Home Subsidence claims

[dewdrop]

I live in an estate built in the thirties and have lived here for past 35 years. Until about 5 years ago I was not aware of any work done on any house for subsidence but since then there has been a rash of such work. I gather the main reason was water seepage from old pipes. the pipes in m house were replaced many years ago. Will an Insurance company make any allowance for the fact that due to the replacement of our pipes a claim will be most unlikely.

 

[Ravima]

Allowance for what?

If you want subsidence cover, then they will not give a discount if that is what you mean.

 

[dewdrop]

What i am trying to say that i feel hard done by that the fact that many people incurred large insurance claims in replacing old pipes which probably was a factor in large premium increases. When i shopped round recently to get quotes i was told that in certain areas in Cork most Insurance companies will not quote for new business. This should be a warning not to allow your existing policy lapse until fresh cover is in place andpossibly in such an event your current provider might not offer cover if lthe policy had expired.

 

[MargaretCork]

When i shopped round recently to get quotes i was told that in certain areas in Cork most Insurance companies will not quote for new business. This should be a warning not to allow your existing policy lapse until fresh cover is in place and possibly in such an event your current provider might not offer cover if lthe policy had expired.

Or worse, if you have a current policy and would like to shop around - you can't, as no-one will quote for what is (to them) new business. Thus the customer is stuck with the old policy and has no chance to lower the cost. Effectively the customer is stuck in a monopoly situation.
I'm waiting to hear whether I can get a quote for a house which I'm buying this week. The "non-quoting" for new business once the word gets out to the general public might mean that people won't buy and so no-one in these areas will be able to sell. Given the current economic situation that could be pretty worrying for some people who need to sell for whatever reason.

 

[MargaretCork]

I did manage to get domestic insurance cover after my broker trying for about 2 days. Only when I was asked whether I wanted subsidence cover or not did I get cover. The cost is EUR 450 without subsidence cover (I was paying EUR 1300 in a flood risk area in Cork last year). I'm not totally happy but I'm glad to get some cover. What is worrying is that from talking to other people around Cork it looks like if you have cover at the moment AND it's being renewed Ok by the insurer (and they don't have to renew) then there's little chance that you can move to another insurer; so no competition for the insurers and no chance for consumers to reduce their premium.