# Home insurance



## passiflora (Jun 28, 2012)

Anyone offer any tips on choosing a home insurer? We were with our local bank but they are too restrictive so are looking for someone else. I spoke to one advertised in a local free paper who hasn't sent me a quote after 3 weeks so am still looking, Is Liberty Seguros a good company to go with----Linea Directa???


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

We used Linea Directa and they wouldn't cover us when we had a bad leak in the rain (said we hadn't had enough rain) Be very careful most Spanish companies will not cover rain damage unless you specifically ask for it!


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

I have always used ibex for my home insurance although at the moment I'm going through a major dispute with them involving their managing director because they are refusing to pay for the items that were stolen from my car despite my broker telling me that I had cover outside of the home for any item up to the value of €400. This could well be an issue with a misrepresentation of the product on the part of the broker by having to go to considerable trouble to pursue my claim. So at this stage I wouldn't necessarily recommend the company.

Linea directa are an excellent insurance company and I use them for both of my cars. However their home insurance is somewhat restrictive and they do not have the option for cover such as accidental damage.

My mother-in-law who is Spanish has been with liberty for many years and on the few occasions that she has had to claim she has had no difficulties whatsoever. In fact when my car was broken into and the keys to both my house and her house was stolen I was left having to find my own locksmith because the insurance company were closed but liberty had somebody there within 30 minutes. She has also accidentally damaged one or two things historically in the house and they have had no issues in replacing them or paying the cost.

In response to Cazzy – I had a similar thing several years ago again with my current insurer. After having purchased some rather expensive garden furniture I made sure that I had taken the optional cover for items in the garden but one day there was an extreme storm and some of the strongest wind I have ever encountered. At that point I lived on the side of a mounting overlooking the sea so the property was extremely vulnerable. The storm was so bad that the electricity pylon blew down as did many sections of concrete walls in neighbouring properties. The insurance company said that they checked with the official statistics and on that particular day the wind was simply not strong enough to cause any damage. Incidentally I was only claiming for a replacement barbecue because half of it literally blew away and smashed into the fields behind.

When I complained and asked how on earth they could come to such a conclusion they told me that they used the weather monitoring station in Valencia. They said that in Valencia on that day the wind was below the threshold that they class capable of causing any damage. I pointed out to them that Valencia was almost 2 hours away by car and that the weather in a city is clearly completely different to the weather halfway up the mountain. They still refused to one of the claim but I pursued it further and threatened to employ the services of a weather expert to monitor simultaneously over a period of one week the wind variations between my property and the location of their station in Valencia. I pointed out that should this be necessary I would be adding to my claim the cost for the expert services.

24 hours later I received an offer of settlement! I think that from my experience although this is the second claim I have ever made in my life – every insurance company will look for a way out of paying if they possibly can. It's important when it comes to home insurance that you check carefully all of the wording and all of the loopholes and you ask the questions "what if?". It's better to ask these questions in writing – perhaps by email so that you have a log of them in the event of a claim.

As I said though although I have not personally use them members of my Spanish family use liberty and continue to use them for many years. I also believe that they offer their policies in English which is always useful


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## passiflora (Jun 28, 2012)

Thank you for your replies. I'll give Liberty a look this morning.


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## goingtobcn (Sep 9, 2012)

We have used MAPFRE. Touch wood won't need to claim, but they seemed to cover the things we needed.

This was also recommended to me on here Insurance Spain | Home, Buildings and Contents Insurance in Spain | Car, Motorcycle and Motor Insurance in Spain | Health Insurance in Spain - all in English with English speaking agents.


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

We have used Zurich for the home we now rent out, when we had a break in, before it was let out, and we were on holiday at the home-they were very good, and paid out for all the stuff which went missing.
For the house we live in now, we use Liberty, 'touch wood' have not had to claim, but their policy seemed quite good.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

fergie said:


> We have used Zurich for the home we now rent out, when we had a break in, before it was let out, and we were on holiday at the home-they were very good, and paid out for all the stuff which went missing.
> For the house we live in now, we use Liberty, 'touch wood' have not had to claim, but their policy seemed quite good.


 I have say I always used Zurich when I was in the UK. Previously they were called Eagle Star and then obviously turned into what they are now. I used them for both my car and home insurance and although I only ever had to make one claim when my car was broken into I did find them to be absolutely superb. I don't know about the Spanish operation but clearly from what you have said you experienced similar good service with them

At the end of the day when you purchase insurance you do so hoping that you will never need to use it but it is such a shame that so many insurance companies just tried to worm their way out of making any settlements and personally I would rather go with a recommended good quality company and pay that little bit more so that I can sleep easy at night knowing that in the event that I do need to make a claim they will be a minimum of fuss.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

We too use MAPFRE, they are pretty good when it comes to a claim.


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

Hepa said:


> We too use MAPFRE, they are pretty good when it comes to a claim.


Yup same here.


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