Brits pay £26m too much for home insurance
Brits pay £26m too much for home insurance
Tuesday, 10 Jun 2008 09:38
British consumers are paying millions in excess home insurance premiums, as they fail to shop around.
That is according to new research from TescoCompare.com, which finds 64 per cent of homeowners maintained their current provider during the last renewal.
This is despite almost half (44 per cent) seeing a price increase and a massive four million homeowners seeing increases in excess of inflation.
Of those that saw an increase in excess of inflation - just 16 per cent made a claim on their policy in the last year and only five per cent increased the level of their cover.
This suggests over three million homeowners simply took the price increase for granted – a trend which could cost UK consumers £26 million.
"The message behind this research is clear - many millions sleepwalk through their insurance renewal allowing their insurer to increase premiums unchallenged," said Paul Baxter of TescoCompare.
"Regardless of how loyal you are to your current home and contents insurer - you should shop around at each renewal to make sure you get the cheapest and most appropriate insurance for you."
Worryingly, only just over one in five (22 per cent) admitted to thinking about moving their policy, despite seeing a price increase above inflation.
Also - only one in twelve (eight per cent) shopped around and discovered they couldn't get the insurance cheaper anywhere else, suggesting many could have saved money.
Of those that stayed put - only one in two (48 per cent) felt their insurance company told them of the increase in good time to allow them to look for alternatives.
With the average insurance premium standing at £283, browsing a range of providers could have led to significant savings.
Chris O'Toole