Home insurance - comparing prices

[ilkleymoorbartat]

We're normally with the Halifax. I did the comparison site thing, and there's companies (like Acorn) that are coming up with offers for half the price. Seems mad not to go with them, but it feels like there MUST are a catch. Has anyone got experience of going with one of these smaller companies, and what they're like?

To a large extent, who sells you your policy is pretty irrelevant and something most people put too much stock in: the policy will be underwritten by the big names like Axa, Brit, Hiscox etc (and will then be put into runoff next year and handled by somebody completely different.) So the most important quality for the company you buy from is what their customer service is like and what they offer as comprehensive: check the reviews.

There’s no “catch” - providers tend to rely on customers choosing them despite being more expensive because they recognise them as a “trusted” or “high street” name and thus assume they’re automatically better or more trustworthy; and they also rely on people being too lazy to compare and switch and just allowing the more expensive renewal to go through.

(I work in insurance / reinsurance and runoff - the Lloyd’s market and how insurance actually works is fascinating!)

This is amazingly helpful! Thank you so much @ComtesseDeSpair

You’re welcome. I will qualify the above with perhaps one exception: if you have a listed or very unusual type of property then there can be some benefit to going with a specialist provider as their claims assessors will have more specialist knowledge than wider market assessors.

Sometimes, when you use the comparison sites, the cheaper quotes might not have all the features you want, such as legal cover, new for old etc, so check they have what you want because the price could rise.