Over A Third Have Difficulty Finding Affordable Home Cover

Over 1 in 3 Irish homeowners have experienced difficulty in finding home insurance at an affordable price, according to recent analysis by AA Ireland.

9.82% of the near 7,000 respondents to an AA Home Insurance survey fully agreed with the statement “I have had difficulty obtaining house insurance for a fair price.” Meanwhile, a further 22.39% partially agreed with the prompt, with just 7.91% admitting that finding affordable cover had never been an issue.

According to a recent report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) the cost of home insurance has increased by 5.9% in the last 12 months. However, in some good news for homeowners, there was no increase in premiums in December 2016, the second successive month where prices remained neutral.

“While it may not be new advice, the fact that over a third of us have experienced difficulty in finding affordable home cover further highlights the importance of shopping around when first taking out a policy or when your renewal is due,” AA Director of Consumer Affairs, Conor Faughnan highlighted. “Particularly in the case of a renewal it can be easy to assume that your current provider is the one that will give you the best deal. However, even if the renewal quote appears generous it’s worth contacting the provider directly to see if they can bring this cost down any further instead of just accepting the first quote you’re offered.

Despite an increase in flooding incidents in recent years, just over 4.5% of those surveyed admitted they had experienced problems in obtaining home insurance due to the risk of flooding in their area. However, homeowners in Cork and Clare were significantly more likely to have experienced issues securing home cover because of flood risks.

Almost 1 in 10 Clare homeowners (9.01%) fully or partially agreed with the statement “I have had difficulty obtaining home insurance because of flooding risk,” with 7.42% of Cork homeowners experiencing the same issue.

“While we avoided any flooding disasters during the past few months, it appears that some homeowners are still having difficulty accessing insurance due to past incidents,” Faughnan added. “Just because we didn’t experience any severe weather incidents this winter, we can’t ignore the fact that they can and will happen again in the future. If we are to avoid leaving more people in the lurch when it comes to protecting their properties then proper investment into flood defences is needed in addition to finding ways to help those experience difficulties in obtaining cover for their homes.”

A 2016 report from AA Ireland found that Cork homeowners were twice as likely to be denied home cover due to past incidents of flooding or perceived risk in their area when compared to the national average.

Fig 1: In relation to your home insurance, please state the extent to which you agree or do not agree with each of the following statements:

Based on 6,798 responses to an AA Home Insurance survey carried out in January 2017

Fig 2 Regional Breakdown of flood risk: In relation to your home insurance, please state the extent to which you agree or do not agree with each of the following statements:

Based on 6,798 responses to an AA Home Insurance survey carried out in January 2017

Based on responses to the prompt: I have had difficulty obtaining home insurance because of flooding risk