shirlsbird Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 HiFirst time on the forum. We have just bought a home in a small village close to Gorron in Department 53. Our parents will be living in it through the winter to look after it and keep it aired etc. We need to get insurance for it. Would it be beneficial to do this through a French insurance company or can we do it from England.Hope this is not a silly question as we are new to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I would use a French insurer in your local town, who you can go and see and discuss your needs. Your bank will also do insurance and offer good rates for customers. If your French is not good, you may find some staff have some English.You can insure via the UK or go down the " English " speaker route, I'm sure you will get the "We used XXXX " who are only 500km's away posts but they do speak English" and yes they charge for it as well, ( some of these are only brokers so you may pay a fee that way as well)You can do it on-line, try the big boys AXA Groupama etc for this or , this is becoming more popular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monika Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 [quote]Hi First time on the forum. We have just bought a home in a small village close to Gorron in Department 53. Our parents will be living in it through the winter to look after it and keep it aired et...[/quote]We insure our house with a French Assurance. They seem to have agencies all over France and are very helpful and answer e-mails quickly and efficiently, even answering in english to my e-mail in french!Website is: www.thelem.fr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 Use a french insurance company for two reasons. 1.You only have a limited time in which to make a claim from when the incident occured. 2 Having been called out to many brit properties over the years here to give estimates for damage repairs for UK insurers, they never ever hardly pay out. Usually the excuse is that it is too far to send an expert assessor out to take a look and also they say the time lapse is too long in cases where the absent owners havn't discovered the problems for some weeks/months later. We usually find clients that are with french insurers get a fairly instant visit and payout to continue with the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 And household insurance (at least some elements of it) is mandatory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hegs Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 Britline www.britline.com can organize French car and property nsurance, in English. However: - Definitely not the cheapest, especially for car insurance - Make sure you have documentation you understand and do not rely on what they say over the phone. I drove without insurance for six months because of them! - Sometimes some funny clauses (like rewiring barns) you need to deal with that a local chap could sort outRound my way, the "online" insurance just seem to fax the local agent with your details, who then comes round for a vist :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedon Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 [quote]Hi First time on the forum. We have just bought a home in a small village close to Gorron in Department 53. Our parents will be living in it through the winter to look after it and keep it aired et...[/quote]Try Patrice Riegler in Ernee (53) on 0243 05 21 82.I cannot say whether he can or cannot quote you the cheapest but you will not find anybody more helpful. He speaks flawless English and will give you English translations of your cover.If you know about 1960/70s English soccer you can chat for hours with him.weedon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirlsbird Posted November 7, 2005 Author Share Posted November 7, 2005 Hi Thanks for all your replys.Glad we asked the question. Our French is not at all good but we are trying our best. We have spoken to our agent today who informed us that the house is still insured under the previous owners insurance, but is sending us some quotes for our own insurance.We will check the quotes but will get some of our own as well. From your replys it sounds like the French option is the best.Thanks againShirley and Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Templars<P><STRONG><SUP><EM>Templar<EM><SUP><STRONG><P Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 We use the insurers attached to the Eurim estate agency in Gorron itself. Their english is excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweetpea Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 ASTTRAL is a brokers based in French. Nick IS English and is superb for any advice, best prices, etc, for all types of insurance, and uses all the bigger names in French insurers.Good luck!Oh - email is [email protected] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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