Cancelling Contents Insurance
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| 1 | I have received my policy renewal and it has jumped $110 in 12 months. In the 10 years I've lived in the same house I have never claimed on my contents insurance and this latest jump for me is to big to ignore. I've told my Insurance company I will be cancelling with them and they have advised I phone back after the final payment is taken to ensure it's cancelled. I figure the main insurance to have is definately my house insurance and I'll never cancel that. I just want to ask people here is it common for people to have house insurance and not contents insurance. Is it a good idea to cancel it? I just feel like my funds gets squeezed tighter and tighter. turbogtx - 2021-03-16 16:55:00 |
| 2 | have you shopped around other companies? get some quotes, and go back to your current insurer and try to get them to reduce their price to beat the others. girlgeorgina - 2021-03-16 17:09:00 |
| 3 | I do have house insurance through my Bank as the insurer with my car and contents wasn't interested in taking on the house. I haven't phoned the house insurer yet to find out what they can insure my contents for but I definately will get on to that to see what they can offer. turbogtx - 2021-03-16 17:13:00 |
| 4 | Who are the policies with. please? sparkychap - 2021-03-16 17:51:00 |
| 5 | Insurance is a risk analysis exercise. As in - analyse the risk and make your decision. Your choice. A caution, though - years ago I worked in an insurance company. A lady came in one day with a similar story to yours. "I've paid in all these years" etc. etc. Wanted to cancel. She was interviewed and made to understand that as from midnight that night her cover would cease if she went ahead, and she said yes she understood so the deed was done. Within the next few days she had a major fire and lost most of her contents (smoke damage can make repair impossible even if stuff does not catch fire). She was back in the office, crying and saying "But what about all the premiums I paid over the years?". She was told, correctly, that an insurance policy is not a savings account and she had chosen to pull out of the contract. She had NOT thought it through. Hence the necessity to do so. Personally I would not cancel mine, but if I was unhappy with the premium I would shop around, increase my excess, or reduce the sum insured to a level at which I was happy to make up the shortfall in the event of a total loss. kitty179 - 2021-03-16 18:14:00 |
| 6 | “ No one insurance needs, until insurance need they do”. - Yoda. sparkychap - 2021-03-16 18:26:00 |
| 7 | Just go online as most of the various companies you can do an online quote that shows what the premium would be at different levels. Don't just try the one that your house is currently with, as checking online is super easy. IE Tower, AMI, State all do online and there will be more. nzkiwisnz - 2021-03-16 18:33:00 |
| 8 | We have contents insurance to cover my wife's clothes and shoe collection. We don't have house insurance, but I have enough money in the bank to fully rebuild if it burns down. apollo11 - 2021-03-16 18:36:00 |
| 9 | Can you increase your excess to lower your premiums. However if the company you are with hasn't even bothered to suggest this then look elsewhere. You can also lower the sum insured but take care with that one as most have a minimum sum but could still give you much cheaper premiums. but those premiums for the minimum cover can vary. Also if you have contents insurance you will have some liability cover and it should also cover for alternative accommodation cost if you ever needed to be out of your house due to damage from eg fire. flood etc Edited by kiwicarol at 6:57 pm, Tue 16 Mar kiwicarol - 2021-03-16 18:55:00 |
| 10 | We were a rebuild after the Chc EQ . My Contents policy allowed me to claim several weeks of alternative accomodation....It was not covered under the House policy which I found a bit odd . Also if your actions inside the house cause damage...ie you leave a pot on and house burns down might be interesting to see who the insurance company pursue to get their money back - they have chased tenants who didnt have contents coverage but their actions resulted in loss to the insurance co.. They don't often provide a free lunch . Maybe lower the amount of coverage you have may be a way of lowering premiums . buyit59 - 2021-03-16 19:01:00 |
| 11 | apollo11 wrote: no fire brigade out your way? sparkychap - 2021-03-16 19:29:00 |
| 12 | sparkychap wrote: apollo11 - 2021-03-16 19:33:00 |
| 13 | apollo11 wrote: Yep, probably too small for them, they'd stretch them. sparkychap - 2021-03-16 19:37:00 |
| 14 | sparkychap wrote: apollo11 - 2021-03-16 19:50:00 |
| 15 | Kiwicarol's advice is good. Also, if you are renting, and your contents cause a house fire, look out. laurelanne - 2021-03-16 20:17:00 |
| 16 | I would not do anything until you have some competitive quotes. 3tomany - 2021-03-16 20:20:00 |
| 17 | Also, for what it is worth. I just received my renewal from FMG. $20,000 incl GST. We went through that policy with a fine tooth comb, so I do understand your concern. laurelanne - 2021-03-16 20:22:00 |
| 18 | laurelanne wrote: $20K for contents premium? WTAF? sparkychap - 2021-03-16 20:27:00 |
| 19 | sparkychap wrote: apollo11 - 2021-03-16 20:30:00 |
| 20 | laurelanne wrote: No, if its accidental the landlord has to claim on their own policy and the insurer cannot pursue the tenant for recovery. If its careless behaviour liability is limited to the landlords excess or 4 weeks rent, whichever is the lower. sparkychap - 2021-03-16 20:31:00 |
| 21 | apollo11 wrote: You're not in the Philippines anymore, Dr Marcos. sparkychap - 2021-03-16 20:32:00 |
| 22 | After having our previous insurer upping the premium every year and estimating that we needed more on exactly the same house/contents/car that we had for the last 5yrs we decided enough is enough so shopped around and went with FMG and saved a lot. It all counts when you’re on the pension. camper18 - 2021-03-16 20:51:00 |
| 23 | Sorry sparkychap, I was talking about total cover. Nothing is cheap anymore. Twenty years back a tenant without contents cooked a house. They were in a bit of shit. But you can't get blood out of a stone. Laws change. laurelanne - 2021-03-16 21:07:00 |
| 24 | Never had contents insurance. Things are very cheap to replace today, and stuff is just that stuff, that goes to the dump when you move or die. gabbysnana - 2021-03-17 09:23:00 |
| 25 | laurelanne wrote:
20k is very low for full contents. I’d be very surprised if you could replace all your furniture, appliances, clothes, shoes, jewellery, IT devices etc. for that, if you had to. blands70 - 2021-03-17 10:46:00 |
| 26 | gabbysnana wrote:
Not everyone has thousands of dollars in a bank account, to be able to replace everything, should a disaster happen (flood, robbery, etc) korban - 2021-03-17 11:42:00 |
| 27 | This message was deleted. kittycatkin - 2021-03-17 12:14:00 |
| 28 | The member deleted this message. kittycatkin - 2021-03-17 12:17:00 |
| 29 | blands70 wrote:
Yes that is what I think as well......many years, decades even since my contents insurance was that low. Most insurance companies have a room by room checklist that you can use. shanreagh - 2021-03-17 12:17:00 |
| 30 | This message was deleted. kittycatkin - 2021-03-17 12:24:00 |
| 31 | This message was deleted. kittycatkin - 2021-03-17 12:26:00 |
| 32 | kittycatkin wrote:
True. That's the problem with 'self-insuring'. The nest egg has to be rebuilt again, and there is no guarantee more funds won't be needed before it has a chance to grow to a reasonable amount. kitty179 - 2021-03-17 12:59:00 |
| 33 | gabbysnana wrote: Edited by perfectimages at 1:06 pm, Wed 17 Mar perfectimages - 2021-03-17 13:05:00 |
| 34 | People are quick to write off their own property and think they dont need contents insurance. Are you all aware that your contents insurance also covers personal liability? Your stuff might be crap, and cheap to replace, but what if, due to your negligence, you damage someone elses stuff, that happens to be worth alot more? Their insurance company will come after you, and you'll be screwed And even if your stuff was cheap to replace, if you had a house fire tomorrow, do you have enough money in the bank to replace everything you own? (of course there is also the peoples insurance called "give a little", just beg for free stuff I guess...) Edited by phoenix22 at 3:21 pm, Wed 17 Mar phoenix22 - 2021-03-17 15:20:00 |
| 35 | I’d much rather pay the extra $9.16 per month... lovelurking - 2021-03-17 17:14:00 |
| 36 | Insurance companies are leeches on society, they contribute nothing and will weasel out of paying at the drop of a match... tormore - 2021-03-17 17:51:00 |
| 37 | Well I never had the luxury of being able to afford not to have insurance so I’m a bit committed . lovelurking - 2021-03-17 18:09:00 |
| 38 | tormore wrote:
Oh rubbish. Just because you may have had a bad experience don't generalise. The only legal way they can get out of paying is by breaking their own conditions. The reason some like to complain is because they themselves never bothered to read the conditions in the first place. I have had many claims across many different policies and have never ONCE had a problem with payout. Probably because I wouldn't bother claiming for something I know I'm not entitled to. kitty179 - 2021-03-17 18:14:00 |
| 39 | gabbysnana wrote:
Starting to think this way - have had this conversation at work and surprised a few don't have insurance for this reason. I said to my partner if somebody broke in what would they take , most of our stuff is old and tvs etc are cheap , would they even bother with that - it is only if the place burns down that it would be a good thing? - in saying that have been in our place coming up 18/19 years and not the best of areas? but touch wood never been broken into .. ian86 - 2021-03-17 18:28:00 |
| 40 | kitty179 wrote:
sorry- All insurance companies look for reasons not to pay out from obscure fine print to sheer bluff. This was the case where the jeweller was taken to disputes tribunal by the stolen car owner because he used a softball bat on the stolen rental car the thiefs were escaping in.... scuba - 2021-03-17 18:48:00 |
| 41 | scuba wrote:
Again you are generalising - 'all' insurance companies. kitty179 - 2021-03-17 18:50:00 |
| 42 | Contents insurance is necessary especially if you are flatting/renting. megan109 - 2021-03-17 18:51:00 |
| 43 | scuba wrote: bollocks - the insurer agreed to pay out, but the cost of damage was below the insurance excess. sparkychap - 2021-03-17 18:52:00 |
| 44 | I also balked at the cost of contents insurance and by increasing the excess to $1000.00 so I was happy till a few months later while up the ladder the 4l can of paint took off and before the full can of paint hit the floor all I could think of was Bugger $1000.00 excess. hammer23 - 2021-03-18 13:11:00 |
| 45 | This message was deleted. kittycatkin - 2021-03-18 13:18:00 |
| 46 | I cancelled my contents insurance years ago because I couldn't remember when I had last had a claim, which was when my kids were at the destructive stage. I figured out I have saved about $10k since I cancelled it. corogirl - 2021-03-18 15:38:00 |
| 47 | kitty179 wrote: tormore - 2021-03-18 16:14:00 |
| 48 | tormore wrote:
Exceptional circumstances. I was talking about every-day claims for every-day events. kitty179 - 2021-03-18 16:35:00 |
| 49 | kitty179 wrote: tormore - 2021-03-18 19:05:00 |
| 50 | tormore wrote: Not really, plenty of Cantabrians got a great payout and bought new houses with them. Most of the botched repairs were caused by EQC/Fletchers, not insurers. sparkychap - 2021-03-18 19:15:00 |
