Homeowners find it difficult to obtain home insurance at affordable price

MORE than one in three Irish homeowners have experienced difficulty in finding home insurance at an affordable price, according to recent analysis by AA Ireland.

9.82% of the near 7,000 respondents to an AA Home Insurance survey fully agreed with the statement: “I have had difficulty obtaining house insurance for a fair price.”

Meanwhile, a further 22.39% partially agreed with the prompt, with just 7.91% admitting that finding affordable cover had never been an issue.

A 2016 report from AA Ireland found that Cork homeowners were twice as likely to be denied home cover due to past incidents of flooding or perceived risk in their area when compared to the national average. According to a recent report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) the cost of home insurance has increased by 5.9% in the last 12 months.

However, in some good news for homeowners, there was no increase in premiums in December 2016, the second successive month where prices remained neutral.

“While it may not be new advice, the fact that more than a third of us have experienced difficulty in finding affordable home cover further highlights the importance of shopping around when first taking out a policy or when your renewal is due,” AA Director of Consumer Affairs, Conor Faughnan highlighted.

“Particularly in the case of a renewal it can be easy to assume that your current provider is the one that will give you the best deal. However, even if the renewal quote appears generous it’s worth contacting the provider directly to see if they can bring this cost down any further instead of just accepting the first quote you’re offered.”

Despite an increase in flooding incidents in recent years, just over 4.5% of those surveyed admitted they had experienced problems in obtaining home insurance due to the risk of flooding in their area. However, homeowners in Cork and Clare were significantly more likely to have experienced issues securing home cover because of flood risks.

Almost one in 10 Clare homeowners (9.01%) fully or partially agreed with the statement: “I have had difficulty obtaining home insurance because of flooding risk.” 7.42% of Cork homeowners have experienced the same issue.

“While we avoided flooding disasters during the past few months, it appears that some homeowners are having difficulty accessing insurance due to past incidents,” he added.