watching the floods story on the news - 1 IN 4 households dont have house insurance

[nailpolish]

and they are calling on the government to help them out

if the government are willing ot help people out who dont have insurance, ie give them money i presume, then, er, why do i have insurance???

I want to move to a place that's on the Euro.

I get the 7-year-itch when it comes to places.

Right now, I've got severe wanderlust.

I think a major reason why people who could otherwise afford it don't bother with house insurance is because they don't trust insurance companies. Maybe they had a claim rejected in the past or know someone who had a bad experience and have concluded that it's not worth bothering. I think a lot of people misunderstand what insurance is for and then get cross when they can't claim. I used to work for an insurance company and people would frequently cancel because they'd tried to claim for a TV that stopped working not realising that it wasn't covered or claiming for accidental damage when they didn't have that kind of policy. Actually, house insurance is usually a pretty good deal as long as you don't take it out with your mortgage provider who generally rip people off massively and covers loads and loads of things you wouldn't expect it to.

I also think the demise of 'the man from the Pru' neighbourhood insurance agents who would collect premiums weekly in cash has left those who don't have a bank account without the means of getting insurance, plus many companies expect you to pay upfront or add a massive amount of interest if you want to pay in installments. It's also a cultural thing - my parents had house insurance and I remember them claiming on it for totally unforseeable events like a water tank bursting and ruining the carpets, so as soon as I left home I made sure I had insurance myself, even as a student.

Although we don't have contents insurance I would prefer to have it but it's another of those things that DH and I argue about. It's not that we cannot afford to pay it but his stubborn principles. So I've plenty other things to get wound up about hence I don't argue about that anymore. In a sick sort of way, sometimes I'd like to see something (not too drastic) happen just to see his face the silly tight assed git!

car insurance

youd be stunned how many dont have them

Our contents insurance costs about the same as our tv license, if you can afford to have a tv and pay the license fee then you could get rid of the tv and pay for contents insurance instead. It is a matter of priorities, if I had to choose between tv and insurance I don't know which I would choose, but if I decided to keep the tv and not have insurance I would not expect the government to help me out financially if something happened.

Km id nto say that is the truth tbh

was it hte mail you read it in
LOADS of peopel dont haev insurance

God I hate going all twitchy Daily Mail reader with stories like this, but I did see someone on the news the other day say their brand new leather 3 piece suite was ruined and they didn't have insurance. It occured to me then that a new leather 3 piece suite would have come after the insurance in my priorities, but then maybe I'm over cautious.

Oh and she was just one person, so I can't make sweeping statements about why others haven't got insurance, just thought it wouldn't be something I'd mention if I'd just lost everything.

Contents insurance may be inexpensive to some (although not to someone who is in real poverty) but it can be very costly if you are in a flood-prone area. Like Hull.

Flat screen TVs and leather sofas don't mean someone is well off, they could be on HP or from a catalogue on instalments. Or presents from relatives. Or bought cheap because your cousin works for Currys or something.

And Shrek is right re the insurance industry.

Not sure you can really just get rid of the TV and not pay teh licence any more- they seem to assume you're the criminal if you dont pay, from what i can see, not sure I could face the fighting tbh, woudl sell the TV but still pay the licence for ease of mind mind you I have more than most on my hands in terms of fighting authorities I guess

We don't have contents insurance.
Fact is that on average you lose, so really you should only insure in one of two cases.

1. You've worked out that you personally are more likely to make a claim, than the average.

2. The thing you are insured against would capsize your finances. So it's rational to insure buildings since few of us could write a check to fix a burned down house.

Also, let us be clear that insurers are lying bastards. Just because you paid your premium, does not mean that they will pay up. They have an army of people whose job is to get out of this.
Can you prove when you bought your DVD player ? The nice dress that floated away ?

Insurers make good money out of the way that things that cause big losses also destroy the proof you had them in the first place.

Also they scrutinise the claim to see if they can wiggle out of paying for "non disclosure". Did your garden flood a couple of years back ? Did you tell them ?
They will use that against you.

Sadly true afaik DC

We ahd a TV that was broken years back (DS1 plled it over), it was under a year old. Tried to claim on oura ccidnetal insurance, they wanted an Engineer report- which cost iirc 9and its many eyars ago) £80- certainly it cost mroe than we could afford at the time. We ahd to pay upfront, we couldn't, so they didn't pay for the TV.

Forunately we had Dh's old oportabl he bought from his paper round when he was 13 LOL- black and white and with twiddly controls, but it did the job

I don't have contents insurance, simply cannot afford it.

don't know where you lot get your insurance from for £4 a month - wish I could!
this is the first year we;ve ever had insurance (apart from health) and it was a calculated risk I guess, up to us, we didn#t have much to lose and prob couldn't have got any in any case, the countries we were living in. but I wouldn't have expected anyone else to cough up either. we saved about £300 a year, over 10 years, equals £3000 which is prob more than our stuff cost at that time to replace. now we've bought and got insurance just in time for ds2 to flood the house, so good calculated risk assessment [smug] - although why any company lets parents of toddlers take out accidental damage cover is beyond me.
but I can well understand why people don't get cover if they are renting - it is waaaay more expensive than if you own your own house, esp if you live on the hull estates, i would imagine. and it is kind of other people to start a fund to help out those in need. if it was just a case of losing a few of your things in a robbery, fair enough, but if you lose everything, it's surely the better part of human nature to lend a (financial) hand to those in need?

Agree Morocco

and like Is aid earlier if you're worried about people who have er, plasma screen TV's benefitting you can always donate t the furniture provider cahrities who provide according to income status.

This type of stuff winds me up. Why can't people take responsibility? It's like someone not having car insurance becauase they "drive safely". That is not the frigging point!

No thats very different

car insurance protects other poeple

house insurance protects you

you can risk yourself if you choose, toehr people is a no no

Plus car insurance is a legal requirement

Agree Peachy - though if you live in a flat, and your washing machine leaks into the downstairs flat, if you don't have contents insurance you have to pay for it all.

sorry, I've been a bit naive. I had no idea that insurance companies were so bad. I would have expected some resistance from them, but whenever I've made a claim, even ones for accidental damage, I've never had a problem.

I wonder is any of those people thought they had contents insurance only to find that it doesn't cover flooding etc?

We have insurance but I have no idea what it actually covers, I am hoping that I once did know (when we got it) but makes me realise that I am blindly renewing or just taking the one offered with the mortgage etc..

Better go and check!...

Me neither MrsMar. My mum and dad once accidentally strimmed their living room carpet and although they were literally in the middle of replacing it (they'd cut the edges off to decorate the walls and were waiting for the new one to arrive) they claimed on their insurance. They were totally upfront about it and said they'd already bought a new one but the insurance company paid anyway

I live in a flood plain - the whole of Hull is a flood plain - should we just desert the city and move?

I am sitting in my living room that smells like mould, with fecking fans blowing to dry out underneath my house that after 2 weeks still has loads of water under it - stressful!!

£800 for the priviledge of insuring my house this year, and it will be even more next year and they will probably fiddle our policy not to include flood stuff, thats such alot of money and I am glad we can afford it

But I am glad we have insurance that is paying for the fans (sort of anyway) but I get why people don't, I think a few people round me who were flooded don't have it.

I do think it should be a priority for everyone to have buildings and contents - makes life easier.

Oh I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that insurance companies always paid up, I tripped over my dishwasher while a bit worse the wear once and bent the door. Insurance co paid up with no complaints. Part of me thinks that's really unfair if people are being refused payments, but then who would turn down the insurance co if they offered to replace it?

only read the OP so far (will read thru the thread in a min) but i don't have house insurance. We can't afford it basically but i don't expect the government to pay out if something happens. ALthough some insurers count flooding as an act of god don't they? so wouldn't pay anyway