Home and contents insurance renewal - 72% increase!

[PeanutAndBanana]

Which I do not feel inclined to pay. Never made a claim, been with them for 8 years, have increased the excess last year to manage a less ouchy % increase.
It's LV - I chose them because they had a good reputation and were able to insure my contents without me having to add up everything in the house. I'd appreciate that if possible with a different provider but it's not essential.
I dont want a super basic policy - I value customer service and the extras such as home assistance. But I don't want to pay another 72% on top of an already high (comparatively) premium. So would welcome any recommendations!

Have had exactly the same in my LV renewals letter this weekend! I’m guessing it’s not just a LV thing, the increase, but the %increase seems ridiculous!

It is increasing horrendously at the moment, i would speak to a broker and see if they can get the price down a bit/ more competitive policy, always worth a try

A broker is a good idea. Anyone you'd recommend? I have one I use for work but don't think they do retail.

Just renewed my B&C contents and have been charged £4.50 PER MONTH for 'administration of the policy'. Other than that its gone up about £5 per month. I renewed it over the phone , got the renewal documents in the post., then got another phone call (in the name of customer service and checking my cover) pushing for all the add ons! Then got another set of renewal documents the next day. I'm fuming. Tried to change to LV who my car insurance is with but couldn't do it online and couldn't find a telephone number to contact.

Oh rubbish I used LV for car and home insurance and I've always thought they were brilliant. But that's a huge rise!

Ha! 72%? Is that all? Our building insurance went up 1000% (not a typo - one thousand per cent) in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy. And yet we were told that the insurance industry was absolutely not profiteering. Absolutely not. That extra £260,000 definitely didn't go on their bottom line, no siree!

Seriously though OP re your increase, I'd at least ask your work contact. And shop around. Have you checked with Which who they recommend?

Use one of the price comparison sites and use that to negotiate with LV if you want to stay with them. I shop around every year and rarely stay with the same company. Loyalty does not pay with insurance companies.

Just had a quick look at Which? and they have Nat West and RBS among their top picks. If your bank offers it might be worth trying them?

we had the same with LV, it pretty much doubled - no claims over the last 5 years. i suspect the increase in fraudulent claims and also the cost of building materials may have an impact, but it was a surprise to see the renewal premium!

It's home and contents insurance, you don't need a broker. Go on the various comparison sites and search for the best policy that meets your insurance needs, check the reviews of the company etc.

Also check the other companies that don't use comparison sites. I've been with Direct Line and not had any material increase in the last 4 years. They always try and put it up but I call them and ask them to look again or I'll consider leaving for another company. They have always improved the quote to something I'm happy with. I like Direct Line because they have high limits for coverage so I don't have to faff around worrying whether I'm adequately covered.

Mine has just come through and I'm looking at a 50% increase with John Lewis, no claims made etc. I've done a comparison on MoneySupermarket and I can get the same cover with either AVIVA or M&S Bank for about 5% less than I'm currently paying - and might be able to get AVIVA even cheaper as I have a pension/PMI with them and they do multi-policy discounts.

I need to give JL a call to cancel / see if they'll match, but I doubt it.

I really hate the fact there is such a difference between providers, I wish things were more simple!

Just go onto one of the comparison websites and find a better deal.

Our renewal came back this year with a similarly ridiculous 59% increase (Bradfor and Bingley) - went on comparethemarket, and got the same level of insurance (actually slightly higher contents insurance) for 31% less than the original.

I had found and signed up to the new insurer and cancelled the old one within half an hour. There's no prizes for loyalty nowadays, it pays to keep moving.

I am really sad about LV. They seemed to have a great reputation and when we did have to claim from them years ago they were fine.

However we have also had huge increases despite not having claimed for many years and so we have now jumped ship.

I want to feel confident that if we need to claim all will be well but my OH feels that such big increases aren't justified and has walked away.

How much increase in £ are you talking about here? I think mine went from £100 for the year to £130 for the year... or is mine just low? I know in % terms it's quite high - is your insurance still affordable?

It's gone from £700 to £1100. It was high before but that's fine (kind of) - aspects of the property make buildings insurance more expensive anyway and we had unlimited contents cover. I can still afford it, but object in principle to that level of increase when it's not explained and is a huge increase in % and £ terms.

Yes, that's an eye-watering increase