House Insurance - Rebuild Values

Can I ask how others on this group get house insurance? The part I am interested in, is the question (or box if it?s a web site quote thing) of ?REBUILD VALUE?. I know how much my house is worth, how much I paid for it etc, but I am not a building engineer, I don?t know if in the event of a fire, they would employee British or Polish Builders, what the cost of a brick is, how many people etc ? so how do I know what the rebuild value is?

There are rebuild calculation web sites that suggest to you values, but I tried three and all three gave different figures (with massive differences) and have nice boxes for amount to ?add for rebuild of garage? and other such questions ? how do I know what?

So what happens if I pull a number out of thin air, and my house burns down. If my number is wrong, do they only build me 90% of a new house?

Regards

John

Reply to
JaffaB
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Ask the insurer. Some policies specifically say that if there is an undervalue then all that happens is you pay the premium difference in event of a claim. I think older Direct Line policies say this. Under their newer policy you don't have to bother, you are automatically covered up to a rather generous maximum (I think £1 million with Direct Line). All things being equal, you could choose and insurer with such a maximum then you don't need to bother with value and annual adjustments.

Toom

Reply to
Toom Tabard

I always use the calculator at

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and hope that it's about right!

The *most* an insurance company will pay out is the rebuilding cost specified in your policy schedule. If this is too low, you risk having to pick up part of the bill youself. If it's too high, the insurance company will only pay the *actual* rebuilding cost and you will have paid over the odds with your premium. It's your call!

If you're unsure, why not commission a Chartered Surveyor to carry out a rebuilding cost assessment for you?

Reply to
Roger Mills

I've not come across this, and would be surprised if it were true. It would be akin to increasing your stake on a horse *after* it had won!

I've seen contents policies with a fairly high limit, based on number of bedrooms - but are you sure that there are buildings policies which do this?

Reply to
Roger Mills

Have a look at this one:

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001&catalogId051&parentCategoryId&categoryId'2&track=jlpages It claims to give "unlimited" buildings and contents cover. To quote from the policy wording:

"The insurance provides unlimited cover for the total rebuilding cost of your property and/or contents for the cost of repairing or replacing the contents of your home, but single article and valuable limits apply. It will also include accidental damage on your buildings and/or contents unless you choose to opt out of this cover."

Accidental damage cover is included as standard - this is for the foot through the ceiling type of thing which would not normally be covered.

Compared with my current insurers I would save about £200 by moving to Greenbee.

Reply to
®i©ardo

"Toom Tabard" wrote

Are you sure? If that is true, doesn't everyone simply say: "Rebuild value = 1 only" and then still enjoy full insurance (less underpaid premiums) for a negligible running premium?

Reply to
Tim

On re-reading, it is ambiguous, but my impression at the time was that it was to accommodate the difficulty of keeping the correct value updated. I assume from the type and location of the property they can assess whether the original declared value is reasonable Direct Line - 2005 - "Buildings Insurance - Basis of claims settlement - The most we will pay for any one claim will be the total sum insured. Buildings Insurance - Premium adjustment - The premium for this section is based on the estimated rebuilding cost of the buildings calculated from information provided by you. ..... If it is established that the cost of completely rebuilding the buildings as new ..... is greater than the sum insured adjusted for index linking then the sum insured will be increased to such rebuilding cost and an additional premium may be payable"

Direct Line, 2007, quotes for buildings don't consider or require individual value if the property is worth less tha £1 million and schedule gives cover for a sum insured of £1 million

Toom

Reply to
Toom Tabard

But it does *not* say "in the event of a claim".

Reply to
Alec McKenzie

It will allow for an understandable and reasonable undervalue. I assume from the property type, location, number of bedrooms etc, they can assess if the sum you propose is reasonable. You are also, when completing an insurance proposal making a declaration that the information you provide is correct. Premiums might also allow a generous margin . My car insurance gives me cover for a generic market value of up to £30,0000 - the value of my current car is about £2,000

Toom

Toom

Reply to
Toom Tabard

But surely the premium adjustment bit applies at renewal time - not when a claim is made? They look like two separate paragraphs describing two different aspects of the policy. The claims bit is explicit in saying "The most we will pay for any one claim will be the total sum insured". Nothing ambiguous about that!

Presumably with a price tag to match?

Reply to
Roger Mills

As I say, there is some ambiguity - but when normally would the cost of completely rebuilding the buildings as new be accurately established other than in a claim. And you couldn't put in that wording and then just declare after a claim that it didn't apply in these circumstances. You'd have to specifically state that in the wording, otherwise the wording is legally intepreted in its full meaning without qualification.

No, actually very competitive, especially if instead of renewing you become a new customer each year with introductory discounts. My previous policy with them had crept up to £300+ for house and contents with buildings cover of about £250,000. New cover was £106 for up to £1 million. The price tag will reflect an average value of much less than £1 million.

Toom

Reply to
Toom Tabard

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