The quickest way to get home insurance

The Post Office's estimate of two minutes to quote might be a little optimistic, but we think you can get it down to ten or 20 minutes when sorting out your home insurance.

The Post Office now claims that it can offer a home insurance quote in just two minutes. The inference I take from that is that you could – and should – rush through and buy your home insurance.

Having worked as an insurance consultant, I can say that it would be reckless for anyone to apply and buy in a hurry. I don't want to exaggerate. Professionals always want to say how everything is just so complicated. If they say it's easy, you're not going to pay for their services.

However, home insurance – that's building and/or contents insurance – is indeed one of the most complicated insurance policies that individuals regularly buy. Just have a look at the length of the small print and the large amount of exclusions and limitations, and you'll see it's not a walk in the park.

Therefore, you have to take a bit of time to consider the facts that are important to you.

There's a lot at stake

Consider the story of the Cades family, whose case was covered in the national press recently. They had £27,000 of valuables stolen, but their claim was rejected and their insurance cancelled – despite having a £50,000 contents limit. The small print said that the valuables in the home had to be worth less than one-third of the total contents limit, which is £16,700.

Consider locks on doors. You might look at your locks and consider them to be substantial, but are they really the five-lever mortise locks with internal bolts that insurers often want? There was the case of “Mr M” who, after complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service, narrowly escaped losing his burglary claim for not having the bolts on his doors that he said he had in his application. He had some special circumstances to help him win his complaint; you might not be so lucky.

Consider the case of Mr and Mrs J's prized bathroom tiling. 14 of the tiles were damaged, but the insurer would not re-tile the whole room to ensure it matched. Most insurers won't replace items just because they form part of a set or suite, so, if you want such cover, you need to look at the relevant part of the small print to see if it's included.

Take your time

Home insurers require a lot of detail from you. If you try to rush all that detail in two minutes as the Post Office seems to suggest, or if the insurer cuts corners by making assumptions, you could suffer the consequences.

The small print will undoubtedly say that you're responsible for the accuracy of the information. You might later be able to argue that the insurer hurried you through it, but that could be difficult to prove.

It's easy, for example, to tick the box stating that there's no sign of subsidence. However, if you have a crack that is a few millimetres wide, as opposed to a hairline crack, coming down your wall, this is a potential sign. You need to take the time to think about, and even research, such things. Subsidence claims can be very expensive. In some rare circumstances, you might even find that claims unrelated to the subsidence will be rejected if the insurer shows your application was inaccurate.

How to get home insurance more quickly

The best way to speed up your home insurance quote is to take a little time to ensure you fully understand the questions you're being asked the first time you apply, and to take notes for next time. In particular, take notes that are relevant to your situation.

You should also read through and understand the small print, search online for help or ask a question on Lovemoney's Q&As if you get stuck.

Your application will take longer first time around. But when you shop around every year in future, the notes you've made will save you a lot of time.

If you already have a buildings or contents insurance policy, I suggest you read it through now and get in touch with your insurer if you realise you've made a mistake. Don't wait until renewal or until you need to make a claim.

By taking notes on the application questions and on the parts of the small print that most concern you, you could well cut the comparison and application time in future down to ten to 20 minutes.

Remember to note down what new things you might have to think about in your own circumstances as time goes by. Have you bought any new valuables worth over £1,000? Has the total value of your contents risen? Has that hairline crack in the wall turned into something more troubling?

Should you use a broker?

It's not ideal being reliant on professionals, but if you can't bring yourself to read the small print through, you might be better off using a broker.

There can be other advantages. Consider if you were just buying buildings insurance and wanted cover for your carpets under the “fixtures and fittings” heading. Carpets are always, or almost always, covered under a contents insurance policy and not a buildings policy, because they're not considered to be fixtures.

Mr F discovered this to his chagrin when he claimed for fire damage under his buildings policy. However, he might not have realised this at the time even if he'd read the buildings insurance small print, which doesn't always specify this.

Using a broker won't relieve you of all responsibility however. As the financial ombudsman wrote about one case: “Even though it was the broker, not Mrs A, who had completed the [application] form, Mrs A should have checked the answers carefully before she signed it.”

How long does it take you to sort out your home insurance? Do you have any tips on how you've sped up your applications in the past? Let us know in the comment box below.

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More on home insurance:

Where to get home insurance for high flood-risk homes

The most common home insurance claims

When you can claim for flood damage

Why your home insurance claim will be rejected

Home insurance: the features you can't do without