Home insurance 2025 post storm Eowyn

Got my renewal today and it’s gone up 50 % on last year .
Tried to shop around but it’s like a cartel .
Decided I wasn’t going to pay 900 euro so tried quotes without contents and they are more than 1,000 . Either way my current provider . How is it going up when you remove a significant portion of the insurable risk .
Anyone else seeing extortionate quotes this year

Are you sure that you're insuring for the appropriate reinstatement value and not the market value?

I renewed the buildings only insurance on a property recently and it was more it less in line with last year's premium and not worth shopping around for as I'm selling the place now anyway.

Homewardbound11 said:

Tried to shop around but it’s like a cartel .

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No, its not like a cartel, it is a cartel.

I was helping someone with their house insurance quote this year, renewal was 570 for 315 blds (I measured house to be sure as it sounded low and went with SCSI guidelines and it's correct), 18k contents and a 3k all risks item that was long gone! Anyway I went to AXA as my own insurance was with them for higher amounts covered but premium was less than 500. Quote I got was €1,270, couldn't quite believe it, had changed the cover to 315k blds, 60k contents. This was with a discount for having car insurance with AXA, the person themselves happened to ring AXA today having forgotten that was one I tried and were given a quote of €970 for very same cover! It's mind boggling out there. Anyway Aviva have quoted 470 so that is something at least!

100% its a cartel. Anyone suggesting otherwise is in cloud coo coo land. Insurance in ireland is a rip off racket.

Get on to your local td about it, 50% increase is disgraceful.

Renewed recently with AXA. Buildings €350k and €50k for contents. Cost €498. Just a few euro more than last year.

Renewed recently, building €377, content 87, all risk : 22k.
Price 446 Aviva.

Rang 6 insurers, most were ridiculous in the 700 to 955 range

Folks, this is the Wikipedia description of a cartel

A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other[1] in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers to limit competition and increase prices by creating artificial shortages through low production quotas, stockpiling, and marketing quotas. Jurisdictions frequently consider cartelization to be anti-competitive behavior, leading them to outlaw cartel practices.

So you are suggesting that the (at least) 6 insurance companies in the Irish market are in criminal collusion with each other?

I know that the CCPC is a useless organisation, but if any of you have evidence of cartel behaviour, then do contact them. I think it's a criminal act and not just a civic act.

We are living in an unpredictable world.


In the past it was easy enough to set insurance premiums based on past events. Storm Eowyn shows that climate change could make insurance very unprofitable.

Does the Central Bank not report on the profitability of insurance companies?

This is all I could find:


But I can't figure out the profitability from these figures.

Yes . Mine has gone up close to 50% like for like compared to last year. Same rebuild amount and same contents from the same insurance company . I’m using the scsi rebuild costs for north west . Probably the cheapest rebuild in the country .
I’ll probably drop the contents if I can get anyone to quote anything reasonable .
It could be also because of Eowyn that the west is being hit . I’ve tried 6 insurers now and it’s pretty much the same . All gone up massively .
This is the price you pay for not ever putting in an insurance claim in 25 years .

I cannot confirm any of this. I am with Allianz- they went up by about a tenner 4 weeks ago. That is very reasonable.

Allianz were who I am with .
It must be location if I’m seeing it elsewhere . West of Ireland

Prices are crazy in the insurance industry. Price increase year on year and in unison across the different Providers. They seem to act in unison, much like a 'cartel'.

Homewardbound11 said:

I’m using the scsi rebuild costs for north west . Probably the cheapest rebuild in the country .

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Not any more, government intervention has massively fueled building costs.

My location is in the West of Ireland. Right in one of the worst affected areas in the whole country.

I have a problem. My house was really hit badly by storm Eowyn. We heard a lot of noise in the attic, as if there was someone was banging on the the roof with a sledge hammer. Well, I went outside to have a look around, and I nearly blew away. Anyway, all I could see outside the house was debris, which, obviously was blown around the estate, as a result of the strong winds. Well, I went to bed and the noise kept me and my other half (she was actually very frightened) awake all night. So anyway, got up when it was bright, got dressed and went out to have a look around.
The first thing that I noticed was that my bins, which were inside the garden, were missing, and after looking around, we found them at the back garden wall, approx 60 feet away from where they originally.
Anyway, I wrote a letter to my home insurance company, outlining the details that I posted here. After a couple of weeks of having no reply from them, I decided to e-mail them, and they replied very quickly. So, we corresponded back and forth, then they sent out someone to have a look at the place. He took some photographs and told me that a few rows of roof tiles had slipped down, as a result of the wind getting under them.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I received an e-mail with a letter attached from the loss adjusters on behalf of the insurance company telling me that the reason that all the tiles were loose was due to the wood being rotten and them denying to fix any damage to my roof. I'm left wondering if the wood rotted the night of the storm. I really dont know what to do. Has anybody else been affected in this way, and been refused cover by the insurance company?

darkhorse100 said:

I'm left wondering if the wood rotted the night of the storm.

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Rest assured that is just not possible. Wood does not rot after brief contact with water!! Think about it, wooden utensils and chopping boards really wouldn't be a thing if that was in any way possible.

Roof timbers will only rot if exposed to repeated or persistent exposure to moisture caused by leaks or insufficient attic ventilation. Damage due to long time leaks or insufficient ventilation are generally not covered by insurance as the cause is your negligence rather than an insurable event.

Your insurance company should never be the first port of call if you are unsure of an issue. Contact a local roofer and ask them to take a look.

Thank you very much, Leo, for your reply and your advice to me, which I will take action on.

Leo said:

Your insurance company should never be the first port of call if you are unsure of an issue. Contact a local roofer and ask them to take a look.

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So, we contacted a local roofer, who came out to our house yesterday to look at it. Anyway, as far as he is concerned, having been up in the attic, that there is nothing wrong with the wood up there. There are some tiles that need replacing, which he will be giving me a quotation for.