for items in my garden?
- Can I opt to pay a voluntary excess?
If you do pay a voluntary excess you can bring the cost of the premium down.
See below for the latest House Insurance deals
Disclaimer.Please note all comments on this website are a matter of opinion and should not be accepted as finanicial advice.
Our tip
Churchill and Cornhill tend to have competitive policies try them for a quote by clicking below.
Churchill Home Insurance
