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AIBU?

To wonder why my buildings and contents insurance has gone up so much?

10 replies

Butteredparsn1ps · 11/10/2017 20:22

Last year £250. This year £675. Only ever made one claim for a damaged carpet and that was in 2002.

Apparently, we are "now" in a high-risk area for flooding. Funny then, that we haven't had a flood in the past 23 years. Hmm.

Also especially annoyed with comparison site. Their cheapest quote was £240 until I went through to the actual provider who wanted another £821 for the flood cover + £1,000 excess (it was this provider who told me we are in a high-risk area).

I can think of 2 reasons. We have a very small brook (ditch) at the bottom of the garden - some 80m away. I'm sure an estate agent would describe it as a stream, but it really isn't. It's about 3m below the level of our house and has never been more than half full. Can't for the life of me work out why this would be a risk now when it hasn't been in the past.

Reason 2 is our neighbours to the side who live on the main road, and have claimed for "flooding" I think, more than once. The cause of their flood was a blocked drain though and the impact was worse, because their house - an older building - is about 6" below the current ground level.

So should I just suck it up - or AIBU to want to challenge this in some way?

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DrunkOnEther · 11/10/2017 20:30

I would guess it's because of your neighbour's claims - insurance companies see multiple 'flooding' claims, and therefore think your area is at high risk of flooding.
I might be talking out of my arse though 😅

I'm not really sure what you can do to challenge it though.
I appreciate I'm no help at all, but have sympathy for you, at least!

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Butteredparsn1ps · 11/10/2017 20:39

Drunk that's certainly my suspicion. Also, have a bit of a sense that neighbours may have over-egged the situation to get their downstairs re-decorated and re-furnished. And now we end up paying Angry

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nocake · 11/10/2017 21:57

Shop around. Some insurance companies are now part of a scheme called Flood Re which allows them to pass the flood risk off to another company. This doesn't affect how you buy your policy or make a claim but it could make your premium lower.

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ColossalKalamari · 11/10/2017 22:16

You should certainly ask your insurer if that's right and get them to check

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Butteredparsn1ps · 11/10/2017 22:19

Thanks nocake - I think the lady may have said the extra flood protection was with flood re - hence the extra £800 on top of the previously quoted low premium.

I'll have a google...

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KimmySchmidt1 · 11/10/2017 22:27

All you can do is shop around and get different quotes and pick the one you like best. I don't think there isn't any sort of challenge process. You could try the financial ombudsman service and make a complaint to he insurer saying that they have built your quote on incorrectly information and see where that gets you.

But you should definitely always shop around for any type of insurance first, because they tend to put the commercial price they offer different customer service up depending on whether the customer shops around.

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Leamington99 · 11/10/2017 22:33

Most definitely your neighbor’s claim triggered them into thinking your house may be a flood risk now

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thekingfisher · 11/10/2017 22:34

If you speak to the environment agency for your area they can give you an actual flood map. I went through a broker and supplied the map given to me and this was accepted as evidence that we were not in a flood Zone and if we were the world would have ended as there would have been a tsunami in Essex !

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purplecollar · 11/10/2017 22:50

Get a quote from CIS (Coop). I'd really recommend them.

They were great when our house actually did flood. And didn't raise our very low premium by much at all.

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user1497909848 · 11/10/2017 23:04

Some firms have flood data so specific that it maps to property level not just the street ( I'm a household insurance underwriter) so it's really worth hunting round. Also the flood mapping systems they have are often more detailed and up to date than what the Environment Agency have so don't take their website as gospel.
Flood Re was designed to help people in high risk properties and the pricing for the flood risk is capped by this scheme so the firms may not have a choice about that part of the premium.
I always say to people if you're adamant that there's no flood risk then look for companies that will offer cover excluding flooding to knock your price down ( if your house is owned on a mortgage then please check that your mortgage firm is ok with this)

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