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- Home insurance quotes from a panel of specialist providers
- A variety of types of cover available – building insurance, contents insurance, and combined policies
A guide to home insurance
As a homeowner, you want to be sure that if anything happened to your property, you’d be fully protected with a good home insurance policy. If you’re looking for home insurance quotes, then you’re in the right place. Clean Green Cars can help you find the right policy at the right price. If you already know what type of policy you want, then simply click the green button and you can have tailored quotes within a matter of minutes. If you’re not sure what type of policy you need, then be sure to read on to find out the different types of home insurance available, ways to save money, and some of the most commonly asked questions people have.
Types of home insurance
Building insurance
Building insurance will cover your home for things like fire, flood, and storm damage. Structural repairs can be very costly, particularly when there’s extensive damage, so having building insurance is certainly recommended. In fact, most mortgage providers will insist you get building insurance for the duration of the mortgage.
Contents insurance
Contents insurance will protect the contents of your home from theft and damage. Not all policies cover your contents while you’re away from your home, so be sure to find out for certain when you’re looking for cover.
Combined home insurance
You can also get a combined home insurance policy, which includes both building insurance and contents insurance. This is more convenient than taking out two separate policies and usually works out cheaper too.
Additional home insurance cover options
Bicycle cover
If you have a bike, then you can get it protected as part of your home insurance policy with most providers. It will be covered for theft (providing you have it locked up in a safe place) and damage.
Garden cover
Gardens often aren’t covered by home insurance as standard. By getting it added as an additional type of cover, the things in your garden like sheds, garages, and garden furniture will be protected.
Accidental damage
Accidental damage is often overlooked when people take out a home insurance policy, but it’s a very useful type of additional cover to consider. Most types of accidental damage are covered, such as spilling a drink on a carpet, breaking a window, or damage caused by children.
Home emergency
Home emergencies, such as plumbing or heating emergencies, will be covered when you take out this additional cover option. You’ll be covered for bills associated with fixing emergency issues, such as call-out fees for a plumber.
Legal protection
Disputes with neighbors or tradespeople can sometimes escalate to the point of legal action being taken. If you find yourself facing such a legal claim, the costs associated with fighting it can be very steep. Legal protection will ensure you’re covered in such a scenario.
Away from home contents cover
Some home insurance policies won’t cover your contents if they were stolen when the house was empty. This type of cover will ensure your contents are protected at all times.
Did you know?
You can benefit from home insurance even if you’re not a homeowner. For example, students and renters can both opt to take out contents insurance.What information will I need to get a quote?
To get a home insurance quote, you’ll need to provide the following information:
- Your details – You’ll need to provide basic details about yourself, such as your name, address, phone number, email address, etc.
- Details about your property – You’ll need to provide details about your property. This includes the property type, the number of bedrooms, where it’s located, and if there are any large trees nearby.
- Information about occupants – Insurance providers will also want to know how many people live in the property and how often they’re home.
- Security information – You’ll need to provide details about how secure your home is. Things like double-glazed windows, smoke alarms, security alarms, and CCTV all help to make a property more secure.
- Value of contents – If you take out contents cover or a combined policy, then you’ll need to provide a rough estimate of the value of your home’s contents.
Who can benefit from home insurance?
- Homeowners – Homeowners can benefit from getting home insurance. Your house is likely the most valuable asset you own, so it makes sense to protect it with a good insurance policy.
- Students – Students who are living in rented accommodation can take out a contents insurance policy.
- Renters – If you’re renting a property, then you can take out a contents insurance policy to protect your contents. You won’t need a building insurance policy, as that is the landlord’s responsibility.
- Landlords – If you’re letting property, then the safety and condition of the property is your legal responsibility. It’s therefore necessary to get a building insurance policy and a good idea to get contents cover too.
- Holiday homeowners – An unoccupied property insurance policy is ideal for a holiday home, particularly when you only use it for a short period each year.
Ways to save money on home insurance
Improve the security of your home
One of the best ways to lower the cost of home insurance is by improving the security of your house. Having a burglar alarm is a must, but you can also take additional security steps such as installing motion-sensor lights and CCTV. Any security measures you have like this will help to lower the cost of your insurance. You should also consider physical security, such as window locks, clip-in window shutters, and approved door locks.
Use a smoke alarm
Not only is a smoke alarm incredibly important for the safety of you and your family, but it will greatly reduce the chance of your house being significantly damaged by fire, thus helping to lower the cost of your home insurance.
Get quotes online
A good way to avoid overspending on a policy you could have gotten cheaper elsewhere is to get quotes from many different insurance providers. This is easier than ever to do now and is certainly a step you should take when looking for home insurance.
Increase voluntary excess
The voluntary excess is what you would have to pay if you needed to make a claim on your policy. Increasing this is a good way to lower your premium, although it is somewhat risky as you’d need to pay more later in the event of a claim.
Build no claims discount
Just like with car insurance, you can build up a no claims bonus on your home insurance policy, which often enables you to make a significant saving.
Don’t overestimate the value of your home
It’s a common mistake for people to get building insurance that covers the market value of their home rather than what it would cost to rebuild. You can find out the rebuild cost for your home by hiring a professional or using an online rebuild calculator.
Don’t overestimate the value of your contents
It’s also important that you don’t overvalue the contents of your home when you take out contents insurance or a combined policy. Try to be as accurate as possible to avoid overpaying for your cover.
Pay upfront
Another good way to save money on home insurance is by paying for the policy upfront on an annual basis rather than monthly. It’s true that you’ll have to pay more initially this way, but most insurance providers will give you a good discount for doing this.
The benefits of getting home insurance online
- Instant cover – When you take out a policy online, you’ll have immediate coverage and be sent your insurance documents by email as well as by post.
- No pressure quotes – A big advantage of getting quotes online is that you can browse them at your leisure without any pressure at all. This makes it easier to take out the best policy for your needs and not because you feel pressured.
- Policies tailored to your needs – It’s also very easy to add and remove cover options, so you can tailor your quotes to provide cover for what’s most important to you.
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Home insurance FAQs
Is home insurance necessary?
Although home insurance isn’t required by law, like car insurance, it is still a very good idea to have it. If your home was burgled or damaged by fire, flooding, etc., then you’d have to pay for the repairs yourself if you didn’t have cover in place.
Did you know?
There are several ways to save money on home insurance, including increasing the excess, making your home more secure, and getting a lot of quotes.How much will it cost?
There are some key factors that affect how much home insurance costs. These include:
- Where your property is located
- The size of your property
- The type of property you own
- Security measures you have in place, such as alarms, security lights, CCTV, etc.
- The total cost of a rebuild
- The value of your contents (if you have contents cover included in your policy)
- The level of cover you take out
What if I own a listed building?
A listed building is considered to have significant historical or architectural value. If you own such a property, then you’ll usually need to take a specialized listed building insurance policy.
Will my credit score affect how much home insurance costs?
Yes. Your credit score is usually one of the factors that insurance providers take into account when coming up with a price for home insurance.
How do I find out what the rebuild costs for my house are?
You can either pay a chartered surveyor to do a professional assessment of your home or you can use an online rebuild calculator. The latter won’t be as accurate but it’s a free and much more convenient option.
Are water leaks covered?
This will vary depending on the insurance provider. If they’re not covered as standard in your building insurance policy, then you’ll be able to have it added as an additional type of cover.
What’s included in home insurance?
Home insurance usually provides cover for the following:
- Flood and storm damage
- Fire damage
- Theft of contents
- Vandalism
- Subsidence
- Burst pipes and resulting damage
What isn’t covered with home insurance?
Typically, the following will not be covered by your home insurance policy:
- Unoccupied properties
- Negligence
- Poor maintenance
- General wear and tear inside and outside the home
Do I need to get home insurance if I rent?
If you rent your property, then you won’t need to get building insurance as this is the responsibility of the landlord. However, you can still get renters insurance to cover the contents of the property.
What if my home has subsidence?
It’s usually still possible to get home insurance from most providers even if your property has subsidence. However, whether or not you’ll be covered for things like damage from water leaks will vary from one insurance provider to the next, so be sure to check the details of your policy.
Is jewellery covered?
Most insurance providers will provide cover for jewellery, but given how expensive it can be, it’s extremely important that you let providers know about the jewellery you have and its value if you want to be properly covered if it was stolen.
Are security systems worth the investment?
One of the ways you can reduce the cost of home insurance is by having a good security system. Burglar alarms, CCTV, motion-sensor lights, etc., all help to make your home more secure. Although there is an initial investment, they make your home much less likely to be targeted by burglars or vandals, enabling you to make a saving on your home insurance. In fact, some insurance providers won’t provide cover unless you have a working burglar alarm.
Is it possible to cover an unoccupied property?
Typically, home insurance will cover your home for up to 60 days of being unoccupied. If your property is going to be unoccupied for longer than this, for example, in the case of a holiday home, then you’ll need to take out a specialized unoccupied property insurance policy.
Did you know?
You can easily tailor home insurance quotes so they provide cover for what’s most important to you.Will building an extension affect my home insurance?
Yes. It’s always important to inform your insurance provider when you’re planning to have any kind of building work done on your home, including extensions. Extensions are particularly high-risk since walls and windows are being knocked through, so you’ll certainly need to inform your insurance provider before any work begins. It’s important to note that any poor work carried out by a contractor usually won’t be covered by your home insurance, so it’s very important to hire somebody competent and reputable. It’s also possible that the cost of your building insurance will go up after you’ve had an extension done. How much it would go up by depends on how large the extension was, but it stands to reason that your home being larger also means bigger rebuild costs.
Do home insurance providers need to know about pets?
It’s usually a good idea to let insurance providers know about pets, particularly if you know they have a tendency to be destructive. Damage caused by pets can be significant, and if you don’t mention that you have any pets when first taking out your policy, it’s unlikely you’ll be covered for any damage caused by them.
Can I get home insurance with criminal convictions, a CCJ, bad credit or an IVA?
It may be possible as Insurance providers will take into account your individual circumstances when you need home insurance with criminal convictions, a CCJ, bankruptcy, bad credit or an IVA.
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