Dont Shop Alone

Home Insurance


Our selection of best home insurance web sites for UK residents.
Company Description
Quotezone Quotezone's UK Home and/or Contents Quote System saves you time and money. You just have to fill in your details once, and you will many quotes back from reputable insurers such as Direct Choice, Homequote Direct, 1st Quote, and Homeprotect.  For most companies, you will see the quotes appear online in around 60 seconds.
Bradford & Bingley If you switch to your Home Insurance to Bradford & Bingley, you could save up to 36%. You'll also save a whole lot of effort too. By searching their panel of leading insurers, they make it easy to find a policy that's tailored to your needs.
Barclays Home Insurance On-line discounts up to 35% and no additional charge for monthly payment.
Tesco home insurance Tesco gives 35% discount online in the first year. Services include a 24hr household emergency helpline and you can use Tesco Clubcard vouchers towards the price of your premium.
Nationwide home insurance Nationwide's home insurance is the leading product online in terms of growth over the past six months and is very competitively priced, with an online discount and a double-digit conversion level. As well as a competitive price, Nationwide offer online discounts on both contents and buildings insurance. Unlike some competitors Nationwide make no extra charge for monthly payments.
HSBC home insurance In addition to offering a strong discount for new home insurance customers, our home insurance provides customers with a level of cover suitable for their requirements - Buildings & Contents, Buildings Only or Contents Only.
MORE TH>N home insurance Provides a whopping £75,000 contents cover as standard. And you also receive an extra discount when you buy both buildings and contents insurance.
Budget Home Insurance As BUDGET is an independent intermediary, rather than a direct insurance company, they will search our panel of leading insurers to find the best quote for our customers.
Direct Line Home Insurance 15% discount when you buy online. 50% off contents insurance when you buy building, Free annual family travel cover when you buy buildings and contents insurance. New for old replacement items for the garden, up to £1,000, as well as in your home.
The Post Office Home Insurance One of the most trusted brands in the UK with over 350 years of history.
Prudential Home Insurance Enjoy peace of mind with Home Insurance from the Pru.
Churchill Home Insurance Winner of Your Money 2005 Best Direct Home and Contents Insurance Provider.
Saga is the UK's leading specialist insurer for today's over 50s, offering high levels of cover and traditional service. Over one million people now insure their property and possessions with Saga Home Insurance.
Swinton Quality contents and buildings insurance at a low cost. Tailored policies to suit your requirements.
Norwich Union If you have 5 years of no claims, you can get 30% off when you buy buildings and contents insurance. Combined buildings and contents policy covers you for a wide range of incidents such as theft and loss, or damage caused by flood, storm, lightning, fire and subsidence, as well as damage to services. Cover includes property owners' liability and replacing goods on a 'new for old' basis for most items (except clothes and linen). If you accidentally damage your TV, video, audio and audio-visual equipment, or your home computer, it will be covered.

Up to 20% online discount.
Kwik Fit Home Insurance £40 off online. Up to 15% discount when you take combined buildings and contents cover. New for old contents cover. Accidental damage for TV, Home Computer and Hi-Fi automatically included. Up to £500 free replacement locks if your keys are stolen. Up to £500 freezer contents cover. Up to £500 contents in the garden cover. Money in the home including unauthorised use of any cards up to £250 with contents cover.


Things to consider when buying home insurance

Not all insurance is equal and the cheapest quote is not always the best. Always consider the following when comparing home insurance quotes:

Brokers versus direct insurers

Most of the home insurance sites listed on DontShopAlone.co.uk are brokers rather than direct insurers. If you have an unusual property, a broker will often find you the best deal, because most of the direct insurers prefer to play safe and insure standard houses. Brokers are however middlemen and as such, take a share of insurance premium. A direct insurer can potentially therefore, offer lower prices.

If you are in a hurry, using a broker can save time as they will compare several companies for lowest prices. Don't imagine however that any broker is going to look a the entire market. Each broker will only have agencies with a limited panel of insurers. If you have time, we suggest that you try more than one of the insurers in our list before buying.

Decide on the level of excess

"Excess" is the part of any claim that you will have to pay yourself and if you rarely make claims and just want the cheapest home insurance, you could opt for the maximum excess. You will sometimes be asked to choose the level of "voluntary excess". This may be additional to the standard excess or it may be instead of the standard excess. Check the terms carefully.

What is the difference between buildings and contents?

As an approximate guide, if you were to turn your home upside down, everything that fell out would be your contents, and most of what remains would be buildings.

What is accidental damage cover?

On most policies, accidental damage is a optional extra. You may however, find that the standard contents cover includes accidental damage to items such as radios, television sets, audio equipment, mirrors and fixed glass. Buildings cover sometimes includes as standard, accidental damage to underground pipes and cables, fixed glass, baths, shower trays, and sinks.

You will almost always need to take out extra accidental damage cover for soft furnishings such as carpets, curtains and sofas. If you spill a glass of red wine on your carpet, for example, this will generally only be covered if you have chosen the "accidental damage" option.

How much should I insure my home for?

For Contents, you need to consider how much it would cost to replace all of the possessions within your home. For some categories such as jewellery and antiques, the insurer will normally ask for a separate figure and will usually ask you to list items above a certain value individually. The sum insured for "General Contents" should exclude sums insured specified elsewhere.

For Buildings the sum insured must be enough to cover the cost of rebuilding your home. You should also add on an extra amount to cover demolition costs, architects and surveyor's fees.

New for Old

If a policy provides "New for Old" cover, the insurer will replace items you are claiming for with ones of the same or similar specification. Claims for clothing and household linen will be subject to deductions for wear and tear.

Do I need to specify my computer?

The standard contents cover usually includes accidental damage occurring in the home to computers, unless it's a portable type like a laptop or palmtop. In this case you will need to take Personal Belongings cover if you want it to be covered for accidental damage.

What are valuables?

Valuables include :

  • Coin, stamp, medal collections
  • Pictures and other works of art
  • Items of gold, silver and other precious metals
  • Jewellery and furs
  • Antiques (not including furniture), collectibles and watches

Standard cover usually includes valuables up to a certain level. Most home insurance policies require that you provide a list of items valued above a certain figure.

Are items covered outside the home?

Items taken outside the home will be covered under the "Personal Belongings" section of the policy. This is sometimes referred to as the "All Risks" section. This generally includes:

  • jewellery
  • money
  • credit cards
  • luggage
  • clothing
  • sports and musical equipment

You will usually be required to provide a list of any items above a certain value.

Legal Protection

Legal Protection cover is generally an optional extra and will fund the costs of pursuing legal action for you and your family.

For example:
If you were unfortunate enough to be involved in a Road Traffic Accident which was not your fault and you suffered injuries, Legal Services will provide you with up to a specified value to pursue legal action. This will remove the need to search for a Solicitor or enter into a "No Win No Fee" arrangement as you will already have cover in place to provide the legal representation you need. The damages recovered will not be subject to any deductions and you will not be liable for any legal costs or fees.

No Claims Discount

No claims discount (NCD) was unusual on home insurance until a few years ago although most insurers now offer it. NCD varies considerably but If you are able to show that you have not made a claim recently, you should be able to get up to 50% discount for 5 years or more claims free on your contents insurance. The discount on buildings insurance will generally be lower.

Student Contents Cover

The Personal Belongings of family members at university may still be covered by your policy if they are still living with you outside of term time. You should check your policy carefully however, as this is not always the case.

Contents cover often includes "contents temporarily removed" up to a specified limit and this would cover contents which have been temporarily removed from your home into accommodation where a member of your household is temporarily living (for example while they are studying or working away from home). Limitations probably apply and you should read your policy carefully to ensure that you understand the cover provided.

If in doubt, contact the insurer for advice.

Business use

If you are using your home for business use, you may need special cover. Contact the insurer if in doubt.

Garden tools and furniture

Standard household policies will generally cover garden equipment up to a specified sum insured.

Home Emergency Cover

While your home insurance policy should cover the residual damage caused by, say, a leaking radiator, it would not cover the cost of a plumber to come out and fix the leak itself. Or the cost of any parts he uses in the process.

If you want this covered, you will need "Home emergency cover" which can be added to most policies at an additional charge.