Shop For Household Insurance

It is shocking to learn that home and contents insurance combined can vary from over 1,000 pounds to as low as 341 pounds for the same level of cover. It has to beg the question – why?

Head of Household and Commercial Insurance at the Association of British Insurers, Jane Milne says, 'It's like buying a car. You will buy a different product if you buy a Rolls-Royce than if you buy a Ford.' Certain companies want to attract certain customers and, she says, 'You will be offered a particularly good deal if you fit in with that.'

Particular properties may have inherent risks that the insurers know about like flood or subsidence risk, says Milne and, 'If they already have 10 houses on your street and you are in a flood-risk area, they may decide they don't want the 11th or they only want it if they get a really good price,'

The quote is likely to be high so as to scare the customer off but they will be unaware why it is more and quotes will vary depending on whether they are through a supermarket, the internet or a trade union. If you know the actual value of your home contents it will not necessarily make a difference as quotes for the same property will still vary depending on the information the insurer has on the property.

Risk can be measured very specifically by insurers just based on your post code for subsidence and flooding risk and also crime levels. This access to technology means that they are able to assess your personal circumstances and quote accordingly or even decide whether they want you as a customer or not.

However, Head of Insurance, David Pitt from More Than is able to assess risk based on the individual address rather than just post code and can actually pinpoint subsidence or flood risk much more accurately than just by post code. He insists this means fairer premiums and he says quotes can vary amongst insurers as some quote calculations are based on the number of bedrooms for example, and others on the sum insured.

Specialist provider for the 50-plus market of insurance products, RIAS claim, for their customers, they generally save up to 35 per cent on premiums. The over fifties pay, per year, in excess of 1.2 billion pounds for their home insurance and RIAS say this would be reduced by a third if they shopped around – and savings from5–10 per cent can be made when building and contents are bought as a single policy says the British Insurance Brokers' Association.

The Head of Technical Services at Legal and General, Ray Facer says insurance pricing has many parts which vary from one insurer to another, these include commission to an intermediary, cost of anticipated claims and their expenses for submitting the policy.

General tips from the industry experts to get a good deal are:

· browse as much as you can

· obtain as much information as you can, read research and surveys

· use comparison websites, be sure to compare like with like

· be sure everything you want insured is covered at the desired value

· if you buy online you can get discounts of 10-15 per cent

· a larger excess will decrease premiums

· ask people who they insure with and establish how good various insurers are at settling claims for example.