Limited liability insurance

I use Tower Gate Insurance for my annual holiday home insurance. Is your present home insurance not including public liability? I don't know if you can buy short term cover for short periods but find on google and talk to them. 

Regards 

Pauline 

Hello Robert,

If you have a property in Spain, I highly recommend you have a spanish provider for the house insurance. As they will be able to give you quicker access to professionals in case of a claim. Based on our experience, it is usually more expensive to use UK based insurers considering costs and level of coverage, and as I said before it is quicker and easier to deal with claims with a Spanish provider in case of an accident. There are many companies in Spain that I can recommend; Liberty, AXA, Allianz, Mapfre, among others.

I also recommend you use an agent or brooker that deals with claims managment, as it will be easier for you when you have a claim, so you don't have to negociate with the company. 

There is another thing to consider, if the property is in a big apartment building, I suggest you use a large liability coverage (minimm, 600.000€ in coverage). Because if there is a fire that starts in your house, it burns the building down, and the coverage is low, you will be paying the additional costs out of your own pocket. 

* One more thing to add, be carefull with the "occupational period", with some insurers, they apply the ocuppational period, which means that if you are away and out of the house for more than 2 or 3 months, they will not cover you in case of damage in that period of time. *

If you have any questions or would like further advice, you can send me a message, as I will be happy to help. I work for an Insurance Agency through AXA. (AXA doesn't have the occupational period)

I hope this helps.

Whilst I somewhat agree with AsesorFin has said, unfortunately due to a nightmare experience I would never use a Spanish Insurance company again. In 2007, we had a total ransacking (4.5 ton of belongings taken over 6months previous) and trying to be brief, the insurance Co. Caixa bank insurance, refused to pay out as we hadn't told them our property would be affected by the new Ave train track beside our house. (we had never been told by our unscrupulous solicitor either) and we didn't know of this work until after it was started, by then we, d lost everything. We tried to sue solicitor and the insurance Co but got nowhere. We lost £20k+ of possessions and it has ruined our lives. We have had to claim twice since with Tower gate and both times had a payout within 2weeks, incl 1claim sending a UK insurance assessor 2 days after claiming after a freak hailstorm damage in July!! . UK insurance is underwritten by UK laws and offer better coverage than Spanish. Its your choice but research thoroughly. Bbtw we do use Liberty Seguros for our spanish car, after much research. 

Regards 

Pauline 

Regards 

Pauline 

Hello Pauline,

I'm sorry you had to go through that in your spanish home it sounds like you had a tricky situation.

I would always recommend you use a professional for your insurance concerns and not what the banks offer, as they don't cover a lot of things and they are usually more expensive. The banks don't offer claims managment and they don't usually have enough qualifications to be able to know what to include and what not depending on you situation and the type of house you have.

This is why I recommend you have an agent or broker to do your insurance, as in complicated situations like this, they will help with claims managment. You can't expect a bank to be able to help you with insurance or an insurance claim when all they do is sell. (They will literally offer to sell you anything, as that's how they are making money). Banks are for banking and insurance companies are for insurance. 

I do regret that your first experience with a Spanish provider has been unsatisfactory, but I encourage you to reply on a professional insurance agent or broker for your insurance, to have peace of mind in the future.

I totally agree with your comments and often try to dissuade people from using their banks insurance. Our experience has prevented us realising our dream of becoming residents and now 16yrs later have to stay Uk residents. 

Regards 

Pauline 

I use a company based in Gib for my annual house insurance which includes an element for public liability.