Home emergency! Insurance exclusions could leave you stuck
Home emergency insurance provides peace of mind for those afraid of being left high and dry. Yet our research found a range of policies which had a whole host of exclusions. This got me thinking – is it really worth it?
When we surveyed 5,868 Which? members, we found they pay an average of £219 per year for home emergency insurance, but that 30% are dissatisfied with their insurance.
So we took a closer look at 18 home emergency policies and were shocked to find a wide range of exclusions that could prevent people from claiming. Many of the people we asked expressed bewilderment at the weird and wonderful exclusions they found in their home emergency policies – often discovered too late.
Exclusion confusion
Our own research found that very few of the policies actually offered cover that was as full as their advertising appeared to suggest. For example, you’d expect that ‘complete’ cover would include all necessary parts and a 24/7 service, for starters. But when we looked closer, we found this wasn’t always the case.
Some of the plumbing insurance we looked into didn’t include showers, which seems a little bonkers to me. Some heating cover didn’t insure boilers that were over seven years old, which again doesn’t seem quite right considering many people have old boilers. We even found that many of the providers we looked at won’t repair any damage to decorations or surfaces caused by their engineers while accessing the problem!
Dealing with dreaded delays
People also had gripes with the delays the engineers had in reaching them. Many providers list a host of reasons for delays like bad weather, industrial disputes, public transport or unspecified ‘other problems’ that may prevent them from getting to customers quickly. For example, one 70-year-old pensioner told us:
‘I had to wait four days for an engineer. [The provider] said I needed to be aged 80 or over to get fast attention. I could be dead by then.’
Somebody else found that their policy didn’t include repairs at weekends, which could leave you in a seriously sticky situation if you’ve got a home emergency on your hands.
So I’m asking myself if home emergency cover and all its exclusions and limitations are worth £219 a year. You could, if you wanted, put aside some money each month into an ‘emergency fund’ and dip into it as needed. Did you read the small print when you got your home emergency cover, or are these exclusions a surprise to you?
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wavechange
I have only buildings and home contents insurance. I have ignored all the offers of plumbing insurance, drain insurance, boiler insurance, extended warranties, etc. It has saved me a great deal of money and meant that I don’t need to worry about terms & conditions.
All of these services are intended to make profits for the companies that offer them. Bear that in mind before filling in a form and taking out another direct debit.
rich835
I’ve had cover for a few other things in the past, but I ended up coming to the same conclusion as wavechange and now I only have buildings and contents cover.
In my mind, most of the other things that you could get cover for, rarely go wrong, and when they do, the amount of money that you have probably spent on all the additional cover, by far will outweigh the cost of a repair.
ArgonautoftheSeas
Have home contents insurance too, there are however
generous exclusion clauses operating to own detriment
…. now that my Printer is working again, shall file court
proceedings to test the validity of a certain clause.
["To claim for damages for breach
of contract, for breach of an express
term providing for funding of legal
expenses on occasion of an insured
event, with respect to issue of third-party
proceedings in accordance with the Terms
and Conditions set out in the Contract of
Insurance (Home Insurance Policy)
imposed, entered into or otherwise agreed
between both the contracting parties"]
Wish me luck.
richard
I tend to stick to a particular company if well recommended as it appears to mean that the payouts are reliable (sort of “the longer you are with us the more we pay you” I don’t have the utilities insurances as they do not offer value to me. I do have £42,000 (cost prices) worth of analogue photographic equipment which was insured at cost price – Now alas it is worth next to nothing – so reduced gradually premium as it got older – now it’s only use is for our camera club to moon over – but makes a nice little “museum”
NannaBuilder
I read the small-print (carefully) & they still refused my claim!
I need to cancel the policy to be able to afford to get my heating back on.