Moving home? Check out this insurance checklist

Your moving home ‘to-do’ list may be long but is probably missing some crucial things. With so much paperwork and stuff to pack, it’s so easy to forget to think about your car and home insurance policies. 

Whether you’re a homeowner or a tenant, you’ll need to amend your home insurance to cover your new property – whether that be buildings or contents insurance, or a combined policy covering both. It’s also vital to consider how things like your car insurance may also be affected by your move, especially if you’re relocating to a different area or part of the country.

Here we’ll give some guidance on how this works so you can ensure that you and you’re possessions are still covered.

And if you are thinking about switching, you can use our partner QuoteZone’s insurance comparison tool to find the best policy and save yourself time and money.

Car insurance

If you’re moving away, you’ll need to inform your car insurer and the DVLA as soon as possible. This is to ensure that your details are up-to-date with your new address. If you don’t do this your car insurance may be invalidated.

It’s unlikely it’ll be necessary to change your insurer, but it may be that they won’t guarantee the same price for where you’re moving.

If your move means that you can no longer park your car in a garage or driveway, or if your new local area has a higher level of recorded crime your insurance may go up. In some cases, of course, these same factors may mean your policy ends up being cheaper.

If you feel that you do want to cancel your policy and get a new one, be aware you may not get money back (if you’ve paid annually) if you have less than two months left on your policy.

With car insurance premiums soaring at the moment, it has never been a better time to reconsider your policy. Want to compare car insurance quotes? QuoteZone can help. 

Home insurance – buildings

When you’re moving home your buildings insurance on your current property is redundant. So if you’re looking to change your provider you’ll need to cancel your policy and get a refund on what’s left (minus a cost). 

If your insurance policy has less than a couple of months to run then, unfortunately, it’s unlikely you’ll receive any money back as the insurer will be taking their profit out of the monies you’ve already paid.

A common problem people experience is that certain insurers may not cover certain types of properties. So, for example, if you’re moving from a house to a block of flats you may be forced to cancel your insurance and take out a new policy.

However, if you want to (and can) stay with your current insurer you can pay any difference in the cost of cover (usually plus a small admin fee) if you’re moving to a property that costs more to insure. If you’re moving to one that’s cheaper to insure you may be due a rebate – though you’ll probably still have to pay the admin fee. 

Home insurance – contents

Your contents insurance is usually linked to your buildings insurance. However, this isn’t always the case. If it’s not, then you should carefully consider your best options – it may be worth combining the two at your new property. If you do decide to cancel your current cover then you’ll face a similar situation regarding refunds to buildings cover.

Unlike buildings cover, it’s very unlikely that your insurer for contents won’t cover you at any other address. However, your cover costs may change depending on the risk in the area you’re moving to – so you might need to pay a supplement or get a rebate.

‘Removal’ insurance

It is important to remember to check your policy to see if you are covered for actually moving your possessions to your new home. 

As with your buildings insurance, you’ll be in a similar situation with regard to refunds, rebates, or extra charges depending on the premium costs at your new location.

Above all, make sure you contact your insurers regardless of what you plan to do – and as soon as you know your moving day – so you can ensure you’re aware of all the questions you may have to answer and the procedures you need to have in place at the appropriate times. 

Having problems with moving your policies when moving home? Trouble getting fair and adequate cover? Resolver can help you raise a complaint for free!