25 May 2018
Posted by Barry Aldworth 
When it comes to purchasing home insurance, Irish homeowners care more about the overall level of their cover than securing the cheapest price, according to recent research from AA Home Insurance.
In response to an AA survey of over 4,000 homeowners, 48.84% of respondents strongly agreed that securing the best cover was the most important factor when choosing home insurance. Meanwhile, a further 40.88% partially agreed with this statement.
Meanwhile, the survey also found that just 17.76% of those surveyed strongly agreed that finding the cheapest price was the most important factor when choosing their home insurance provider, with a further 35.11% partially agreeing with this.
“Ultimately, for most of us, our home is the most important and expensive purchase that we will make during our lifetime, especially when you consider the value of the contents you may have in your home, meaning having an adequate level of insurance in place is vital. As with any insurance purchase it’s important that you weigh up the level of cover versus the cost to ensure that your individual needs are met,” Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. “It’s important that you do shop around when purchasing or renewing your home insurance to get the best deal but don’t forget to compare what each individual policy covers as well as the up-front cost.”
However, the AA’s research found that younger homeowners were slightly more likely than their older counterpoints to see the cost of cover as a major factor in their decision.
19.75% of homeowners under the age of 45 strongly agreed that finding the cheapest cover was most important to them when purchasing home insurance, with a further 38.65% partially agreeing that price was the key factor in their decision. Meanwhile, for homeowners over the age of 45, just 16.90% identified the cost of cover as the most important factor in choosing their home insurance provider, with a further 33.93% of this group partially agreeing that price had been a key factor in their decision.
“In some ways it’s unsurprising that younger homeowners are slightly more concerned about the cost of their home insurance as they are likely still in the early stages of paying back their mortgage and are looking to make savings where they can,” Faughnan added. “However, it’s very important that you do the necessary research on what is covered by your policy and don’t immediately opt for the cheapest price without question. The last thing you want is to save a relatively modest sum when purchasing your cover but then find yourself facing a much larger bill down the line when you realise your policy doesn’t cover you in certain circumstances where another provider would have covered you.”
