To think that this is a daft way of looking at things?

[ArsMamatoria]

Sorry: posted about same subject in lone parents last night, but I phoned again to double check and am now confused by this reasoning.

My home contents insurance premium has gone up for two reasons:

1. birth of second child

Well I understand that the destructive force of two little buggers could be greater than that of one.

2. death of my OH.

Apparently, due to me now being a single parent 'the house is more likely to be left unoccupied at any one time.'

I asked whether they took into account regular time away from the house e.g. working hours. They do not. This seems bizarre given their reason for upping the premium.

So, for example, a couple who worked full time and left the house empty from 9-5 every week day would pay less than a single stay-at-home parent who was in the house all the farking time more of the time.

I pointed this out, but apparently they 'can't assess individual situations'.

Err, isn't assessing individual situations how they come up with a premium in the first place?

How difficult would it be to include the number of hours house is empty in their calculations - say tick boxes 'less than 10' '10-20' '20-50' etc?

Before I get flamed, please understand that I am really not getting at people who work long hours, it just seems an odd way of assessing things to me.

God, just read this back - I bore even myself sometimes. I think I need a glass of wine.

That does seem odd. Surely most families would go away together anyway, on weekends etc.

Have a

Crazy, isn't it? I think being widowed also earns us higher car insurance premiums, for some reason - I'm not quite sure what twisted logic could be behind that.

I think it's time for you to brave gocompare or comparethemeerkat or one of those other companies with annoying ads. I'm sure someone will think you're a decent risk.

yes, it's stupid. i would try elsewhere!

shop around. I bet you will get better elsewhere.

Maybe the first one is because you've presumably added to your possessions with another child, ie higher payout in the (unlikely) event of all your stuff being in a flood or whatever. Would agree that a look around for another quote might be an idea - certainly when I did this for car insurance (very dull couple of hours) it became apparent they weren't all using the same criteria.

try somewhere else.

Oh, yes I definitely see the logic of the first one. If they knew DD2, they would hoik it up even higher, so maybe I'm actually getting a bargain.

I will definitely look around (though I did also fire off an indignant letter to the money section of the paper, which made me feel a bit better)

exexpat the car insurance thing is also very . Perhaps they think that we'll start having grief-crazed accidents in the Tesco car park or something? Or that there'll be no one to help us do all that pesky parallel parking

Wankering bastards!!!! FFS isn't being widowed bad enough without having to pay more fucking insurance??

Jesus wept what is this country coming to.

Shop around and then tell them where to stick their insurance.

BodyofEeyore, yes it is fucking tedious.

Will look elsewhere while continuing to think Barclays are a bunch of wankers.

Yes the only adult thing is a strange rule, my mum had to pay more for her home insurance too after my dad left her. Lovely.

Ring around for a lower quote.

Ah, it's Barclays. They are indeed wankers.

I work for an insurance co and it is cheaper to have a partner on your car insurance - because if one of you feels ill, the other will presumably drive and also - not so much drink related issue.
Shite innit.
Shop around, try gingerbread? or is that just for widowed men? Maybe there are some support groups who could tell you who does good deals.
SOrry for your loss - one of my friends was widowed at 8 mths with her second child. Awful

Absolutely shop around you can save a fortune.

Marital status is a nonsense for car insurance, but causes DP and I no end of fun-
Question "Are you married?" DP and I answer jointly "Yes". Down goes the insurance quote.

Now had they asked "Are you married to each other" that would be a different story entirely!

Insurance companies play the odds.

If the answer you give to a question puts you in a group who on average make more claims or more expensive claims, then you pay more.

I'd be looking for new insurers.

Start here for your shopping around.

I think the 'more children = more destructive power' and the 'out of the house = more likely to be robbed' pretty much balances itself out. Either you are in with the children and they might destroy things, or you are out and you might get robbed.

Not sure how # of parents affects this, unless maybe if there are two parents it's more likely that there will be times when someone is in (so won't get robbed) but the children aren't in (so nothign gets smashed).

Trillian thanks for the link - some very good tips there as well as the price comparison.