Should You Buy Buildings & Contents Cover From The Same Insurer?
With flooding and unpredictible weather conditions becoming more common in the UK, the cost of insuring home buildings and contents is increasing for many. So, like any type of insurance, most homeowners are keen to cut their home insurance premiums where possible.
One of the most commonly quoted ways to save money on your home insurance is to buy your buildings and contents cover from the same company. Most insurers now offer a discount on their home and buildings cover if you buy both of them together. You could be forgiven for believing that this is a certain way of saving money as we often expect to receive some level of reward for buying mutliple products from the same company. In fact, this is not always true and you could save more with cover from different companies.
It's certainly true that most companies will offer you a discount when you buy their contents and buildings cover together - but it doesn't follow that it will always be cheaper for you than buying your contents insurance from one company and your buildings cover from another. Have a look at some of the latest offers that some of the big name insurers are promoting then take another look at the facts.
Norwich Union plays it very cagey. Their latest online offer tells you that they'll pay you £60 back if they can't beat your renewal quote from your current insurer, and that you'll get an "extra discount" if you buy buildings and contents cover from them, or if you also insure your car or motorcycle with them.
Churchill seems more out front with their offer - but are they? If you choose Churchill, the ad says, they'll give you £75 cashback if they can't beat your renewal price on buildings and cover together. They offer a 25% discount on your contents cover if you buy buildings cover from them as well.
Direct Line goes you even further with their offer - 50% off contents cover when you buy both building and contents together. And if your current insurance company's quote for buildings and contents cover is less than Barclays, they'll even pay you the difference plus £50 when you switch to them.
So which of the four actually will give you the best deal? Will you do better to get your buildings and contents insurance together? The truth is that it's impossible to tell without actually getting quotes from each of them and doing the sums. To be sure that you're getting the best possible deal, you should get quotes from several different insurers - and be sure to get quotes for buildings cover alone, contents cover alone and buildings and contents together.
Once you've got the figures, add together the cheapest contents cover and the cheapest buildings cover. Compare that figure to the quotes for combined cover from each company to see if you'd really save any money. Here's an example:
BUILDINGS COVER
Company A = £165
Company B = £190
Company C = £205
CONTENTS COVER
Company A = £125
Company B = £120
Company C = £108
COMBINED
Company A = £287.50
Company B = £298.00
Company C = £288.00
In the example above, the cheapest combined policy is £287.50, however you could save even more if you buy your buildings cover from Company A and your contents cover from Company C - a total cost of £273 - nearly £15 less than the discounted price if you bought home and contents combined from Company A.
In short, a discount is only as good as the price on which it is based. The only way to be sure you're getting the best deal on your home insurance is to shop around - and be sure that you compare actual quotes, not discounts.
Find everything you need to get the right buildings and/or contents cover for your property and budget at UK Insurance Index. Search the directory of UK home insurance companies, read our buying guides together with reviews written by real customers.
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