Review your home insurance policy before you renew – a guide for homeowners

STEP 1: The renewal notice – what is it and what do you need to do when you receive it?

• The renewal notice includes your home insurance premium for the year ahead. Be aware of your renewal date to allow plenty of time to review. Start by reviewing your documents to ensure that you’re aware of your renewal price and the policy information contained in the renewal pack.

STEP 2: What do I need to check?

• Sums Insured: Sums insured will fall into buildings and contents cover:
• Buildings: This is the total cost of rebuilding your home and replacement of fixtures (bathrooms and kitchens) within. If you have not updated this figure recently we urge you to take the opportunity to review this now. The current replacement costs of a home in Ireland can vary based on location. We encourage you to visit SCSI.ie which contains advice on regional breakdown of rebuild costs. If you’ve renovated your home or extended, you may need to increase your buildings or contents sum insured.
• Contents: Your contents sum insured should cover the cost of repairing or replacing personal belongings and household goods in your home. This includes items such as carpets, rugs, furniture and electronics. Bank of Ireland has a ‘new for old’ cover in place for contents insured. If you are adding contents cover, please be aware of the minimum and maximum contents applicable. Please note with Bank of Ireland minimum contents is €15,000.
• Index Linking: Insurers may increase or decrease your buildings and contents sum insured based on inflation year on year. Make sure to check that the level of cover is required.
• Optional extras: When renewing your home insurance policy, some policies may have optional extras included already, or you may need to choose to add or remove them yourself.
• Specified all risk items: Items over €7,500 may require a valuation. All risks covers your personal possessions both inside and outside the home (subject to limits) such as loss of jewellery, camera, golf clubs, gadgets, hearing aids etc. You can choose whether you wish to include this cover on your policy.
• Home Emergency Assistance (HEA): In the event of an emergency, HEA gives you 24 hour access to a wide range of qualified and approved tradespeople. It’s important to check that it’s included on your insurance policy.
• Additional policy benefits: Every home policy contains benefits that vary in cover. Some examples may include fire brigade charges, freezer contents, increased cover for wedding and Christmas gifts, home office equipment and trace and access – water and oil. Make sure you are aware of this level of cover and that they are suitable to your own individual needs.
• External charging points (EV/HVs): If you’ve switched to an electric car, and you have an electric charging point at home, you’ll need to ensure this is covered on your home insurance policy at renewal.

STEP 3: Request your changes

Make the necessary changes, contact your current insurer to make the adjustments and assess the impact to your price.

STEP 4: Review your new policy

Once you make the changes to your policy at renewal, always make sure to check that the changes have been reflected on your policy documents.

Don’t forget

• Discounts available online: purchase your home insurance online to get the best price. Make sure to consider what discounts you are eligible for, for example you can avail of extra discounts up to 30%¹ as a Bank of Ireland customer. If you’re an existing customer or have a mortgage pending approval, you can avail of this offer.
• Two competitive quotes to choose from: The features and benefits for both policies are the same – all you need to do is choose the price you prefer.
• Find out more about Bank of Ireland Home Insurance.