Boiler insurance - advice wanted

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

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I'm thinking that it's probably a good idea to get boiler insurance, maybe one that includes an annual service.

Unsurprisingly, there are umpteen companies offering it and every one confidently proclaims their service cover is the best.

Does anyone here have any recommendations? Maybe personal experience?
 
A service with a Gas Safety Certificate is £80, they will probably want to inspect the boiler first and then recommend some repairs in first instance.

Do the maths, what boiler? how old? how much do they charge?
 
British Gas Home Care.. I wouldn't have a gas boiler without one. We've called an engineer at least once a year since we had it (8 years).

In December, our system completely broke down.. After 2 or 3 visits, they practically provided all new parts.. In the past, it's practically paid for itself.. and the Annual inspection/Service is good piece of mind too.
 
npower do one where you get 50% back if you never call them out. no one will insure our 6 year old boiler though because you cant get parts for them now...
 
Pug said:
npower do one where you get 50% back if you never call them out. no one will insure our 6 year old boiler though because you cant get parts for them now...
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if it is a main brand boiler then parts should be made for 10 years after the boiler is withdrawn.
 
Pug said:
npower do one where you get 50% back if you never call them out. no one will insure our 6 year old boiler though because you cant get parts for them now...
Click to expand...

npower kept me on hold and shuffling between departments for 25 minutes before telling me they wouldn't provide the service because I couldn't guarantee parking would be available right outside my house. So I cancelled...and they took the £15 first month's payment anyway.

I'm not that impressed with them.

I'm buying a visitor's parking permit (didn't realise I needed one - it hasn't been an issue in the last 13 years I've been here) but I think I'll give npower a miss after that annoying incident.
 
Pug said:
npower do one where you get 50% back if you never call them out. no one will insure our 6 year old boiler though because you cant get parts for them now...
Click to expand...

what boiler do you have?
Parts are available for boilers upto 40 years old,

The insurance is not worth it at all,
The only way its worth it is if you have a boiler called an Ideal ISAR OR ICOS because these boilers are renouned for a P.C.B fault and the are like £200 for the part,

By the way im a Area Sales Manager for a company called Parts Center also i am a qualified gas safe engineer,
 
I have British Gas homecare (but wont if they call me up and try and sell me crap again, last chance you annoying sods) because my boiler is older than me and breaks down quite a bit. Called them out about 6 times in 4 years and have only good things to say about them really. One repair was valued at over a grand which made me feel quite good. It is a gamble though, I only have it because I have a few long standing faults with my system thanks to the previous house owners love of "different" DIY.
 
I'm always intregued by the "insurance is just not worth it" statements.
It's all about calculated risk and is only a "waste of money" if you don't need to call on the insurance.

If a policy costs £10 per month and you get £120+ of labour/parts for your boiler in a year then you've broken even.
Any more and you are actually in profit.
With a policy in place you've also usually got a 24hr phone number - no need to search for people etc.

Boiler insurance is no more "not worth it" surely than say house insurance, contents insurance etc.
A "waste of time" only if you don't need to call on it.
 
Myshra said:
I have British Gas homecare (but wont if they call me up and try and sell me crap again, last chance you annoying sods)
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I think you'll find that you can opt out of marketing calls and they have to oblige.

Anywho, British Gas Home Care seems like a good one, most people I know haven't had any problems with them and the last property I lived at was covered by it and never had any issues when getting a problem sorted.
 
Another nod for British Gas Homecare. Practically renewed my boiler last year and where very quick to come out and fix it. Not nice to have no heating in the middle of a Scottish winter.
 
I'm with British Gas Home care and been very happy with the service - the once yearly service is nice for peace of mind and I've called them out about 4 times in the last 5 years, the last being a couple of weeks ago where they ended up replacing the air sensor, ignition switch and the pcb. My friend who is a Gas fitter and plumber said this work would have been the thick end of £400.

As we've got young children and a baby they come out nice and quick as well. Called them up Wednesday morning, they were here by 8pm that night. They've even done Saturday calls where we've requested it.
 
Looks like British Gas for me, then. I've used their flat fee repair service a couple of times before - something like £160 and they'll fix whatever it is, one price - and they've proven reliable.
 
Myshra said:
I have British Gas homecare (but wont if they call me up and try and sell me crap again, last chance you annoying sods) because my boiler is older than me and breaks down quite a bit. Called them out about 6 times in 4 years and have only good things to say about them really. One repair was valued at over a grand which made me feel quite good. It is a gamble though, I only have it because I have a few long standing faults with my system thanks to the previous house owners love of "different" DIY.
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Not much of a gamble. Homecare 100 with no excess and an annual service is £156 a year. ~£80 for the actual insurance, given the price of a service. Obviously they make a profit from the scheme, but it's not a big gamble. Besides, not having it is also a gamble - you save £80 a year but at any time you could get a bill for hundreds.
 
Angilion said:
npower kept me on hold and shuffling between departments for 25 minutes before telling me they wouldn't provide the service because I couldn't guarantee parking would be available right outside my house. So I cancelled...and they took the £15 first month's payment anyway.

I'm not that impressed with them.

I'm buying a visitor's parking permit (didn't realise I needed one - it hasn't been an issue in the last 13 years I've been here) but I think I'll give npower a miss after that annoying incident.
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Funny you say that actually, I have the npower one (works out much cheaper than British gas as I'm with npower) and the guy who came round for the service was worried about the parking (permit only zone) and said they should have said about it, although they never mentioned it on the phone. Seems a bit of a silly thing to get worked up over though.
 
Angilion said:
Not much of a gamble. Homecare 100 with no excess and an annual service is £156 a year. ~£80 for the actual insurance, given the price of a service. Obviously they make a profit from the scheme, but it's not a big gamble. Besides, not having it is also a gamble - you save £80 a year but at any time you could get a bill for hundreds.
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As said, like all insurances you will wish you had it when it breaks and needs hundreds spending on it. On the other hand, its money wasted if it never breaks down.

Most modern boilers come with 5 years warranty so your bits are covered. Apart from an annual service my last boiler went 8 years without needing anything so at £80 per year it was £640 saved and banked before I needed to spend anything.

My personal opinion is don't bother for the first 5 years as very unlikey to go wrong and if it did, cheap to repair as parts covered. Might be worthwhile to cover once over 5 years old though.

In the end with our boiler it kept breaking down after that 8th year and after spending £400 on it by year 10 we bought a new one which was much more efficient and would save us £200 a year on our heating bills and came with another 5 year warranty. Yes, I wish I had covered it by insurance in years 8 to 10 but I was still up compared to paying for 10 years.
 
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