What is going on with home insurance pricing in Ireland?

Readers have been mystified by the goings-on with their home insurance providers and the brokers who go in search of the same for consumers, with two people making contact about higher prices in recent days – although the two stories had different endings.

“Rip-Off Ireland is alive and thriving,” begins the mail from Tony. “Last year my home insurance through a broker was €497.34. This year’s quote from the same source has gone to a whopping €652.63.”

Tony says he has had “no claims of any kind over the last 25 years. No changes of any kind inside or outside the house This huge increase is an extra 30 per cent.

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“I simply fail to grasp what is going on. What is the Government doing about issues such as this? Not one thing but plenty of waffle.”

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He adds that he “tried a few other companies but they were even more expensive”.

Within hours we got another mail from a reader called Diarmuid telling a story that had a very different ending. “We recently received a renewal quote for our house insurance,” he says. The company offering the insurance was Zurich but the quote was “procured by a brokerage that we have used over the last number of years. The quote was circa €680 and included a €60 broker fee. We received the usual statement of suitability from the brokers and were informed that they had checked out ‘… our panel of providers …' and assured us that Zurich were the most suitable.

“I was a bit uncomfortable with the €60 broker fee, being mindful that the broker is already receiving substantial commission from Zurich for the policy itself. As such I contacted Zurich myself and obtained a quote from them for just over €400 – a saving of over €300 and almost a 50 per cent discount.”

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He says he was “somewhat amazed at the price change and also the behaviour of the broker. Perhaps there is something missing in our policy and that the policy proposed by the broker was far superior, but I do wonder, and particularly in circumstances where we used the rebuild calculator and ensured that all was covered. At this stage I am contemplating a complaint about the broker, but sure time will tell if I have the energy!”