Home insurance
What do I need to run a home insurance quote?
There are two types of home insurance: buildings insurance covers damage to the fabric of your property, including fixtures and fittings, while contents insurance covers your belongings. You can compare home insurance prices for both buildings and contents cover with MoneySuperMarket, so you can protect your home against fire, flooding, storm damage and theft.
When applying for home contents and buildings insurance, you will need the following information:
Details about your property
- Your address and property type (eg semi-detached or terraced)
- Number of rooms
- When your home was built
- What percentage of the roof is flat (we’ll help you work this out)
- Number of occupants and when they tend to be home
Rebuilding cost and value of contents
- Based on your postcode, we’ll suggest a figure for the cost
Security at your property
- What lock types are on the windows and doors at your home?
Get cheaper home insurance
The average price of combined buildings and contents insurance has risen slightly over the last few months. MoneySuperMarket data found the average cost of home insurance (combined) from October to December 2018 was £139 – up on average by £19.81 compared to the last three months of 2017.
The best way to tackle rising home insurance premiums is to shop around and see if you can find a cheaper policy elsewhere, instead of auto-renewing. Here are our top tips on how to get cheaper home insurance:
Shop around
You could save up to 44%* when you search for cheaper home insurance with MoneySuperMarket.
Pay annually
It’s cheaper to for your home insurance annually, rather than monthly, as you won’t pay interest.
Build your no claims discount
A history of not claiming on home insurance is usually rewarded with a discount on your premiums.
*51% of consumers could save up to 44% Consumer Intelligence, November 2018.
Well-known home insurance brands we work with
We compare 57 home insurance brands to bring you the best deals
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Unlike some of our competitors, MoneySuperMarket is not owned by an insurance company. So we can offer the best value, with savings delivered straight to you.
We combine independence, so we can negotiate the best prices, with excellent technology, to find the best value products and services for you.
That makes us, in our customers' opinions, the best price comparison website.
What is home insurance?
How much is home insurance?
The average cost of home insurance (combined) was £139 from October to December 2018. The cost of home insurance for your buildings and contents will be influenced by your location, house value and contents value, risk (including flood and burglary) and other factors.
What does home insurance cover?
Home insurance typically covers against damage to your home caused by fire, flood and other natural occurrences. It can also cover your personal belongings like furniture and electronics if they are damaged or stolen.
What is covered by home insurance will vary by insurer, so you should always check the policy details. Some home insurance policies may also include personal liability, which covers any injury or damage claims made against you by a third party, for example.
Do I need a credit check?
If you want to spread the cost of your home insurance over 12 months, the insurer will run a credit check to make sure you’re able to afford the monthly instalments. They do this because technically it’s a credit agreement: you’re borrowing the cost of the annual policy and repaying it over 12 months.
As with any credit check, a record of this search will remain on your file – and your credit rating will affect the amount of APR that you’re charged. If you have a poor credit rating, you may be charged up to 20% APR. And if you’ve struggled to pay credit in the past, or if you have a CCJ to your name, then you may be denied the option to pay monthly.
If you choose to pay for your home insurance annually, you won’t be subject to a credit check. If you think there will be issues with your credit rating, you can read our guide on improving your credit score
What is accidental damage and what does it cover?
Accidental damage insurance will cover you in case something is damaged or broken by accident. For example, if you knocked over your TV, spilt red wine on a new carpet or dropped a laptop, you might be able to claim for a repair or replacement on your contents insurance.
Accidental damage can also cover your property, not just the items within in it. For example, if someone needed to get to the pipes under your home and your property was damaged, you may be able to claim for the cost of repairs.
Level of service
We aim to show you home insurance quotes from as many insurance companies as possible, so that you can find the right policy for you.
Unfortunately, we can’t promise to show quotes from every insurance provider, because not all companies want to be included on comparison websites.
We won’t offer you advice or make a recommendation, but we will provide you with all the information you need to help you decide which is the right policy for you.
You can find out more about how we work here.
Our commitment to you
Here at MoneySuperMarket, we want to help you find great ways to save money on your household bills - everything from car insurance to credit cards, from your mortgage to your broadband. And lots more besides.
So how do we make our money? In a nutshell, when you use us to buy a product, we get a reward from the company you’re buying from.
But you might have other questions. Do we provide access to all the companies operating in a given market? Do we have commercial relationships or ownership ties that might make us feature one company above another?
We commit to providing you with clear and informative answers on all points such as this, so we have gathered the relevant information on this page.