Last updated: 19/10/2020 | Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Home Insurance Renewal
As the end of your home insurance policy nears, it is a good idea to start thinking about the best ways that you can continue to ensure that your home and your belongings remain protected.
You may choose to renew your policy, but this is normally an expensive decision as insurers give the cheapest home insurance deals to new customers. Also, if you acquire more belongings which need to be insured, or the value of your belongings change, your policy may not be the most suitable one for your needs any more.
In This Guide:
- Automatic Home Insurance Renewal
- Are there fees for renewing home insurance?
- Should I renew my home insurance policy?
- My insurance has automatically renewed, can I cancel it?
- Compare Home Insurance Online
Automatic Home Insurance Renewal
Many home insurance policies have an auto-renewal clause inserted into the contract. This means that your home insurance will renew for another 12 months without you having to do anything, unless you specifically state that you don’t want it to continue.
You will be notified by your insurer that your original policy is coming to an end, usually by post, as well as the details of your new policy and the premiums that you will have to pay.
Unfortunately, renewal does not mean that the cost of your policy will stay the same, and premiums can increase quite drastically with automatic renewal.
Are there fees for renewing home insurance?
Most insurance companies do not charge fees for renewing your insurance, although this is not true of all companies. The best way to find out whether you will be charged is to check your policy documents.
Some providers also automatically charge their customers pre-renewal deposits. These are taken before the renewal of the contract, and then refunded once it has been renewed, as an incentive for customers to stay with them. If you do not wish to pay a pre-renewal deposit, make sure to get in touch with your provider a good amount of time before your contract finishes.
Should I renew my home insurance policy?
Although staying with your insurance provider is by far and away the easiest option when it comes to ensuring that your home contents are covered, it is almost always the most expensive.
Insurance companies rely on people being too lazy or not bothering to switch providers, so they charge returning customers more than new customers, who they need to entice to join them.
However, the companies will still want to keep you if you wish to leave, so it may be worth contacting them to find out if they can offer you a better home insurance deal than the one you were originally quoted. Having a knowledge of how much you would be paying if you took out a policy with another company can help give you an idea of what you could try to ask for.
Also, if you did not make a claim you should have a no claims bonus, which can give you leverage when trying to negotiate a better deal, although no-claims bonuses can still be given by other insurers, so make sure that you are still getting the best deal for your money.
My insurance has automatically renewed, can I cancel it?
If you missed your letter or email which notified you about your policy being renewed, don’t fear. You should have a 14 day cooling off period during which you should be able to cancel your policy for a minimal or no fee.
If you would like to cancel your policy after this period, however, you could be looking at paying quite a hefty cancellation fee, as you are cancelling at the start of your contract and insurers would seek compensation.
Compare Home Insurance Online
The easiest way to find the best home insurance deal for you is to do an online price comparison. This can help give you an idea of how much you can get covered by each company and the premiums that you will have to pay, to make sure that you can get the deal that suits your needs.
All you have to do is use our home insurance comparison tool by answering some quick questions about your situation and what you need covered, and you will be presented with options for home insurance plans. Remember that cheap home insurance is not necessarily the best, and make sure that you are getting the leve of cover your home and belongings need.
