I'm buying a house - my insurance quote is ridiculous

TelegramSam

New member
Hi all,

Been a while since I've posted here, but I do lurk! Looking for some advice...

I'm a first-time buyer and I'm in the process of getting my place out in the Mendips nice and close to the caves! I'm going through a mortgage broker and have the mortgage offer in place. Now onto the insurance, I answered all the questions honestly and said I was into caving, diving and rock climbing (not at the same time), which they call 'extreme sports' (a term I loathe for these activities). I was originally quoted ?11 for the insurance, which seemed perfectly reasonable. Once they got into the details about my activities they've stuck on a ?17.50 premium onto the quote, specifically because of the caving, and it's a non-standard policy, so no insurance payouts will be made if the injury is sustained while caving (which makes me wonder why there's a premium if the premium doesn't account for the added 'risk' for caving).

I just cave a few times a month, exclusively in the UK. I estimated 60 trips/year. I don't cave dive or do anything 'extreme' - just do it for fun and fitness. 

Have other home owners experienced this? ?28.50/month (Royal London) seems wildly excessive - it's as much as my car insurance. I tried pointing out that the most dangerous activity I do is cycling in Bristol, but that didn't work, neither did pointing out that the London Marathon has more injuries and fatalities than caving over the past couple of decades.

I note there's another thread on a similar topic, which I've read through and found useful (particularly this link https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/misrep-and-non-disclosure), but I'd just be interested to know about insurance specifically for acquiring a mortgage. What sort of sum of money should I expect to pay (am I getting myself worked up about my current quote)? And are there insurance providers out there that I should look at who are a bit more reasonable?

Cheers all,

Sam
 

Frog2

Member
Sorry to ask but for clarity - what sort of insurance are you looking to buy? Or, what are they trying to sell you?
Life, PA or just building and contents?
 

beardedboy

Member
It sounds like you are looking for life insurance?

I don't think that this is a normal requirement for buying a house, Buildings insurance yes, but not usually life.

It could just be up-selling by the broker, although it is a good idea if you have family. Ask if it is a requirement if you don't think you need it.

When we bought our house I called around for life insurance and got fed up with banging my head against a wall. I even had a company saying that they would fully cover all caving activities but not potholing!!!  o_O o_O o_O Others just added ridiculous premiums and caveats.

I asked on here and someone suggested that I called these guys: www.summit-fs.co.uk

I can't remember the name of the guy I talked to, but he was a caver and got us a deal which we were happy with. It is not the cheapest - somewhere around ?20, but it does actually covers us for our activities and also critical illness.

Good luck!
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
Contents only for a one bed flat on Admiral, I'm paying ?53.82 per year. but I've ramped down a lot of the cover.

So reasons why mine is probably so low:
* Low value of cover
* Single person
* Not in a flood prone area
* good neighbourhood
* Contents only

If all of these things were different, i'm sure you could double or treble my figure (which would give me a figure half of yours?).
 

nickwilliams

Well-known member
Life insurance is a common requirement for borrowing large sums. The lender can't make it a condition of the loan that you buy your insurance from them, but they can make it a condition that you have adequate cover from somewhere.

As recommended, talk to Summit Financial Services.

Be aware that BCA gets small donation when Summit sell a policy to a caver.
 

glyders

Member
TelegramSam said:
no insurance payouts will be made if the injury is sustained while caving (which makes me wonder why there's a premium if the premium doesn't account for the added 'risk' for caving)
Yep, I met this and had the same thought. I tried Summit as well and had the same problem. In the end I convinced them my work sick pay contract and pension payout on death etc. was sufficient to do without life insurance to repay the loan if anything happened to me.
 

Vern

New member
I happen to be an Insurance & Finance Consultant mainly arranging Mortgages not only for first time buyers but also for home movers, buy to lets, development and commercial finance. Buildings insurance would not normally attract a rating due to your hobby/sport. Sounds very much like a Life Assurance rating? Suggest you contact my HQ www.expertinsurancegroup.co.uk. I normally pass on all buildings/contents enquiries to my HQ as they are the experts in this area as well as other areas of Insurance. They have a much wider range of companies that will quote than that of a normal mortgage broker. Lenders do NOT normally insist on Life Assurance being arranged to protect the mortgage balance but it is highly recommended if you have dependants. I do however have access to a wide range of Life Assurance providers and some do not rate premiums for hazardous hobbies/sports?     
 

MinimalMayhem

New member
I got a decent quote from beaglestreet. They don?t care what your hobbies are, might be worth checking them out.

If you?re a director of a company you might find it works out cheaper to get a ?relevant life? insurance policy through your company
 

crickleymal

New member
I had exactly this problem when I had to get life insurance back in 2009. I had to really shop around and eventually I found someone who would give me a reasonable quote provided I only went caving 20 times a year *cough cough *.
What's really stupid is none of the brokers cared about me commuting 100 miles a day on a motorbike in peak traffic times.
 

glyders

Member
What gets me is the non-sequiter.
"We'll charge you extra because we are taking a bigger risk because of your dangerous activity, but we won't pay out if you are injured doing said activity."
Either they are taking a bigger risk and charge more, or they don't take the risk by not paying out for that and charge the same. But they claim both. Big 'no fair' shout from me.
 

ali_mac

Member
crickleymal said:
I had exactly this problem when I had to get life insurance back in 2009. I had to really shop around and eventually I found someone who would give me a reasonable quote provided I only went caving 20 times a year *cough cough *.
What's really stupid is none of the brokers cared about me commuting 100 miles a day on a motorbike in peak traffic times.

I'm going through a similar thing to you and the OP.
I commute by motorbike through central London, shortly to be even further - from Surrey to central London.
I'm also just buying my first house at the moment, and looking at various insurance products.

Aviva life insurance (decreasing cover for the life of the mortgage) has come out at under ?20/month all in, to cover both of us.
I specifically asked, and my broker (also my mortgage broker) checked and confirmed that there was no exclusion or uplift for caving activities.
Taking this out for at least 6 months waives a huge chunk of his fee.  No brainer.

I've also just been through the same conversation with the life cover & critical illness cover provided by my employer. Both of those are "on risk" 100% of the time, regardless of what I am doing, or where I am. Nice.

I am in the process of looking at arranging my own income protection, because if I injure myself and can't work, I currently have no plan.
I'm going through Summit FS, based on recommendations from this forum.
I've spoken to them a little, but not had a chance to get a full quote, as I've been abroad with work a fair amount recently.

Good luck with your search, and do try Summit FS.  They seem to understand "us" even through their main market seems to be climbers and mountaineers.

Ali.
 

cavetroll

Member
I?m in the same boat. I was originally quoted ?9 per month and due to the fact that I Cave, Climb and do a few other activities both personally and professionally I was then requoted for a lower level of cover at over ?90 per month.. YES ?90 PER MONTH.

We?re now going through a broker, Summit, who have a good relationship with the BMC and I think the BCA too. And have a much more reasonable quote which will actually cover the activities as well.
 
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