# Insurance in Spain



## everettmeadibiza (Apr 30, 2015)

Good afternoon all, I am not going to start selling so please rest easy.

We have just launched new insurance products for expats living in Ibiza/Formentera or Spain. We have performed some market research in this area to see what people want but what we would like to know is about the bad experiences of insurance in Spain where the insurance company and broker are not UK based.

I am new to this forum so sorry if this in the wrong place. 

I do look forward to hearing your thoughts

Dan


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

everettmeadibiza said:


> Good afternoon all, I am not going to start selling so please rest easy.
> 
> We have just launched new insurance products for expats living in Ibiza/Formentera or Spain. We have performed some market research in this area to see what people want but what we would like to know is about the bad experiences of insurance in Spain where the insurance company and broker are not UK based.
> 
> ...


:welcome:

I'm glad that you aren't about to start selling anything, nor do market research, since both would be against forum rules 

Do people living Spain actually use UK based insurers & brokers :confused2:


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## everettmeadibiza (Apr 30, 2015)

oh god am I in trouble before I even start  

I think there are a number of things to look at to be honest.

Some people use brokers in the UK but the insurance companies are based in Gibraltar for example so there is very little protection.

Others use insurers in Spain/Ibiza but when there is a claim the problems begin at that point.

One of the horror stories I heard was "brokers/agents" in Ibiza taking money but not actually insuring the properties 

Now I am not going to say that people should start using UK brokers as that may be classed as advertising


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

everettmeadibiza said:


> oh god am I in trouble before I even start
> 
> I think there are a number of things to look at to be honest.
> 
> ...


I don't think you can generalise really

one well-known well-established English-run Spain based company went bust a few years ago & it transpired that they'd been taking money & not insuring for a couple of years

there are good & bad in all industries & all countries

personally I'd use a company based & registered / regulated in the country in which I am resident - at least that way you are protected by the law in the country where you are all based

I'm not just talking insurance, of course


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## everettmeadibiza (Apr 30, 2015)

oh I agree, certain services should definitely be purchased in the country you are residing. on the insurance front though UK regulation is much tougher than Spanish regulation, so the well known company that was taking money for example that went bust, if that happened in the UK, they would go to jail for fraud for one but the clients would protected under the various regulations and schemes so would not lose our financially. That is why we use UK insurers. does that make sense?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Our insurers are Spanish and we have never had a problem even when making a claim. There have been stories of people who have used UK insurers, not getting claims met for obscure reasons allied to the living in Spain and not UK, but then it may have been that there was a clause in the small print that said the policy was limited to UK residence and overseas use was for a limited period.


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