In an ideal world, our homes would tick over nicely as long as we own them and our home insurance policy would remain nothing more than an item stored in our 'important documents' folder.
But the reality is when owning a property things rarely go exactly to plan, and anything from a water escape to damage caused by extreme weather could see us making a claim on our home insurance.
Now Which? (The Consumer's Association) has revealed that in January it questioned 1,456 home insurance customers who had made a claim in the past two years, to reveal the best and worst home insurers when it comes to handling claims.
Participants were asked to outline the claim made, how satisfied they were with their insurer in light of how it was handled and other questions relating to their claims experience.
The results were as follows, with the order below running from best to worst.
Column 1: Rating for speed handling customers' claims
Column 2: Rating for updates/communication on progress
NFU Mutual (61) 5-star 4-star
LV= (76) 4-star 3-star
Churchill (42) 4-star 3-star
Direct Line (107) 4-star 3-star
M&S Bank (31) 4-star n/a
Aviva (83) 4-star 3-star
Halifax (48) 4-star 3-star
RIAS (37) 4-star 3-star
Worst performers
Ageas (40) 3-star 2-star
Admiral (62) 3-star 2-star
AXA (69) 3-star 2-star
Saga (61) 3-star 2-star
Legal & General (59) 3-star 2-star
More Than (62) 3-star 2-star
RSA (39) 2-star 2-star
And when it came to how home insurers customers felt about the process of handling particularly claims, less than half (48 per cent) were happy with the overall handling of their subsidence claim.
Following second on the dissatisfaction list (20 per cent) were claims for damage caused by high winds, heavy rain or hail.
At the other end of the spectrum an impressive 87 per cent of those questioned revealed they were happy with how their accidental damage claims were handled.
This claim was also the quickest dealt with in comparison to customer expectations (faster 63 per cent of the time).
Do any of the above findings ring true for you?
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