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Insurance

Most of us are familiar with insurance in the UK and generally understand how it works. However, it could be prove priceless to actually do some research before diving in and purchasing a policy.

Terms and Conditions may be extremely dull to read but are essential to any policy and just because you find what appears to be the cheapest insurance, this may not actually be the best insurance for you.

Know and Research Which Insurance Cover You Want

Know what you are looking for and always be aware of your timescales, for example with Life Insurance, try to take it out before a birthday as this will always be cheaper than after a birthday. With this in mind always try and leave a little extra time for the underwriting process to be completed as this can take anything from 24 hours to in excess of a month, dependant on the company and requirements. The premium for your policy will be calculated from the time of acceptance or commencement and so if after your application has been submitted, but before commencement, you pass a Quarter, Half or Full birthday then your premium can be recalculated making it higher than that of your original quotation even if you are accepted at Standard Terms.

Where as with Health Insurance your premium will not be fixed throughout the term and although again if after acceptance but before commencement your premium may be recalculated, it also will be each year asas you pass a birthday or renewal date.

With regards to other types of insurance your birthday would not usually be a negative factor and certainly where Car Insurance and Home Insurance are involved you are influenced by their renewal date and not having insurance in place could have some disastrous results. For example I am aware of a situation which occurred where a family's home insurance ran out at midnight, they had forgotten to renew it (which is always a possibility when we all lead such busy life styles) and in the early hours of the morning there was an electrical fire in the attic. Luckily their home is an old corn mill and so the floor boards are exceptionally thick as they were woken to the noise of what they thought was an intruder. In fact it was the roof collapsing.
The good part of this story is of course that the family survived, the bad part is that they had to pay out of their own pockets in excess of £10,000 to have the roof repaired and had to stay living in the property with the upstairs rooms out of bounds.

Insurance Renewals

Most insurance companies will send you a reminder when your insurance policy is due to lapse and if they don't hear from you they automatically renew your policy. However, do not take this for granted as it isn't always the case and if you do not keep a check on your renewal dates and make sure your policy is in force then you could be left uninsured.

Insurance Disclosures

Insurance, generally is there to provide protection for you, your family, your pets and your property and so it is your responsibility to ensure that cover is valid and in place. Do not risk your claim being rejected due to non disclosure on your application either, if in doubt as to what is relevant give too much information and let the underwriters decide if the information affects your policy.

I am sure you will agree that it is worth paying a little more on your premiums due to a previous claim, conviction or medical condition. Than finding out when you need to make a claim that it has been rejected because of your failure to make a disclosure in a bid the make your premiums lower. This may also result in your policy being made void and all your previous payments will have been a waste of money.

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