Household Insurance Renewal

[dannyboy413]

I have had the house and contents insured with Allianz since we bought the house in 1999. At renewal time, I always have a look at 3 or 4 other companies and, whilst I can find a couple of quotes a bit cheaper than the renewal, when I ring Allianz and ask them to look at the renewal price again, they always reduce it a bit. Another reason I have stuck with Allianz is that they will insure my house - as it has a metal roof instead of slates, some companies will not issue cover, not without getting an expert in and filling in various forms. So for the extra few Euro it might cost me, it is easier to stick with the devil I know. 

I have just received my renewal showing an increase of €77.08, pushing the price up to €461.68, which is near enough 20%. €77.08 is not a huge amount and I pay the total amount due in monthly instalments, without charge. However, in the next week or two, I will be doing my usual telephone call and asking them to knock it down a bit and I am quite confident they will do that. As my late Father used to say, "if you don't ask, you don't get". 

Incidentally, I have just been looking at previous quotes - for the year Dec2020 to Dec2021 I paid €415.87!

Notwithstanding the above, I will always recommend that people do not blindly accept insurance quotes, be it house or car. 

[dannyboy413]

I decided not to bother waiting and telephoned Allianz this afternoon. I told the nice young lady that I spoke to that I was quite happy with Allianz, but that an increase of €70+ was a bit much. She explained that the increase was due to the fact that they have increased my cover for the building by about €22,000, with a corresponding increase in the contents cover.  She did say that she could give me a 'discretionary' discount, so my premium is now €403.98, instead of €461.88. Ask me who's a happy bunny. 😄

[Bper]

Hi David,why are they increasing your cover and contents did something change for this increase to happen.?🫤

[dannyboy413]

@Bper Presumably they are calling it inflation Bob. 🤷‍♀️. Nowt else has changed - apart from us being a year older!

[Bper]

2 minutes ago, dannyboy413 said:

@Bper Presumably they are calling it inflation Bob. 🤷‍♀️. Nowt else has changed - apart from us being a year older!

I'm interested to know why does a metal roof make any difference to the insurance, surely a metal roof isn't going to catch fire is more durable and the premium should therefore be lower(🫤

[Cyker]

It's all those cats it attracts when it gets hot in summer, they're a real hazard!   

[DAF XF]

58 minutes ago, Bper said:

I'm interested to know why does a metal roof make any difference to the insurance, surely a metal roof isn't going to catch fire is more durable and the premium should therefore be lower(🫤

Guessing that it's dearer to replace if something was to happen 🤷‍♂️

[dannyboy413]

22 hours ago, Cyker said:

It's all those cats it attracts when it gets hot in summer, they're a real hazard!   

I thought at first @Cyker that you had visited my house. My wife is not known in the cat world as 'The Cat Lady' for no reason. There are numerous semi-feral cats that hang about outside - how they know when it is breakfast, lunch and tea time I have no idea! A cat only has to look through the window at my wife and it's a case of "aww look at him, I'll go get him some food". I kid you not when I say that every Thursday or Friday I get 10 x 12 packs, (yes, 120 cans!), of cat food from Aldi.* . Having said that, I do take milk and cat biscuits out at lunchtime. . Yes, I know, I am, (nearly), as bad as Louisa!

*There is no way I am buying 120 cans of 'posh' food! 

 

As regards the query about not insuring the house because it has a metal roof, the answer is that I don't know. Some insurance companies I have contacted in the past would not cover the house because of the roof. (Although the roof actually covers the house - sorry 😁). And as Allianz 'play ball' every year, I might as well stick with them.