Direct Line home contents insurance deal 'may not be good value'
Home contents insurance providers offering discounts on their products may give consumers less value for money, new research has shown
The Independent conducted research into the market at the moment, which has seen Direct Line and Aviva launch discounts on their home content insurance products for up to one-third off.
A mystery shop found that a single male living in a £134,000 house with £30,000 of belongings would pay £149.10 a year for Direct Line insurance and £134 annually if he went for Aviva.
However, the same person using Sheilas' Wheels or esure would be paying £116.82 or £116.40 respectively, according to the study.
Mark Monteiro, insurance expert at financial advice website uSwitch.com, commented on the findings, saying: "It's always difficult to tell if consumers really are getting money off the premium or if the premium is priced above the market average in the first place."
The newspaper added that it may be more beneficial to penny-pinching consumers to get home contents insurance separate from buildings cover, particularly for those who have never claimed on the latter.
Recent research by Sainsbury's Finance found that the number of home contents insurance claims the firm received has decreased in the past year.
In the first six months of this year, the firm saw 373,000 people needing to invoke their home contents insurance because of an accident or theft, while this figure stood at 527,000 in the same period in 2008.
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