Finding property insurance online
As a property-owner, insurance should be one of your most important purchases. That’s because in addition to contents insurance – which renters have too – home owners need buildings insurance to cover a property against burst pipes, fires, flooding, storms and other elements that can cause structural damage.
Your home insurance policy is renewed annually by your insurer, often automatically. However, it’s worth scouring the market every year, to see whether you can get a better deal elsewhere. Not sure how to go about it? Follow our guide to finding property insurance online to make the process easier.
Comparing buildings insurance
The first thing you need to do is compare property insurance quotes. Money Supermarket is a good place to start as they have a comprehensive advice page so you know what to look for when comparing policies. There are also several specialist insurance types you can examine here, including cover for flood risk properties, subsidence and self-builds.
Confused.com is another great site for comparing buildings insurance. They also offer detailed buildings insurance guide to guide you through the process, and it’s easy to request and retrieve a quote. Additionally, Confused.com give you an indication of how much you could save too: based on figures from summer 2013, 10% of buildings insurance customers could save at least £242 against their last renewal quote. So you can see that it pays to shop around, rather than automatically renew your policy.
Go Compare is also worth a look. Their home insurance tool compares up to 84 brands, though there isn’t much detailed advice here. It does, however, have a five-star rating from Defaqto – the UK’s leading independent financial research company – so you can certainly trust their results.
Prefer to skip the comparison stage and go direct to insurers? LV home insurance offers up to £1 million if you need to rebuild your home, as well as accidental damage cover for windows and bath fittings. There’s also a 24-hour emergency helpline, and their policy has five stars from Defaqto too. Direct Line offer up to £1 million buildings cover as standard as well, but policyholders get unlimited cover if they take out a Home Insurance Plus policy. Direct Line aren’t listed on comparison websites either, so it’s always worth checking their website to see what insurance deals they’re offering.
Home insurance advice
Comparing lots of different insurance quotes can be overwhelming, but doing some research beforehand could help demystify the process. MoneySavingExpert.com’s home insurance guide is essential reading as it lists exactly what you should look out for to ensure your cover is at the correct level. Their boiler insurance guide is useful as well, and could help you determine whether this is an extra that you really need.
The Money Advice Service has an excellent series of guides on buildings insurance too. Some of their most useful pages include helping you figure out how much cover you need and detailing what a good buildings insurance policy looks like. There’s also valuable information here on contents insurance and flood cover. And for even more home insurance tips, visit uSwitch for short, easily digestible advice guides.
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