Time for me to consider changing my Home Insurance company
By Koalemos
@Asylum (47893)
Manchester, England
December 1, 2015 6:21am CST
I have been using Direct Line to insure my home and contents for around 7 years. As expected I was given a decent quote originally, but each year the premium rises despite me not having made a claim. I realise that all products rise in price, but for my insurance to constantly rise as my no claims increases seems quite unrealistic.
I am usually reluctant to jump from company to company, so in recent years I have tolerated the increase and carried on. With my policy running from December 18th, I received my renewal notice yesterday. Not only has the premium risen again, but by a larger amount than it did last year.
This has now gone much too far and I shall be telephoning around today to see what kind of quotes I can get. Considering the current premium level, I expect to be offered a substantial saving.
8 people like this
6 responses
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
1 Dec 15
Mine has been steadily increasing year by year and appears to have become unrealistic. Too many companies seem to think that a current customer is a guaranteed income and concentrate on acquiring new customers instead of consolidating the current ones. In reality they end up spending millions of pounds finding new customers to replace those who leave.
1 person likes this
@antonbunot (11146)
• Calgary, Alberta
1 Dec 15
I am thinking of finding another home insurance company to insure our home. I used to pay $63.00 a month for 15 years to our current insurer . . It raised our premium to $98.00 last month. We never filed any claim whatsoever for 15 years . . .
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
1 Dec 15
@antonbunot I have only ever had one, which was around 7 years ago. This has not stopped them from boosting up the premiums.
@antonbunot (11146)
• Calgary, Alberta
1 Dec 15
@Asylum according to the one I talked about the sudden increase . . It is because there are so many home insurance claims this year and last year.
1 person likes this
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
1 Dec 15
After you have gotten some quotes for lower insurance, you can ask the current insurance company to match the lowest quote.
Most of the times, they will oblige.
However, you have to talk to the right person, or you have to send in email to request for it officially.
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
1 Dec 15
Yes these insurance companies get rather smug once they have had us as customers for a few years.
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
1 Dec 15
@Asylum I keep mine because ost won't cover my cottage in PA. and I already have a different company for Florida so I want to keep it to two instead of three.
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
1 Dec 15
Wow. This is not a good business practice. I have had the same company for over fifteen years with no increases.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
1 Dec 15
It is too common a practice with many businesses these days. They seem to assume that a customer is a guaranteed income and concentrate on attracting others, which results in spending millions of pounds to replace the customers they lose.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
2 Dec 15
@Asylum One of the things the "sharks" on Shark Tank always ask the entrepreneurs is how much they spend to acquire a customer.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Dec 15
@ElizabethWallace Yes, but people usually answer that by quoting the outlay divided by the number of new customers, which does not take into consideration the loss of customers that need replacing. For example-le, if they spent £1500 to attract 100 new customers they would claim that it cost £15 per new customer. In reality if they also lost 75 of their current customers the increase would be only 25 customers at a cost of £60 each.
