Welcome to BuyAssociation.co.uk

The UK's home insurance postcode lottery - MoneySupermarket.com

The Winners and Losers of the UKs Home Insurance Postcode Lottery

The good news is that the average customer has seen a decrease of around 0.4% on the price of their annual home insurance premium; the bad news is that this has been offset by particular regions that have seen a large increase in their home insurance premiums.

The factor responsible for whether you are one of the lucky ones who enjoy a decrease in your home insurance premiums or one of the unlucky who are being forced to pay more seems to be whereabouts in the country you live.

Research by MoneySupermarket.com complied in the Home Insurance Monitor has found our postcodes have a direct effect on our home insurance premiums.

Julie Fisher, head of home insurance at MoneySupermarket.com commented: “Our research shows some areas have seen more of a decrease in the cost of their premiums than others. Unfortunately, postcodes can dramatically affect how much people pay for their home insurance premium. For example in Jersey, one fifth of the population is retired, and low crime rates coupled with mild weather conditions means that the cost and frequency of claims are likely to be lower than other areas of the country. East London is undergoing significant regeneration and infrastructure improvements and insurers may be adjusting premiums as a result.”

Homeowners in Jersey, South London and East London are winning the UKs postcode lottery for home insurance premiums, enjoying the biggest reductions.

Table showing the postcodes which saw the biggest decrease in their home insurance premiums

Channel Islands

In fact it seems the Channel Islands are experiencing some of the most contrasting changes to their premiums, whilst Jersey has benefited from a reduction in their premiums, their neighbour Guernsey has seen one of the biggest rises in premiums with the cost of cover on the island increasing by 32.24%. Likewise Orkney has seen a 21.05% rise and the Shetland Islands a 20.10% rise.

Julie Fisher continued: “In the case of Guernsey, Orkney and The Shetland Islands, home insurance cover in Summer 2010 was lower than the national average premium price. It is likely that insurers have brought these prices in line with the rest of the country, rather than responding to any specific ‘occurrences’ on these islands, although climate may play a part.

While in the cases of the Islands other factors may not have played a part in the increase, if your property is classified as being in a ‘high-risk’ area however where crime, flooding or even fraudulent claims are common this will all contribute to your insurance premiums. Likewise living in an affluent area will increase your premiums as generally property and contents will tend to be higher here.

Table to show the postcodes which saw the biggest increase in their home insurance premiums

Top tips

While there is little you can about your postcode, apart from moving house of course here are some of MoneySupermarket.com’s top tips for cheaper home insurance premiums:

- Think hard about what cover you need. Do you need accidental damage cover? Add-ons can increase your premiums by up to 25%

- Only claim when you need to. The less claims you make, the higher your no claims discount. Cheap minor issues that you can cover yourself are better done without involving your insurance company.

- Secure your home. If you have moved to a new home, change the locks, you don’t know who could still have a key obtained before you lived there.

- If you go away invest in time switch lights, cancel all newspaper and milk orders and never leave keys in an obvious place such as under a doormat.

- Install a good home security system. Sometimes insurers have a preferred alarm system, check with your particular insurer before investing in one. A good alarm can cut home insurance policies with some companies by up to 7.5%

- Join neighbourhood watch. If you inform your insurance company that you are part of a neighbourhood watch scheme this can reduce your home insurance premiums by up to 5%.

Uploaded October 2011

MoneySupermarket.com

More pages

Page 1: The Winners and Losers of the UKs Home Insurance Postcode Lottery
Page 2: MoneySupermarket.com

Get Your Website On The First Page Of Google On A Budget FREE website health check and white paper on SEO in a recession

Free ink cartridge click here new customers can order an ink cartridge for £0

Click here for a free consultation - make foreign exchange work for you

Free delivery on office supplies everything from stationery to office furniture

Document sharing - share, edit and save documents Secure document collaboration made easy!