Don’t let your heating system go off the boil
THE clocks go back at the weekend so now is a good time to check whether your old boiler and heating system can make it through the winter. Boilers can break down at the worst possible time, often over Christmas.
Less than a quarter of home insurance policies cover boiler breakdown and other winter emergencies as standard, leaving households out in the cold if something goes wrong.
More than half offer this as an optional add-on, otherwise you can buy a stand-alone “home emergency” insurance plan from British Gas, the AA, Surewise and others, or you may have one with a packaged bank account.
Brian Brown, head of insight at financial information service Defaqto, said you need to be clear what these policies offer: “Home emergency plans cover a range of issues, such as central heating failure, burst pipes, roof damage and electrical problems caused by extreme weather.”
They’re designed to make your home safe again or reinstate essential services but with a limit on the cost and number of claims you can make each year.
However, they typically do not cover the cost of replacing a broken boiler. Brown said: “Boilers are dear and if you don’t have the funds, consider a policy including boiler replacement.”
Look out for any exclusions, such as the age of the boiler and whether it needs to be regularly serviced or inspected. “Check any cover you have under the warranty,” he added.
Defaqto.com/homeinsurance lets you search to see what home emergency cover insurers offer.