Insurance

[Jollity Farm]

Can anyone help regarding house insurance for a holiday home? Is it best to take out French or English policy? Thanks for any advice

[Dick Smith]

French, I would say. I doubt if you would get insurance from a UK company. Ours is through Axa, it was set up on the day we bought, as I think is a legal requirement, so you might need to do it quickly. It's pretty cheap compared to the UK. But then, we've never had to claim...

[Benjamin]

What Dick says is probably best to go with a French insurer.

However, if you qualify by age, Saga certainly insure foreign holiday homes or at least they did about two years ago.

I think the maximum occupancy in any one year is six months. Why not give their web site a try.

Benjamin

[Dick Smith]

I didn't know that - I'll look into it. Presumably you have to be over 50 and qualify as a Saga Lout?

[Benjamin]

I just had a couple of spare minutes and looked at the Saga site and they do cover holiday homes.

For anyone who feels easier dealing with a UK based company they appear to provide a very good alternative. I particularly like the cover of 1,000 pounds if you have to get to your holiday home in an emergency. Don't see a French company offering that.

Benjamin

[captain25]

Hi ya its me again

Don't take out house insurance with your friendly local estate agent. If you open a french bank account ,credit mutaul i think they are called you will get  english speaking help and cheap insurance .

[Aitch]

When we purchased our house, we set up a bank account with CA Britline and they helped set up Insurance with Pacifica. Been with them for the last 7 years as work on the house progressed. Just made my first claim (only one I hope) and conducted all aspects, in a mixture of English/ French. Bit of a long winded wait to finally get a settlement but generally pleased with their rates. Haven't tried other companies so can't pass judgement.

Aitch

[napoleon]

French or UK, check the small print very carefully. We took out our insurance with  a local agent and have used them for the last five years. The cost has risen steadily and is higher than the UK estimates that I keep collecting.

The problem for me is the number of restrictions imposed concerning the periods of unoccupancy (is that a real word?), such as; the state of the water system during absences, temperature settings during the winter etc, the cost of re-building and excess payments on assorted claims.

Fortunately we have not made any claim.

Saga came up with a high quotation with many conditions that we could not meet. I keep checking the market.

                                                Alistair

[Cat]

HIFX offer holiday home and permanent residence buildings and contents insurance, through Norwich Union.

The benefit of an English worded policy is that the small print is so much easier to understand for anyone with limited french language skills [Www]

http://www.hifxinsure.com/index.asp

 

 

[vervialle]

I had my house insured with a french company and the only problem I encountered,was that there is a time span in which you can make a claim, I needed to claim after the storms in January some years ago , but did not discover the entire damage until my March visit.I was to late to make a further claim.I also had a bit of a nightmare trying to deal with it from England, although times have changed since then and I did not have email available.I now have my insurance with Insurance for homes abroad, Weston Super Mare.I have cover of £80,000.00 for£136.80 and legal cover of 2,000.000.00. It is underwritten by Lloyds and they are very pleasant to deal with.If you change from a french company you have to give them notice and have a letter from your notaire at least I did.I never really think you can tell what an insurance company is like until you have a claim.My French insurance was AGF and I must say I found the admin side horendous.One of the stipulations of the english insurance company , is that the property is looked at once a month by a neighbour.

[Jollity Farm]

Oh dear decisions decisions! Not quite old enough to qualify as a Saga Lout! Thanks for advice everyone, will probably go with French company

[Matt]

I,m insured with HIFX ,there are no restrictions with regards occupancy ,they were very helpful and one of the cheepest quotes I had.They also do a very good international money transfer system whereby you can ring and fix your rate which is then valid for 2 years.

[laika]

I just checked the HIFX website. I insure thru SAGA. I think their conditions are less restrictive than HIFX, especially the condition to maintain at all times a temperature of 55. I reckon that would cost me more than anything I would save re the premium. Anyway as has been said before the worth of an insurance policy is directly related to what happens when u claim, and Saga have the best record of customer service of any Brit company (I dont have shares)

Mike