It is that time of year again, Christmas Day is over, the seasonal hangover might be still with you and you are taking a short holiday to get away from the post Christmas sales.
Have you remembered to take out your travel insurance? This is an essential for anyone off their travels even if it is a self catering break and not part of a package.
If you are taking more than one holiday a year why not buy an annual policy as they are normally much better value. The jml-insurance.co.uk insurance advertising web site has a great choice of insurance companies advertising their travel products.
It is not a comparsison site and you make all the arrangements yourself direct with the individual insurance company. Find out more by visiting the site here
Of course many will be off skiing now, so again make sure you buy your winter sports insurance in advance. As with other travel insurance products there is a great choice of insurance companies advertising.
Find out further details by visiting the Skiing and Winter Sports product page here
The jml Insurance site does not only advertise Travel Insurance products, but Motor Insurance, Property Insurance, Pet and Wedding Insurance, Boat Insurance, Student Insurance, Business and Commercial Insurance, Health and Life Insurance and other specialist products.
Just had some sensible seasonal advise from Thames Water.
Although we are not experiencing freezing conditions like many of us were last week, the weather could easily still change after Christmas from the heavy rain.
Thames Water suggest the following tips: - These are simple ways to keep your home snug and your pipes from freezing this winter, which could save you a lot of hassle, damage and expense:
1 Wrap up your pipes: When water freezes it expands which can cause pipes to crack. Make sure you protect any pipes that are exposed to the cold – including in the loft and garage, and taps on external walls, by wrapping them in foam lagging.
Watch the Thames Water short film on how to do this here
2 Plan ahead: Make sure you know where your inside stop tap is in case you need to turn it off quickly in an emergency (usually located under the kitchen sink) and that you have the details of a good plumber to hand.
3 Keep your home snug: Minimise draughts from outside and, when it’s very cold, leave your loft hatch open so warm air can circulate. Also leave your heating on low when you are away.
What to do if your pipes freeze.....
1 Gently warm up your pipes: Turn off your inside stop tap and check all visible pipes for any evidence of
damage. If you can identify which pipe is frozen you can gently warm it up using a hairdryer at its lowest
setting or a hot water bottle wrapped in a tea towel. Be very careful not to warm them too quickly as they may burst.
Watch the Thames Water short film on how to defrost your pipes here
2 Call a plumber if you need help or your pipe bursts:
Once your pipes have thawed, double check to make sure there are no leaks before turning the stop tap back on and turning on heating appliances. If you find a leak, call a certified plumber.
With all the heavy rain and flooding, there could of course be sewer flooding. The Thames Water website contains a olot of useful information including the page - "Sewer flooding"
They end up with some useful insurance information as well saying "It is important that you contact your household insurance provider straightaway and tell them about any damage caused by the flooding. If you do not do this, it may affect any insurance claims you need to make."
You should do the same if you have any burst pipes and let the insurance company's helpline know straightaway. Very useful advice from Thames Water
Whether it is your home property or you are a landlord of a let property do make sure you have adequate property insurance. If you are renting a property remember that in the UK, your landlord's insurance will not normally cover your personal possessions.
Visit the jml-Property-Insurance site today to get insurance cover for normal residences second homes, holiday homes, let property, overseas property (main residence and holiday homes) properties in flood areas and one that have experienced subsidence. Go to the site here and be prepared by taking out insurance from one of the advertisers on that site.
In order to comply with an EU ruling, from 21st December 2012 insurers will no longer be able to price insurance and annuities on the basis of gender. Females have traditionally been considered a lower risk to insurance companies and have therefore generally paid less for their insurance, but the EU Gender Directive has ensured that this can no longer happen.
Following the March 2011 European Court of Justice ruling that such practices were unfair, insurance premiums must now be calculated on a 'gender neutral' basis.
The new ruling will only affect policies taken out on or after the 21st December 2012 or renewals after that date.
The AA has warned that young women will see the biggest increases in the cost of their premiums, with some rising by up to 30 per cent. Young male drivers, who are statistically much more likely to be killed or injured in a car accident, could make savings of up to 10 per cent on the cost of their policies.
But the AA also stressed that not everybody would see such marked changes in their premiums and that, while it feels the new directive is unfair, it has "led insurers to re-assess how they take other aspects of risk into account - such as age, occupation and post-code, as well as the model of car driven".
Director of AA Insurance, Simon Douglas, said: "Not only is this [re-assessment of aspects of risk] happening at a time of falling car insurance premiums, which means that the differences will be less pronounced than they might otherwise have been, it also anticipates legal changes, including measures to control whiplash injury claims, that will take place in April which in turn will reduce insurer costs."
The Association of British Insurers advised consumers to shop around for the best possible price. It said: "Insurance is all about matching price to risk. We have opposed the gender ruling on behalf of our customers, as it goes against this principle. Although insurers can now no longer take gender into account, they will continue to look at other relevant risk factors to ensure consumers benefit from the most competitively priced insurance. The insurance market will remain competitive and customers should continue to shop around to get the right policy at the best price."
More about this here http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/gender_directive.pdf
Source OMG & Cannon Moorcroft
Got an email from Staysure the specialist insurance company for the over 50s.
It said "To celebrate Christmas and the New Year we will be giving away a FREE £10 John Lewis voucher on every travel, home and holiday home insurance policy. To ensure you qualify for this offer simply spend over £100 before 31st January 2013. subject to their Terms and Conditions" (which are listed below from the email and as per condition 8 below the company reserves the right to amend their conditions below):
1. To qualify for a £10 gift voucher customers must purchase any travel insurance, home insurance or holiday home insurance with a premium of at least £100. Car Insurance is not included in this offer.
2. Customer must quote ‘JL12’ at the time of purchase.
3. Vouchers will be posted in the week commencing 18th February 2013.
4. All purchases must be made between 20th December 2012 and 31st January 2013.
5. Purchase can be made online or over the telephone. 1 entry per household, per Staysure insurance policy.
6. To enter this competition you must be (a) A UK resident (b) 18 years old at the time of entry.
7. No cash alternative will be given and the gift is not transferrable to another person.
8. Staysure.co.uk Limited reserves the right to amend these rules at any time. Staysure may also create rules which will apply to a specific competition only. If we do this we will publish the amended competition rules and/or specific competition rules on the relevant competition page.
All sounds like an excellent idea at this time of year.
Staysure Insurance offers a great selection of travel, property and holiday products.
You can find out more about Staysure Holidays Here
You can find out more about Staysure Travel Insurance Here
You can find out more about Staysure Holiday Home Insurance Here
You can find out more about Staysure Health Insurance Here
You can find out more about Staysure Motor Insurance Here
Cars are being stolen from outside people's houses and for a lot of them the easy way is to break into the owner's house and find the car keys.
A Police inspector from Thames Valley Police has made the following useful suggestions to car and property owners:
1. Double lock your front door with a key.
2. Never leave your keys;
- in locks
- on a window ledge
- on the kitchen table
- on a hook behind the door
3. Keep your keys safe and away from the front door, but easily accessible in case of a fire, and make sure your keys are always in the same place at night-time.”
Rentguard Insurance, attended Broker Expo, an event where over 100 exhibitors and sponsors source new business and build trading relationships.
They say in their press release of the 4th December 2012 that "Our stand was more popular than ever as insurance brokers chatted to our team and enquired about becoming a partner.
We would like to thank to everyone for visiting our stand and for entering our prize draw.
We are delighted to announce the lucky winners and pass our congratulations to Chris eeson from Heritage Insurance Brokers Ltd for winning 16GB Apple Ipad 2 and to Chris Swain from Jobson James Insurance Brokers Ltd for winning 8GB Ipod Touch.
Thank you once again for your participation at the Expo, we enjoyed seeing all of you at our stand!"
Rentguard Insurance is a subsidiary of RGA Underwriting Ltd.
One the place they advertise their products at is on the jml-property-insurance website: http://www.jml-property-insurance.co.uk/Rentguard_Insurance_Products.htm
Insurance products include:
Insurance for Landlords
Commercial Property Insurance
Legal Expenses with/without Rent Guarantee Insurance
Insurance for Owners (Private Residences)
Insurance for Tenants
Holiday Home Insurance
Rentguard Insurance – Home Insurance
Rentguard Insurance – Portfolio and Blocks of Flats Insurance Insurance
HomeLet one of the major Landlord and Tenant insurance companies that is now in it's 20th year of being in the lettings industry has just donated Five thousand pounds to The Nomad Trust.
The Nomad Trust is a homeless charity based in Lincoln, HomeLet's home city.
There have been a number of HomeLet employee events in 2012 including Halloween, when more than £450 was generated through a raffle, cake sale and fancy dress competition.
The money raised this years will now go towards more improvements to the charity's "moving on" house, This is where service users live until they are able to move on with their lives. Money rasised from HomeLet Insurance has already paid for a minibus (pictured above) and a new kitchen.
The Managing Director of HomeLet is Ian Fraser. He commented " HomeLet is committed to helping the local community and all members of staff are encouraged to take part in our fundraising activities so we're able to give something back as a company". Well done HomeLet Insurance staff.
HomeLet are currently moving into their new headquarters "Hestia House" in Lincoln. The company has invested in a bespoke-built property after being located at Becor House for over fifteen years.
If you are a Landlord or Tenant searching for insurance for the property you are letting out or the one you are renting follow this link http://www.homeletuk.com/cgi-bin/alpha.cgi?agentschemeno=1501435 for details about HomeLet's product range
