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am in the middle of sorting our policy renewable. Beginning to realise that there are wide discepancies between companies and feel ripped off. Seems to take ages to sort. any advice on most economical and user friendly companies? I find it a nightmare every year when our travel, car and house insurances are due. Is building insurance strictly necessary for example.

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You need buildings insurance,if your house burns down you could not afford to rebuild it unless you have limitless money.

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Buildings Insurance is also usually a requirement of a mortgage lender, so you would need to have it if you have a mortgage.

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And be totally honest and correct in your information.

Case in the paper today of an insurance company refusing to pay out £650,000 when a house burned down because the owner declared the place had five bedrooms when it had seven.

He had forgotten the two in the attic.

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You need buildings insurance,if your house burns down you could not afford to rebuild it unless you have limitless money.

And don't forget demolishing the old building and removing all the rubble/clearing the site for rebuilding also has to be taken into account....i am insured with L/V.. buildings..unlimited,contents £75,000,new for old etc, and it is well under £200,just make sure you are not overinsured when its not needed,this is what puts the costs up.My neighbour has a large detached home and he does not insure it....bit silly really for the cost of it.After owning my own....3...homes for 46 years i have only ever had to use them once for a small payout...but would never be without insurance....home/car etc..Park asks if building ins' is necessary but mentions travel ins',i would think the home is far more important than a holiday when it comes to paying money out

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My personal experience has led me to pay a bit more and keep them as separate policies rather than combined, which became a pain to deal with and a real headache to search for competitive quotes.

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am in the middle of sorting our policy renewable. Beginning to realise that there are wide discepancies between companies and feel ripped off. Seems to take ages to sort. any advice on most economical and user friendly companies? I find it a nightmare every year when our travel, car and house insurances are due. Is building insurance strictly necessary for example.

 

Get the best cover and price that you can, and then call Policy Expert, albeit, they will still try it on at renewal. However a phone call and circa 15 mins wait, listening to a recording informing you how busy they are, and how important your call is to them will get you to their very harassed operative. Just be polite and very firm, it generally works for me.

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am in the middle of sorting our policy renewable. Beginning to realise that there are wide discepancies between companies and feel ripped off. Seems to take ages to sort. any advice on most economical and user friendly companies? I find it a nightmare every year when our travel, car and house insurances are due. Is building insurance strictly necessary for example.

 

Use compare the market, or one of the other comparison websites, couldn't be easier, you'll get the cheapest price without even speaking to anyone.

 

And you can use the prices you get as a bargaining tool against your current provider.

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And be totally honest and correct in your information.

Case in the paper today of an insurance company refusing to pay out £650,000 when a house burned down because the owner declared the place had five bedrooms when it had seven.

He had forgotten the two in the attic.

 

Even though the financial ombudsman found against him I thought he was a little hard done by. He should have sought clarification with the insurance company beforehand.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-5550933/Our-house-burnt-insurer-refused-pay-said-7-bedrooms-not-five.html?utm_source=cvdb&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MOL-TIM-Newsletter-290318

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Even though the financial ombudsman found against him I thought he was a little hard done by. He should have sought clarification with the insurance company beforehand.

But insurance contracts are uberrimae fidei, i.e. 'of the utmost good faith'.

The applicant for cover is under a duty to answer all questions truthfully.

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Is building insurance strictly necessary for example.

 

Can you afford to replace it if it burns down? If the answer is yes you can, then, no, don't bother with buildings insurance. :hihi:

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But insurance contracts are uberrimae fidei, i.e. 'of the utmost good faith'.

The applicant for cover is under a duty to answer all questions truthfully.

 

I don't know if you read the article but the applicant says he thought he had.

After I read it I sought clarification from my insurance company as I was concerned that my second floor roof space could be classed as a fourth bedroom.

The roof space has central heating radiators and a dormer window and when the house was built in 1993 it was accessed by the staircase.

Apparently the local authority refused to designate the space as a habitable room because the escape strategy did not comply with fire regs as the staircase was not encased within a protected shaft.

It was impractical to protect the staircase retrospectively so the builder had to remove the stair flight between first and second floors, seal the opening and install a trap door with a pull-down ladder in one of the first floor bedrooms as sole access to the roof space.

My insurance company ruled that I only have three bedrooms based on this information.

There seems to be a lot of parallels with the unfortunate chap in the article, the only difference being the access.

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