Home insurance to cover observatory

[Skipper Billy]

Hello all.

I am about to start looking for house insurance - we have been with the same provider for over a decade just because its easy to renew.

But it looks like we are paying 'through the nose' and most probably my outbuildings are not covered.

I have two out buildings - one containing £5k + of model aircraft and the other my observatory which for 6 months of the year houses £15k +++ of astroimaging gear.

Does anyone have any suggestions of recommendations for companies worth trying for house insurance that might look kindly at the above plus a small number if high value items of jewellery and/or a stand a alone policy for the astro gear ???

 Thanks in advance!

 

 

[banjaxed]

Churchill seem to be reasonable as I found out about 2 years ago when they insured both the house and contents for less than the house contents alone with another company.

Try compare the market which gives you a list of the best rates.

 

[martin_h]

I use these.

https://www.gloverhowe.co.uk/astronomy-insurance/

[ampleamp]

NFU, been with them years and they have paid up without question when i dropped a solarscope; couldn't recommend them highly enough, they cover all the usual household paraphenalia, and at >£60,000 total contents and are used to sheds with high value items but a little does depend on who you get so might be worth asking a couple of local farmers (??) who they use

[StarDodger]

I change my insurance every year and get the best price, never pay more than £170 for both house and contents, I Have outbuilding covered with that for 10k but no one item more than 2.5k...this year I paid £159, with Lloyd’s bank, without the outbuildings cover it was £120 for house and contents..

Just go on the comparison site and see who comes out the cheapest then contact them direct...

Edited June 25, 2019 by StarDodger

[Dinglem]

+1 for NFU, I'd been with Aviva for years, in fact would still be with them but they informed me earlier this year they were no longer doing the policy I was on. A mate pointed me towards NFU they were really good and very competitive, I also like the fact that there is a local branch I can drop into. I shall be ringing them when my car insurance is up for renewal.

[Skipper Billy]

Thanks guys.

I will contact the ones suggested and see what comes out on top.

 

[Gina]

I'm with the NFU too.

[Cyril]

John Lewis Insurance

[cletrac1922]

We have our through our local automobile association

As been a member for over 40 years, break down service, got a huge discount

Have two policies with them

One is for house and contents, and covers mobile devices and scopes away from home

Second one is 3 cars, including my 63 MGB MK1 roadster

John 

 

 

[MarsG76]

11 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

Hello all.

I am about to start looking for house insurance - we have been with the same provider for over a decade just because its easy to renew.

But it looks like we are paying 'through the nose' and most probably my outbuildings are not covered.

I have two out buildings - one containing £5k + of model aircraft and the other my observatory which for 6 months of the year houses £15k +++ of astroimaging gear.

Does anyone have any suggestions of recommendations for companies worth trying for house insurance that might look kindly at the above plus a small number if high value items of jewellery and/or a stand a alone policy for the astro gear ???

 Thanks in advance!

 

 

Hmm, whats the address of the outhouses with the equipment stored?? haha joking...

My home and CONTENTS insurance covers everything on the property... at least that my understanding.... I'd suspect that all Insurance plans with a contents cover would be the same.

 

[Demonperformer]

My contents cover is useless for the astro gear. Well, that's not totally true ... it is all covered as long as it is inside the HOUSE. The moment I take it outside the front door (which I find to be a good first step in actually using it) any item of equipment that costs more than £350 is not covered at all. Costs of policies to cover the equipment in use were stupidly prohibitive. So a few years ago I cut through the entire problem and designated one of my share holdings as "Astro Insurance". If anything gets lost/damaged, that is what I will sell to provide the replacement. In the mean time it is giving me a nice annual dividend, and simple logic would dictate that most insurance is money wasted ... otherwise the companies would quickly go out of business.

[carastro]

I have been using Lloyds for a few years, my previous house insurance was AXA I think and they decided to sell the insurances on to LLoyds.   We were given warning on this in case we didn;t want to move to Lloyds, so I rang Lloyds up and had a long conversation with them about my Astro kit and obsy, and they agreed to cover all my kit, maximum value on single item £2500 - can't rememeber the maximum total cover for my kit, but I recall thinking it was sufficient.  They agreed to cover kit kept in the observatory (even with the dome open and being used) and also my kit when I am pitched up at Astro camp, so I continued my cover with them.  

7 years on and I got a renewal reminder with a note saying that I should consider shopping around as maybe I could get cover cheaper elsewhere.  I guess they are obliged to do this.  My insurance renewal was just over £400 for the year house and contents.  So I went on compare the market, and I could get the price down to just under half.  But when I rang the first two on the list, neither of them wanted to know about the astro kit at all in any circumstances.

So I went back to Lloyds to get an update on my astro kit to make sure my arrangements with them from 7 years ago still applied, and indeed it did.  I mentioned I had been shopping around for a cheaper price and they offered me a discount of £65 for being a loyal customer and not making a claim in the last 7 years.  

I did look at the one Martin uses - GloverHowe at one point but thought it extremely expensive.

Carole 

Edited June 26, 2019 by carastro

[StarDodger]

2 minutes ago, carastro said:

I have been using Lloyds for a few years, my previous house insurance was AXA I think and they decided to sell the insurances on to LLoyds.   We were given warning on this in case we didn;t want to move to Lloyds, so I rang them up and had a long conversation with them about my Astro kit and obsy, and they agreed to cover all my kit, maximum value on single item £2500 - can't rememeber the maximum total cover for my kit, but I recall thinking it was sufficient.  They agreed to cover kit kept in the observatory (even with the dome open and being used) and also my kit when I am pitched up at Astro camp, so I continued my cover with them.  

7 years on and I got a renewal reminder with a note saying that I should consider shopping around as maybe I could get cover cheaper elsewhere.  I guess they are obliged to do this.  My insurance renewal was just over £400 for the year house and contents.  So I went on compare the market, and I could get the price down to just under half.  But when I rang the first two on the list, neither of them wanted to know about the astro kit at all in any circumstances.

So I went back to Lloyds to get an update on my astro kit to make sure my arrangements with them from 7 years ago still applied, and indeed it did.  I mentioned I had been shopping around for a cheaper price and they offered me a discount of £65 for being a loyal customer and not making a claim in the last 7 years.  

I did look at the one Martin uses - GloverHowe at one point but thought it extremely expensive.

Carole 

I am now with Lloyd’s, as a new customer and got my house and contents and astro gear up to 10k (2.5k single item) covered for £180...with outside shed contents cover (or obsy....lol)

[carastro]

Quote

I am now with Lloyd’s, as a new customer and got my house and contents and astro gear up to 10k (2.5k single item) covered for £180...with outside shed contents cover (or obsy....lol)

That's a lot cheaper than mine, I wonder whether it depends on your location and value of the house.  I am in SE london and prices are generally more expensive here than in the North etc. 

Carole 

[Gina]

The cost of any insurance depends on where you live.

[Skipper Billy]

43 minutes ago, Gina said:

The cost of any insurance depends on where you live.

Hopefully that will work in my favour - the back of beyond and then some - you could have a reign of terror with a balloon on a stick around here !

[StarDodger]

1 hour ago, carastro said:

That's a lot cheaper than mine, I wonder whether it depends on your location and value of the house.  I am in SE london and prices are generally more expensive here than in the North etc. 

Carole 

Oh yes, yours will be far more expensive where you live...at least that’s how I understand insurance to work on houses, we moved 50 yards last year to a house the same size but with a nice big drive, and insurance came down by £60 so go figure... 🤔

[Skipper Billy]

Just a quick update in case anyone else is looking at house insurance.

The house insurance renewal notice came through yesterday from the Halifax - proposed increase to £645 per annum

Went on moneysupermarket.com and entered all the info - 48 quotes came back - the cheapest was £192 - yes you have guessed it - with the Halifax !!!!

I phoned the Halifax and asked them to explain why a new customer pays less than a third of a loyal 12 year plus customer and asked them to check that I am comparing apples with apples. After much coughing and spluttering and muttering about new products etc he confirmed that the new policy at £192 actually provides better cover than the £645 policy specifically unlimited rebuild costs as opposed to £500k and a lower excess. Other items are the same - accidental damage cover etc and cover for high value items outside the home - cameras, laptops etc.

Then I broached the subject of my observatory or more specifically the contents of it. Standard cover £1500 per item. Explained why he needed to put a zero on the end of  that and he came back with their 'Ultimate' level of cover for out buildings £15000 contents cover for each outbuilding. This also covers my £2k electric bike as well as all my astro gear in the obsy.

This increased the price somewhat but the total for everything is £221

Pays to shop around !!!

As they have effectively had about £4k off me over the last 10 years that I could have saved (a free Baby Tak ??) I would loved to have told them to stick it where the sun doesnt shine but its a trusted name and a good product at a good price so I swallowed my male pride and paid the £221 !!

 

 

 

[Davey-T]

My wife recently had to give up driving and I transferred the car into my name, come time to renew the insurance and it had doubled from the previous year despite nothing having changed indeed there was now only one named driver instead of two.

Then their automated computer system shot itself in the foot by sending my wife a quote for the same thing for half what they wanted to charge me.

20 minutes on the phone while the call centre chap consulted his superiors resulted in a return to only a slight increase on the previous year.

I doubt there's any human input into the renewal quote process so can only blame the person that programmed the computer to try and rob the unwary 😂

Dave

[cletrac1922]

On 26/06/2019 at 17:52, carastro said:

I have been using Lloyds for a few years, my previous house insurance was AXA I think and they decided to sell the insurances on to LLoyds.   We were given warning on this in case we didn;t want to move to Lloyds, so I rang Lloyds up and had a long conversation with them about my Astro kit and obsy, and they agreed to cover all my kit, maximum value on single item £2500 - can't rememeber the maximum total cover for my kit, but I recall thinking it was sufficient.  They agreed to cover kit kept in the observatory (even with the dome open and being used) and also my kit when I am pitched up at Astro camp, so I continued my cover with them.  

7 years on and I got a renewal reminder with a note saying that I should consider shopping around as maybe I could get cover cheaper elsewhere.  I guess they are obliged to do this.  My insurance renewal was just over £400 for the year house and contents.  So I went on compare the market, and I could get the price down to just under half.  But when I rang the first two on the list, neither of them wanted to know about the astro kit at all in any circumstances.

So I went back to Lloyds to get an update on my astro kit to make sure my arrangements with them from 7 years ago still applied, and indeed it did.  I mentioned I had been shopping around for a cheaper price and they offered me a discount of £65 for being a loyal customer and not making a claim in the last 7 years.  

I did look at the one Martin uses - GloverHowe at one point but thought it extremely expensive.

Carole 

 

Carole

Not sure over there, but in Australia, with Compare, they only have insurance companies, which pay them a commission for advertising

We have our private health insurance, through our credit union, and they were not advertised on Compare

Credit Union, also has house and contents insurance, and again not advertised on Compare

Compare is not all made out to be, and only has about 25% of insurance companies out there listed on their site

Pays to ring around

John

 

[coatesg]

I go through a local broker - I can speak to them there and then to confirm all coverage and requirements (outbuildings, security, structure, etc), and they beat my previous insurance by some margin too.

[Demonperformer]

On 26/06/2019 at 08:52, carastro said:

I mentioned I had been shopping around for a cheaper price and they offered me a discount of £65 for being a loyal customer and not making a claim in the last 7 years.

This would leave me with no confidence that I was getting the best deal from them. I would have been more impressed if they had included that discount when they sent the renewal in the first place rather than waiting for you to tell them you had been considering going elsewhere ...

[carastro]

Quote

This would leave me with no confidence that I was getting the best deal from them. I would have been more impressed if they had included that discount when they sent the renewal in the first place rather than waiting for you to tell them you had been considering going elsewhere ...

I agree, but I didn't have the time to go shopping around right at that time.  Maybe I will be better prepared next time.

Carole