Intasure

04/14/2011 - 13:30

Has anybody else had a 90% increase in their house insurance premiums from Intasure? Or was it just that they enticed me in with a low quote last year?

Comment

I havn't had my renewal yet, but they will not be getting my cash if there is much increase at all in the premium ! 90% are you sure ??? S

Last year, buildings only, 3 bed property, £199, this year £374 (88% increase). I have a second property buildings + contents which has increased by 56%

Let me tell you about my house insurance (note: - do not confuse Italsure with Intasure) I have for the three years insured via Italsure. Each year I had a comparative quote from Intasure and found that not only were their premiums higher but like for like cover was not as good and excluded earthquake cover. Then last year I receive this e-mail from Italsure stating:- Your Europlan policy falls due for renewal on xxx. Unfortunately Europlan are not offering renewal on these policies so we would like to offer you another program as an alternative. It turns out that the 'other program' was Intasure and the renewal jumped from £280 to £450 with inferior cover. I then started to get chased for renewal by Intasure without agreeing to any switch nor had I given authority to Italsure to pass on my details. This annoyed me so I started to investigate. I discovered that the underwriters of my Europlan Policy, A Copeland, were continuing to offer the same cover as I had before BUT because I went to them direct this years renewal was £250 with earthquake cover ( of course that will be dependent on where you live) So Italsure, got their facts wrong (lets be generous here) about the Europlan Policy, passed on my personal details to another broker without my authority and they recommended a policy with a staggering 80% premium increase. Quite frankly it stinks. My advice - before you sign up to any policy organised via Intasure or Italsure get a comparative quote from A Copeland

We too were told the same tale from Italsure, though In fairness I did then authorise them to look elsewhere. Yes, it was Intasure that then contacted me and the cover is inferior (earthquake excess raised from £2,500 to £5,000 for example) but the quote is slightly less. Paid £483.20 last year, quoted £440.74 this year. However these figures both seem very high compared to those stated above, especially as we are resident full time and thus the burglary risk is diminished drastically. Thanks for the tip; I too will be contacting Andrew Copeland direct.

We experienced the same increase in renewal quote but when challenged was advised it was a computer error!! On rechecking we only had a very small increase in premium payments which still proved better than other estimates. if we hadn't made the query they would just have adjusted our monthly installments so well worth checking things out

Ours was the same as last year.Also,i've taken out car hire insurance with them to cover any excess £45 the year but bad at all.

Just had a response from A Copeland and they WILL still insure our home however they are £100 more than Intasure. There are some differences in cover but not sure I want to pay an extra £100 for them.

Thanks for the advice. I'm asking Copeland for a quote and may try a local company in Italy. I rang Intasure and over the phone they reduced 1 policy increase from 90% to 50% and the other from 56% to 30%. No reason given ( I should have asked!)

We use Robertson McIssac - http://www.rmib.co.uk/foreign_home.html Admittedly we haven't had our renewal through yet, but we have always found them very reasonable in the past and they do earthquake cover too.

You Guys should all try www.Groupama.it They are part of the old GA in the UK and are very resonable. House insurance in Italy is usually cheaper than through the companies your talkingabout as mos italians do not bother with house Insurance. Try them!

Just about to renew insurance on my [small] place with Groupama Cost [no contents insurance - only building, liabilities etc ] - Euros 95

I have found Intasure helpful and efficient and my premium with them went up only a bit. However if Groupama are so much cheaper then...but is communication harder with them than a UK company and is the cover the same?

Of course it's a bit bit more difficult, you usually need to speak a little Italian, but you can do it over the Internet and translate your emails etc on'Google translate'. I'm amazed at the sort of money expats are prepared to pay for things like this over here! recently heard someone paid €100 for there Geometra to calculate their ICI, when you can have done at thofficial agency for €30! Your obviously all financially well endowed. Ciao

Hi Brianm, I think it's great that you know who the official agency is........LOT's of people will not know. Pray tell? LOTs of people also have very limited Italian language skills so everything is a challenge. Yes, you could say learn Italian but not everyone is able to - for many reasons. S

Don't know if it's any help but you might like to try a quote from Saga. I guess you might need basic residence in UK and of course be of a certain age! ( Altho' I don't think it's THAT old!). Oh and earthquake damage is NOT covered. Interested to know that Italian property owners do not insure their houses to any great extent - what percentage?

The estate agent I bought the house through arranges the house insurance for me - I leave the approx amount with him in January/Feb, and he pays the insurance when it falls due in April - I pick up the certificate when I'm over next, plus the change ICI - I calculate it myself [takes about 5 minutes max - very simple calculation]. Google something like 'Calculate ICI' to find out how

I always intend to calculate my ICI but the lovely lady at the comune does it for me, as you say, in just a few minutes. On the insurance I'm getting quotes from Copeland, Groupama and will also try SAGA and will compare with Intasure and let you know. Although can't promise I'll compare all the terms.