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Policy FAQs

1. What does buildings insurance cover?

It covers your house and the fixtures and fittings, sheds, summerhouses, garages and fixed gazebo, arbours and greenhouses, which are all designed and only used for domestic purposes. It also covers swimming pools, fixed hot tubs, stair lifts, domestic fuel tanks, underground service pipes and cables, sewers and drains, hard tennis courts, terraces, patios, driveways, footpaths, domestic wind turbines, walls, gates, hedges and fences all within the same site at the insured address shown in your schedule.

2. How much should I insure my contents for?

You should insure your contents for the amount it would cost you to replace all the items in your home, as new. esure allows two thirds of your contents sum insured for household goods and one third for high risk items. Household goods are all goods including clothing, linen, carpets, curtains and blinds, which belong to you or household or for which you are legally responsible. High risk items are particularly attractive to thieves, they belong to or for which you or your household are legally responsible these consist of and is not limited to: Jewellery, antiques, paintings, Televisions, DVD, Video recorders, media players, mobile phones, please see policy wording for further information. Please use the contents value at risk check list, to assist with your calculation.

3. Do you offer accidental damage cover?

Yes, we do. Accidental damage cover is offered on contents and buildings as an optional extension for an additional premium.

4. Can I get a no claim discount on home insurance?

Yes - we offer a no claim discount on contents insurance only. We offer up to 40% no claim discount for 5 claim-free years, which increases by 1% each claim-free year with us up to a maximum of 45%, which represents 10 claim-free years.

5. Can you explain the full claims process to me?

If you would like some more information about making a claim on your home insurance, click here to go to our home insurance claims FAQs page.

6. Can I cover my possessions away from home?

Yes, you can protect your possessions away from your home under our 'contents away from home' cover (also known as personal possessions cover away from home). We'll cover your possessions while they're temporarily removed anywhere in the United Kingdom and while they're temporarily removed for up to 60 consecutive days anywhere in the rest of the world. If you have any individual item valued at £1500 or more or a pedal cycle worth more than £500, you'll need to tell us about it and we'll class it as a "specified item".

7. Why do I need family legal protection?

For a small additional premium, family legal protection provides you with legal assistance and advice in disputes involving things like employment contracts, purchased goods & services, bodily injury, tax enquiry cases and more.

You'll also have access to helplines giving advice on European law, tax and health matters.

8. Are my contents covered for business use?

We'll cover any office furniture and computer equipment owned by you and used for business purposes that are kept in your home, but not any other items which you own or use (whether totally or partially) for business purposes or which are connected with any employment.

9. Do I get a discount if I have window and door locks?

Yes, if you have approved security locks we may be able to offer you a further reduction in your premium.

10. Do you cover bicycles?

Yes, our contents in the home (high risk items) would give you basic cover. If you'd like cover away from home, you should add "personal possessions cover away from the home" to your policy. There is a limit of £500 per bicycle. If your bicycle is worth more than £500 you'll need to tell us about it so that we can class it as a "specified item".

11. What must I do if my circumstances change during the period of insurance?

You must tell us as soon as possible about any changes in the information you give us, including the sums insured, and about any other new facts we should take into account when providing you with insurance. We may then re-assess your cover and premium. If you don't tell us about any relevant changes, we may reject or reduce any claim or even treat you as being uninsured.

12. Why do I need home emergency cover?

For a small additional cost, esure's home emergency cover offers peace of mind when you need it most - immediately after a domestic emergency in your home. So should you need emergency repairs in a hurry, there's someone you can rely on. One call to the home emergency helpline, and we will arrange for a reputable contractor to come to your home and carry out any immediate repairs. We will pay, subject to an overall limit of £500, including VAT, per claim for the call out charge, labour costs and parts and materials. We will provide this assistance if an emergency affects your home as a result of damage to your plumbing and drainage system, main heating system, toilet unit, home security, or if you have lost your keys.

13. Doesn't my home insurance cover me for home emergency anyway?

In the event of an emergency, your home insurance will cover your contents and property for the damage caused to such items as your furniture, carpet, fixtures or fittings. For example, if your central heating system broke down, and leaked water over your carpet, your home insurance would cover the damage to your carpet and any other items affected. However, your home insurance would not cover the repair of the heating system, or the tradesman's call-out charges and hourly rates. Having home emergency cover bridges this gap and means that you wouldn't need to worry about finding a reputable tradesman, day or night. We will pay, subject to an overall limit of £500, including VAT, per claim for the call out charge, labour costs and parts and materials.

14. Why do I need pest cover?

esure pest cover offers peace of mind when you need it most - immediately after you discover a wasp or hornet nest or an infestation of rats, mice, grey squirrels or bedbugs, in your house. You'll know that you can simply call our pest helpline and we'll arrange for a reputable contractor to come to your house and deal with the pests. We'll pay up to £150 (inc. VAT) per claim for the call out charge and the professional extermination or control of wasps, hornets, rats, mice and grey squirrels and £200 (inc. VAT) per claim for the treatment/extermination of bed bugs in one infested area in the event of an emergency.

15. Doesn't my home insurance cover me for pest damage?

Your esure home insurance policy doesn't cover damage to your house caused by pests or the removal of the infestation.

For just a small additional premium you'll have the peace of mind of knowing that if you have a wasp or hornet nest or an infestation of rats, mice, grey squirrels or bed bugs in your house you can simply call our pest helpline and we'll arrange for an approved contractor to deal with it.

16. How can I pay for my esure policy?

We offer our customers a choice of easy payment methods. You can choose to pay your premium in a lump sum by debit card or credit card. Or, if you prefer, for an additional charge, the cost of your home policy can be spread over the year by paying instalments by direct debit. Online payment is via a secure server, which uses advanced encryption technology to ensure your details are safe during transmission.

We accept the following credit and debit cards:

Visa, Mastercard, Delta and Maestro payment methods

17. What should I do if I don't want you to send me any marketing material?

We give you an option to tell us during the quote process if you don't want to receive any marketing material. If you don't take up this option and change your mind at any future date, you can also email us at dpo@esure.com or write to the Data Protection Officer, esure, The Observatory, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 0SG. Please include your full name, address and date of birth.

18. How do I cancel my policy?

If you are dissatisfied with the cover provided by your policy, you have 14 days to cancel from the date you receive your documents if you are a new customer, or from your renewal date if you are an existing customer. As long as no incidents have arisen which could result in a claim under your policy, we will refund the premium you have paid. If any incidents have arisen, we will refund the premium you have paid less a pro-rata charge for the time you have been on cover. If you do not exercise your right to cancel during the 14 day period, your policy will continue as normal.

We have the right to cancel your policy at any time by giving you seven days notice in writing. We will send our letter to the latest address we have for you.

If you are paying by instalments and you miss a payment, we may cancel your policy. We will give you seven days notice in writing before we do this as set out in the paragraph above. You will still have to pay any outstanding premium and any administration fees due to us and we may take any outstanding premium and any administration fees due to us from any claim payment we make to you.

If you decide to cancel after the initial 14 day period, you must contact us before the cancellation date either in writing or by telephone. Should you wish to cancel your policy on that same day, you must contact us by telephone.

If we decide to cancel your policy or you decide to cancel your policy after the initial 14 day period, we will refund your premium as follows:-

If you cancel your policy before the first renewal date, we will refund the part of your premium which you have not yet used less an administration fee to take account of our costs in providing your policy. The fees are detailed in your schedule. If the amount of premium you have paid and not yet used is less than the administration fee you must pay us the difference. If a claim has been made, we will cancel your cover but will not refund any of your premiums and if you are paying by instalments, you must still pay us the balance of your full annual premium.
If you cancel your policy after the first renewal date, we will refund the part of your premium which you have not yet used less an administration fee. The fees are detailed in your schedule. If the amount of premium you have paid and not yet used is less than the administration fee you must pay us the difference. If a claim has been made, we will cancel your cover but will not refund any of your premium and if you are paying by instalments, you must still pay us the balance of your full annual premium.
Please refer to your Policy Schedule which details the fees we may charge, and the amount.

If you or we cancel your home insurance policy at any time, we will automatically cancel any family legal protection, home emergency and pest cover you purchased with it. Please note that no refund is payable under these sections.

Changes to your Policy

If you change your policy details or cover at any time during the cover period, we may charge an administration fee. The fees are detailed in your schedule.

19. How do I complain?

Our complaints procedure

We always aim to get things right first time for our customers although we know that sometimes you will feel this hasn’t happened. We want to hear about this so we have an opportunity to put things right for you.

If you need to complain we are committed to having an accessible complaints process where we will always try to resolve your complaint speedily and at the earliest possible stage.

Often if you ring us we can sort things out for you straight away, with this in mind please call us first.

If it’s about your claim,

Call 0845 603 7970 about your car insurance claim

Call 0845 601 7076 about your home insurance claim

If it’s about any other matter,

Call 0845 603 7874 about car insurance

Call 0845 601 7074 about home insurance

Every effort will be made to resolve your complaint for you within 48 hours. On the rare occasions this can’t be achieved then your complaint will be passed to our Customer Relations department, who act with the full authority of our Chief Executive.

Your complaint will be acknowledged upon receipt – telling you who will be managing your complaint and how long we expect this to take. Once their investigations are complete a final decision will be sent to you in writing.

The address of our Customer Relations team is:

Customer Relations
Esure
The Observatory
Reigate
Surrey
RH2 0SG

If after considering our final response you are still dissatisfied, or on the rare occasion that a final decision hasn’t been sent to you within eight weeks, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. They are an independent body that arbitrates on complaints about general insurance products and other financial services. They can be contacted at:

The Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR
Tel: 0300 1239 123 or 0800 0 234 567
email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

The Financial Ombudsman Service will handle most complaints you might have but there are some instances that fall outside of their authority.

20. How do I know if my cover has been accepted?

Once you've entered your payment details, the "payment confirmation" page will be displayed. This page is confirmation of your cover, and will display your policy number and cover start date. Your policy documents will then be posted to you by first class post.

21. How can I renew my policy?

Approximately 4 weeks before your policy expires, we'll send you a renewal invitation by post which will give details of the changes made to the policy wording, your new sums insured, what your new premium is, based on the information given to us and how to renew.

If you pay your premium by direct debit, we may automatically renew your policy. We'll notify you of our intention to do this before your policy expires and give you details of the renewal terms including any changes in your policy cover. If you don't wish to renew your policy, you should tell us before the renewal date. If you don't tell us and your policy is renewed, we'll continue to make deductions from your bank account for the new premium.

22. Can I renew my policy on this website?

Unfortunately, we don't currently offer the facility of renewing your home insurance online. Instead to renew, please call our contact centre on 0845 601 7074.

23. Can I renew my policy if I haven't yet received my renewal invitation?

We'll send you a renewal invitation approximately 4 weeks before your policy expires. However, you can renew your policy in advance of receiving your renewal invitation from 6 weeks before your renewal date. To do this please call our contact centre on 0845 601 7079 (office hours : Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm, Saturday 9am - 5pm and Sunday 10am - 2pm.)

24. Do you offer competitive rates to women looking to buy home insurance?

At esure we like to think we offer competitive prices to all customers looking for home insurance. However if you are looking for home insurance designed specifically with women in mind why not take a look at our sister brand Sheilas’ Wheels for a home insurance quote.