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house insurance

house insurance

Postby blackvelvet » Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:24 pm

Hi everyone at what point do we need to organise house insurance
We are going through a purchase in dona pepa to complete approx mid October
There won't be a mortgage.
Do insurance cover for earth awakes? (Sorry not trying to worry anyone)
I saw one insurance asking if we were 80 metres away from river or stream and having not
got a clue
Do you use uk company or spanish
Any tips please
Thanks
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Re: house insurance

Postby Jan » Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:26 pm

Hello blackvelvet,
Up until recently we used a company (Zurich) arranged through our Spanish bank. Over the years we became annoyed because they never gave us a quote each year and just took the renewal premium from our account.

In the early days of owning our property there was so much to think about that it was convenient to just leave it to renew automatically as it was one less thing to worry about. However, over the years it became the norm in the UK to compare insurances so we asked the bank to tell the insurance company that we would like a renewal price in advance in future and they said that the Spanish insurance company didn't do that. They also said they didn't cover for earthquakes which we didn't realise for all those years.

We had never had an updated policy or even a letter to acknowledge our payment. In the end (last year) we changed (with difficulty!) to a new recommended holiday home insurance company called Intasure (http://www.intasure.com ). They are an English company, have offices in London and they cover automatically for earthquakes and give out renewal quotes in advance. They were also a much better price!

Anyway the moral of this story is, whoever you choose, is to try to go with an independently recommended insurance company, not one arranged through the bank or solicitor and check what they cover and whether they cover earthquakes. We heard, not sure if it's true, that most insurance companies in Spain don't cover for earthquakes...wonder why!! :o :shock:

Hope this helps.

Jan
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Re: house insurance

Postby Laura » Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:50 am

We were lazy with insurance and never changed from our original so perhaps we could have cheaper insurance. I would however still recommend them mainly for the fact that when the worst happened (flood) they were very easy to deal with and prompt at paying and fixing damage.
Laura
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Re: house insurance

Postby Jan » Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:09 am

Guapa wrote:Re earthquake insurance I understand insurance companies in Spain are covered by a govt insurance within your insurance, speak with your agent.



Yes, we were told that when we asked, but I think it's used as a 'get out clause' for insurance companies in Spain. Although it may be there for the public to claim from, in the event of a bad earthquake, I can't imagine it being a quick and easy process and it's bound to be in order of priority. For any property damage I would be much happier being covered by an insurance company.

We were told it wasn't within the insurance, it was a kind of government fund for natural disasters including earthquakes and can be claimed from separately if the need arises.

Jan.
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Re: house insurance

Postby Jan » Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:43 am

Laura wrote:We were lazy with insurance and never changed from our original so perhaps we could have cheaper insurance. I would however still recommend them mainly for the fact that when the worst happened (flood) they were very easy to deal with and prompt at paying and fixing damage.



Hello Laura,

Did your insurance premiums go up a lot after you made a claim? In the UK we have worked out that if it is a going to be a small claim it's cheaper to not inform the insurance and pay for it ourselves as they get back the money by the increase in premiums over the next few years anyway. Not sure if it works this way in Spain but we had about 5 years of increased premiums due to a phone enquiry on whether we could claim on a broken (?) sewer pipe on our property. Eventually we didn't have to claim as it was a blockage and was fixed by Dyno-Rod for about £100. We phoned to tell the insurance company we wouldn't be claiming but little did we know that it would then 'flag up' on our records for the next few years, and increase our premiums by a percentage, even when we changed to another company. I said we didn't actually make a claim for it and they said " but we know it happened as you made an enquiry". We couldn't believe it!

:twisted:
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