House Insurance best deals

I don't know about you but our house is the single biggest purchase we have ever made or are likely to make and so protecting this investment through proper House Insurance is really vital to us. Insuring both the House and Household contents is really important because if you don't do this right then you may find yourself in difficulties when the time comes to make a house insurance claim.

There are lots of things that can go wrong of course, fire, flood, storm damage, subsidence, theft and break-ins, vandalism - the list is endless. You can of course adopt the "it won't happen to me" attitude, but you will regret this when something does go wrong. House Insurance and Contents insurance is not something to cut corners with. Ultimately it's our family life we have at stake.

Of course there are things we can all do both to reduce the risks of things happening and to minimise the costs of insurance. This is not the same as going for cheap insurance though.

The first thing is of course to make sure you have the right level of cover in the first place. This is a more important factor than the cost of the insurance. There is no point in having cheap insurance if it does not cover you properly.

Most buildings and contents policies cover the same "core" insurance risks. The terms and conditions vary though so you must start by making a decision about the risks you want to be protected against.

Policies differ for example in the level of alternative accommodation costs that they will pay. If you need to be out of your home because of fire or flood then alternative accommodation will be a must and can be costly. What standard of alternative accommodation cover will you require?

Using an insurance comparison site can be helpful - try
GoCompare.com


Why you should reduce your insurance risks.

Premiums are of course based on risk. So if you can reduce the risk of fire, flood damage and burglary in your home then this in turn can lead to you getting cheaper insurance.

There are some relatively easy things that you can do;

• Fit approved locks to doors and windows. The level of security will depend on the type of doors and windows, so talk to insurers first. Do not forget that in some cases (such as if you live in an area with a high crime rate) insurers will require a prescribed level of security to be installed before they can consider offering cover.


• Intruder alarms. Installing an approved alarm can typically reduce your premium by between 5-15%.


• Occupancy. Reflecting the fact that most burglaries occur during the day some companies may quote cheaper premiums if someone is usually at home during the day.


• Fit a smoke alarm. With the costs of domestic fires rising, some insurers may offer cheaper premiums on both buildings and contents policies if you fit smoke detectors.

Reducing your flood damage risks

Around two million homes are vulnerable to flooding. If you are one of these homeowners then you can make your house more insurable and possibly reduce the cost by taking steps which reduce the risk of flooding, or the cost of damage if it does occur.

• Replacing timber floors with concrete and cover with tiles;


• replace chipboard/MDF kitchen and bathroom units with plastic equivalents;


• replace gypsum plaster with more water-resistant material such as lime plaster
  ;


• move electrical points well above the likely flood level.

These things should pay for themselves by reducing the costs of damage from one flood.Your insurer will be able to advise you about the impacts of these measures on your insurance.

Household Insurance Price Comparison
The cost of both buildings and contents insurance can vary a lot between competing insurers so it pays to shop around by comparing prces and quotes.

Buildings insurance typically costs in the region of £200 plus and contents insurance around £150 plus.
One of the companies offering price comparison on insurance products in the UK is GoCompare.com
and they are well worth checking out as you will be able to compare all major insurance quotes.