Which central heating insurance cover do you recommend?
 

I'm looking to take out insurance on my boiler and central heating system (age 15 years). I don't currently live at the property, so have no real idea of the boilers condition (other than the fact that it works).

Anyone have any particular recommendations? I need cover for unlimited parts and labour callouts.

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:33:29 +0000, martinbsp
wrote:


I'm looking to take out insurance on my boiler and central heating
system (age 15 years).

Anyone have any particular recommendations? I need cover for unlimited
parts and labour callouts.

Nobody is going to cover that for less than you'll likely end up
paying. That is the deal with insurance, they know how much it is
likely to cost and that's how much you get charged. Either pay the
price yourself or just replace the stupid thing if it is so
unreliable.

That's probably the most illiterate answer I've ever come across in a bulletin board.

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 13:45:11 +0000, martinbsp
wrote:

Nobody is going to cover that for less than you'll likely end up
paying. That is the deal with insurance, they know how much it is
likely to cost and that's how much you get charged. Either pay the
price yourself or just replace the stupid thing if it is so
unreliable.


That's probably the most illiterate answer I've ever come across in a
bulletin board.

This isn't a bulletin board and you obviously don't understand how
insurance works.

Oh I do understand how insurance works.

What I was enquiring was whether anyone had a point of view on the cheapest/best value. "Replace the stupid thing if it's so unreliable" has, as a comment, no value. To go back to the original question, at present I have no idea as to how unreliable the boiler is as I don't currently live there.

The aim of insurance therefore is to provide cover for an initial period of one year whilst I get settled into the new house, without having to worry if things go wrong with the heating or hot water. Your suggestion to "just replace the stupid thing" shows that you've made no attempt to read a posting.

And as an afterthought this IS a bulletin board. Have a look in any dictionary, Google etc al and you will find something along the lines of the following:

"Computer Science. A system that enables users to send or read electronic messages, files, and other data that are of general interest and addressed to no particular person. "

Oh dear. You really are as thick as you sound.

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 13:47:55 +0000, martinbsp
wrote:

What I was enquiring was whether anyone had a point of view on the
cheapest/best value.

My opinion of these kinds of insurance policies on home appliances and
mechanics (based in the United States, the location of my experience)
is that they are almost universally a ripoff and useless. If your
equipment is older, the coverage won't pay for replacement, and the
deductible isn't usually much less than the actual repair cost. The
policy I got with my house was a total waste of money (I paid
indirectly in the purchase price of the house, sadly) because almost
everything in the house was old, and the deductible was $95, so you
can do the math. Instead of waiting for the worst-case scenario to
happen in the misguided hope of using my policy (I'm sorry, but I
don't want to have a 1963 Williamson gas furnace refuse to work in 10F
temps and dropping, such as we're experiencing now, and then have to
**** around with the restricted list of contractors whose actual
competence is questionable, and go through some extended period of
time to have an estimate, an approval, then the work done, you get the
idea), I just trashed the entire system and put in a new York
high-efficiency furnace/AC combo in on my own dime, with no regrets
whatsoever. So, my advice is, don't buy such a policy and instead
plow the premium into a separate savings account and then continue to
contribute to that account in preparation for emergencies.