Boiler Cover Recommendations

Mr Bump

Mr Bump

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I'm currently with Homeserve for my basic cover which I paid £155 last year and this year I have a renewal for £199.
Now I have no intention of paying it and can imagine the haggling conversations which will get it down to similar to last years price.

I have a 5 year old Vailant EcoTek Pro 28 which was serviced this year so I think its a pretty reliable unit.

Any recommendations? I don't want to go without a contract as its likely I will be working away all winter with just the wife at home.

I also notice some deals include a yearly service as standard which homeserve don't?
 
I'm with British Gas and they include the annual service, depending upon the excess you have the costs are c£13-18 a month and the guys that come round are great, do a very thorough job.

I was impressed enough to take out plumbing and electrical cover with them :)
 
The two so far that do come out well are british gas and npower
 
We have BG, same boiler and age too I thinks.

Had to use them to fix a leak from inside and they were really good.

But watch them..... As they take your money each month, but will they contact you to tell you your service is due?? Not until about 15 months have passed, and then tell you there's no slots available for another 2 months. :mad:
 
Open a savings account. Stick £150 a year in it. When there's a problem, start ringing plumbers begining with the one who has the most vans in your town.

BTW servicing a boiler costs about £75 and is IMO money well spent. Ones that are serviced regularly by a reliable plumber don't tend to break down all of a sudden - and if they do, the plumber you've been paying £75 a year to will be delighted to help.
 
My local Vailant dealer is a nice chap, he is into motorbikes like us so he installed it 5 years ago and services it.
We just had it down about 3 months ago and all was fine.

rang up Homeserve and had a chat and they matched last years cover for £155 so said yes to them.

@JonathanRyan I don't do the put money in an account thing as boilers usually have a problem in super cold weather when everyone else does and that means all the plumbers are busy, when you have a service contract it means you get someone guaranteed within a reasonable timeframe.
 
Fair enough. In that case I'd go with a scheme from the biggest local plumber I could find.

Though my plumber reckons it isn't the cold that makes them break - it's the first start up. So you can do yourself a favour by running it for a couple of days in (say) September. If all is well then leave it alone. If not, call a plumber while they are quiet ;)
 
Had ours serviced every year for £75 for the last 18 years. Only one repair needed which cost approx £90. So I have never bothered with insurance.
 
We generally flit between Homeserve and British Gas - go on Quidco or similar, see who has the biggest cashback/lowest introductory offer for the level of cover you want, job done. Last year we managed to pay British Gas £8-something a month with £60 cashback and an annual service included via this method for their mid-tier coverage.

An annual service / safety check is at least £50-£60 from the local guys from past experience, so the breakdown cover is just an added bonus!
 
strumstrum said:
18 yo boiler wouldn't be eligible iirc, don't even think you are covered on your home insurance.
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That wasn't my point. And home insurance doesn't cover boilers anyway. I was just pointing out that in my view insurance probably isn't worth paying for if you have the boiler serviced regularly. I would only consider insurance if it was under £100pa and included an annual service.
 
Craig1912 said:
That wasn't my point. And home insurance doesn't cover boilers anyway. I was just pointing out that in my view insurance probably isn't worth paying for if you have the boiler serviced regularly. I would only consider insurance if it was under £100pa and included an annual service.
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People take out boiler cover to provide peace of mind against potentially expensive repairs, and you've been lucky that you have only needed 1 repair. I know lots of folks that would be forking out for repairs if they didn't have cover.
 
I've been with British Gas Homecare for many years. Not just for the boiler support, and yes they do sent reminders and no in my experience it is a couple of weeks to get a timed appointment.

I've used them quite a bit. Heck I've had a whole new boiler from Worchester Bosch out of them. And then last Winter on a Sunday evening I couldn't get the thing started again. Logged on to their website and got an engineer knocking on the door at 8am. Changing the print board.

Likewise with the kitchen appliances, very good value for money. Heck the element alone last winter was £609 in parts and took three visits.

Or that leak in the bathroom when they had to open the floor.

Nope nothing but good experiences, fast response and very different results to the local plumbers who charge a £70 call out charge and the never have that size washer in their grotty old van.
 
overbez said:
We have BG, same boiler and age too I thinks.

Had to use them to fix a leak from inside and they were really good.

But watch them..... As they take your money each month, but will they contact you to tell you your service is due?? Not until about 15 months have passed, and then tell you there's no slots available for another 2 months. :mad:
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You can book your own appt online if you want these days.
 
strumstrum said:
most home insurances policies as standard have emergency boiler repair cover, just a small cover £600-£1000 for callout and parts.. this is worthless if your boiler is over 10-15yrs
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Most home insurance policies don't offer this as standard although most will allow it as an optional extra. If you are going to pay extra you would probably be better off with a separate policy.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
People take out boiler cover to provide peace of mind against potentially expensive repairs, and you've been lucky that you have only needed 1 repair. I know lots of folks that would be forking out for repairs if they didn't have cover.
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Yes I realise that it is for peace of mind. I know lots of folks that fork out for insurance and never use it- if there weren't these people who never claim the insurance would cost a lot more.
I haven't really been that lucky - with older boilers there is far less to go wrong and when it does they are cheaper to repair (according to the chap who services my boiler).
I ask him each year wether it's worth replacing it and he always says why would you, for a slightly better efficiency and a more complicated boiler that is more likely to go wrong.
 
We replaced our 19 yo Worcester Bosch a couple of months ago, it was still working but A) no one would cover it, B) hard to get parts should anything go wrong and C) it was 65% efficient.. We now have a new Vaillant 98% efficient and full boiler cover.
 
Lots of info here thanks and some of it usefull. I am happy now paying my £13 a month for complete piece of mind.
 
JonathanRyan said:
If that includes a service it looks worth it for peace of mind.
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No it doesn't include a service, but no one does it at that price with an included service.
The nearest I could get with a service was £228 a year with BG.

A Free service does not give me piece of mind which is what you seem to perceive as value.
Piece of mind is when I am sat in Glasgow and my wife in Huddersfield rings me up and says there is a problem with the boiler and I say. no worries just call the number on the side of the boiler and a professional trusted organization will swing into action.
 
Mr Bump said:
No it doesn't include a service, but no one does it at that price with an included service.
The nearest I could get with a service was £228 a year with BG.

A Free service does not give me piece of mind which is what you seem to perceive as value.
Piece of mind is when I am sat in Glasgow and my wife in Huddersfield rings me up and says there is a problem with the boiler and I say. no worries just call the number on the side of the boiler and a professional trusted organization will swing into action.
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Yeah, the service is more about not killing people and making sure the boiler carries on working efficiently. It's also a requirement of the new 7 year warranties.

Local firm here charges £16/month for annual service and 24 hour callout with labour but not parts. Instead I just pay for an annual service at £75 and gamble I won't need a callout. If I do then the number's on the boiler, it just means I'd have to pay for it.
 
@JonathanRyan Yes and I am sure on Christmas day that gamble will pay off as your local plumber will be rushing away from his Turkey for your £75 quid call out fee.

and as to the service statement did you read my original post?

"I have a 5 year old Vailant EcoTek Pro 28 which was serviced this year so I think its a pretty reliable unit."
 
Mr Bump said:

and as to the service statement did you read my original post?

"I have a 5 year old Vailant EcoTek Pro 28 which was serviced this year so I think its a pretty reliable unit."
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I did. Combis are notorious for failing after a few years - especially the newer ones. The brand new one I fitted 8 years ago failed after 6 years.

But really, choose whatever is right for you. Which says that it only makes about 50 quid a year difference anyway. You can compare deals here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/boiler-insurance though see point 5.

Actually, if you've been with Homeserve for a while you may be able to get your money back.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/18/homeserve-home-emergency-insurance-misselling[/user]
 
@JonathanRyan Yes and I am sure on Christmas day that gamble will pay off as your local plumber will be rushing away from his Turkey for your £75 quid call out fee.

but you didn't comment on that bit did you :-)

enjoy your gambling :-)

Actually I only have cover by homeserve for my boiler not home emergancy
 
Mr Bump said:
@JonathanRyan Yes and I am sure on Christmas day that gamble will pay off as your local plumber will be rushing away from his Turkey for your £75 quid call out fee.

but you didn't comment on that bit did you :)
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No. I thought it would be rude to point out that I'm usually somewhere hot for Christmas.
 
Mr Bump said:
The two so far that do come out well are british gas and npower
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BG not so good for me. When they fitted our new boiler, they damaged the parquet flooring, made an unholy mess and - accordingly to the plumber who repaired it when it broke 18 months later - hadn't fitted it properly. :banana:
 
Llamaman said:
BG not so good for me. When they fitted our new boiler, they damaged the parquet flooring, made an unholy mess and - accordingly to the plumber who repaired it when it broke 18 months later - hadn't fitted it properly. :banana:
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To be fair, I've never met a person who agreed with another persons workmanship in any industry. I normally quickly offer them a cup of tea when they go down that route of commentary.
 
Llamaman said:
BG not so good for me. When they fitted our new boiler, they damaged the parquet flooring, made an unholy mess and - accordingly to the plumber who repaired it when it broke 18 months later - hadn't fitted it properly. :banana:
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To be fair, I've never met a person who agreed with another persons workmanship in any industry. I normally quickly offer them a cup of tea when they go down that route of commentary.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I did. Combis are notorious for failing after a few years - especially the newer ones. The brand new one I fitted 8 years ago failed after 6 years.

But really, choose whatever is right for you. Which says that it only makes about 50 quid a year difference anyway. You can compare deals here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/boiler-insurance though see point 5.

Actually, if you've been with Homeserve for a while you may be able to get your money back.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/18/homeserve-home-emergency-insurance-misselling[/user]
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Cheap boilers may have a tendency to fail, but the likes of valliant, Worcester bosch etc are extremely reliable.
Thats why British gas will give you a free boiler if it fails and can't be repaired, and it's less than 10 years old. As long as they installed it, and have maintained it
 
@Mr Bump

Are you still with HomeServe or moved the boiler cover?

I am with BG and have had their renewal and it has shot up to nearly £300pa.

I know people have suggested putting the money way, but not happy going this route as trying to get a reliable plumber when we need them is very difficult

My boiler is just over 10 years old.

If you are with HomeServe what is their service like?

Thank you
 
JonathanRyan said:
Yeah, the service is more about not killing people and making sure the boiler carries on working efficiently. It's also a requirement of the new 7 year warranties.
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Indeed. If you're a landlord you're obliged to annual services for safety reasons, carbon monoxide etc etc. Yet some home owners seem to turn a blind eye and/or don't care.

Edit - urgh, 2 year thread bump..
 
Sorry Neil, it is an old thread. This is the only one that comes up when searching the app for Boiler cover via the app.
 
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