Home Insurance

[Ducks]

Does anyone have any idea what standard insurance for a 3 bed 2 bath in Caleta might be, roughly?

We're in the process of closing and the bank have offered a discount on the draft if you take out home insurance with them, and I wouldn't know if it's worth it unless I have a figure to compare it to.

Thanks!

[emmi]

Based on my property it is around euros 270 with Liberty Insurance. Liberty is very good and I'd suggest you pop into their office in  Caleta for proper quote. Yolanda speaks good English and is very obliging.  They may even have a special offer with a decent discount as they often do for first time customers. The office is in the small Plaza next to the Bahia Sol complex where The Chocolate Shop is.

[spitfire58]

Be careful Ducks. We did that last year as it was our first insurance on the property & I thought it would be easier for a starter to do it with our bank (CaixaBank). I had heard reports that the second year rises significantly !! That didn`t happen, the renewal this year was only about 10â,¬ more so not bad. Problem is that I looked around & came up with a quote from Liberty Seguros as recommended on here. Quote was almost 100â,¬ less, approx 160 against 240 but ran into problems getting CaixaBank to not automatically renew the policy. It appears it is a legal requirement that if you do not give one months notice to cancel they are obliged to renew. They only sent notification of the renewal one month before & by the time I did all the translations etc & was told I could only cancel by showing up in the branch personally to prove it was actually me that wanted to cancel !! They went ahead & automatically renewed. I was furious but not being back until early April was hamstrung. You can be damn sure they won`t get the opportunity again !!

[Geoff007]

If you have not already transferred your funds to the Fuerte Bank you could consider sending it direct to the Solicitors thus avoiding the high fees for bank drafts. You can then take advantage of the Brokers mentioned previously

[Windermeregolfer]

Hi Ducks - We are on La Estancia 3 bed 2 bathroom with pool and use Liberty as previously recommended and Yolanda is great, 383â,¬ premium last may

Made 2 claims in the first year one for flooded pool pump and then cash after a robbery last September settled no problem, Yolanda even organised the installation of the new pool pump.

Hope that helps

[Wild Rover]

Hi Ducks, would like to echo what Spitfire has posted. We are currently going through the same outrageous situation with Sabadell Bank. My wife has been trying to contact the bank 6 weeks prior to the renewal she emailed the branch and a bank employee and a email address provided by customer services. Tried to ring the branch on several occasions for info on how to cancel. We did not get 1 response. We are in Fuerteventura at the moment and noticed they were about to debit our account for the insurance so we went in to cancel the direct debit and were told it can`t be cancelled. But can be returned the next day. So we went back the next day to find this info was also wrong. We had been lied to just to get rid of us. We waited to speak to the employee who had given us the advice. Only to now be told we can apply for cancellation and the money would be back in our account in 3 days and someone from business would contact us shortly. About 5 hours later the phone rang once and was put down, my guess is so they can say they tried to contact us. We are still waiting. We have been to see Yolanda at Liberty and we are going back to see her again tomorrow ( Friday) and if nothing is sorted she will speak to Customer Services on our behalf. My advice is to go with Liberty it`s half the price. The Bank is trying to suck you into a situation that you can`t get out of. If they will go to these lengths to steal your money you can imagine what lengths they will go to avoid paying out on a claim.

[Johnrgby2]

I went with Linea Direct when I did my first one about 3 years ago and received a 50: discount, having said that my car was already insured with them, but may be worth a call.

I have already documented on here a call I received from my bank offering insurance, so I will not repeat it, suffice to say I am more than happy with Sabadell as a bank but would not go near them for insurance.

[spitfire58]

Hi Ducks, would like to echo what Spitfire has posted. We are currently going through the same outrageous situation with Sabadell Bank. My wife has been trying to contact the bank 6 weeks prior to the renewal she emailed the branch and a bank employee and a email address provided by customer services. Tried to ring the branch on several occasions for info on how to cancel. We did not get 1 response. We are in Fuerteventura at the moment and noticed they were about to debit our account for the insurance so we went in to cancel the direct debit and were told it can`t be cancelled. But can be returned the next day. So we went back the next day to find this info was also wrong. We had been lied to just to get rid of us. We waited to speak to the employee who had given us the advice. Only to now be told we can apply for cancellation and the money would be back in our account in 3 days and someone from business would contact us shortly. About 5 hours later the phone rang once and was put down, my guess is so they can say they tried to contact us. We are still waiting. We have been to see Yolanda at Liberty and we are going back to see her again tomorrow ( Friday) and if nothing is sorted she will speak to Customer Services on our behalf. My advice is to go with Liberty it`s half the price. The Bank is trying to suck you into a situation that you can`t get out of. If they will go to these lengths to steal your money you can imagine what lengths they will go to avoid paying out on a claim.

Hi WR,
I intend to go into our bank (CaixaBank) when we are over with a written letter denying them leave to renew & have them sign to acknowledge it & retain photocopy. They won`t get away with it again. By the way, we had the same thing with a one ring phone call !! Cheers . . Ron

[beachlife]

I had a problem with a spanish insurance company making a claim for a water leak. I have also heard of other people with similiar problems although I acknowledge that some people have had successful results.

However I felt that making a claim or fighting my case in Spain with the Spanish system would be difficult and a long process.

I researched British companies who do insurance for second homes in Spain. Some of them were charging the similar amount as the Spanish companies. Eventually I went with AA insurance which were 100 euros cheaper than the Spanish company (for the same cover). After the first year, I noticed the underwriter was Towergate for the AA and the 2nd year I went straight to Towergate and the cost was reduced compared to AA.

Now I appreciate that price is not everything and my greatest concern was what happens in a claim, but it appears that the UK companies would use the same adjusters etc as the local ones.

Besides the cost the greatest benefit of using a UK company that if there is a problem with a claim and I want to challenge it I can go to the small claims court if necessary or use the UK legal system such as the Financial Ombudsman Service.

[calculator]

The legal requirement for cancellation is 2 months notice. People should get client access via the insurance websites, etc. as this is the most effective method of contact. They can't deny it!

Also, direct debits with these companies can be very easily cancelled via online banking. They even give options of cancelling the current payment after been taken (usually 15 days to cancel)  but also any future payments from an entity can be stopped.

If you have paid via a debit/credit card and expect a payment to be taken, simply cancel the card and request a new one from the bank.

We live in a country of thieves and liars - be prepared!

Cheaper insurance usually means cheaper policies. They just remove various facets of cover to get the low price. So it's important to read policies side by side, from start to finish to do an accurate comparison.

[Ducks]

The "thanks" button has disappeared, but suffice to say you've all been very helpful!

Think I will give the bank a miss on this oneâ€" While I am at least aware now of the direct debit situation now thanks you you folks, I'd say you're probably better not to end up in a situation where you are owing money to the people who control your money. Unlike with a DD to any other company, they have a vested interest in getting you to keep the one to their insurance rolling over; considering we won't always be on the island when these things are due, it seems like too much of a risk for a small bit of price relief today.

Will pop into Liberty when we are out next week; they're right beside us, so we shouldn't have too much trouble. Have scouted around here at home for insurers offering to cover holiday properties overseas, but none seem to be doing it, so that might be our best bet.

[spitfire58]

As previously mentioned I am with Liberty.  Had a bad water leak last year. At first the representative from Liberty came and said it was not their responsibility!!  But Yolanda at Liberty sorted it out and I received full reimbursement of both the repair and the excess water used during the period of the leak.  I cannot recommend her highly enough.

On the question of notice period for any insurance be it car or home, I was told that the legal requirement is now just one month. So a different story

Just found this on Google
https://www.citizensadvice.org.es/faq/notice-period-to-cancel-insurance-per-1-1-2016/

I was also told by Carolina Romano at Liberty Seguros that it was one month 🙂🙂