Policy Expert Home Insurance Review 2021
Policy Expert Home Insurance Review 2021
Good for
- 96.7% of users recommend them
- Great customer ratings
- Optional legal expenses cover protects against a large number of potential events
- New for old replacements
Bad for
- Those wanting unlimited cover
The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.
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In This Review
Policy Expert Home Insurance Review: What You Need to Know
Is Policy Expert any good? Policy Expert is a highly-regarded home insurance provider known for strong customer ratings and cheap quotes. Read our review to see how the broker model works, find out coverage limits and learn what to look out for if you take out a policy (e.g., notable exclusions), to help you decide if Policy Expert is right for you.
Key Facts
- Policy Expert Bronze: up to £600,000 for buildings and up to £60,000 for contents
- Policy Expert Silver: up to £1,000,000 for buildings and up to £75,000 for contents
- Policy Expert Silver: up to £1,000,000 for buildings and up to £100,000 for contents
How does Policy Expert work? Policy Expert is an insurance broker that sells three tiers of cover underwritten by a panel of three insurers.
How Policy Expert Works: To buy a policy online, either go you their website directly or use a comparison site such as our home insurance comparison partner QuoteZone. Either way you'll fill out a brief questionnaire about you and your home. We like that the Policy Expert questionnaire is designed to save you time. For example, two sections are essentially prefilled with statements (e.g., "Your property is in a good state of repair")—if you agree with all of the statements then you simply click "I agree" button, without having to individually select an answer for each question. This simplified page design saves you 14 clicks when applying for a quote directly.
Differences Between Plans: For the most part, the main difference in insurance coverage between plans from Policy Expert is the limits. For example, the Bronze plan provides up to £600,000 of buildings cover while the Gold plan provides up to £1,000,000 of cover. To save money on insurance, don't buy more cover than you need.
Excess: With Policy Expert you can choose an excess between £100 to £500 in £50 increments (the standard excess is £200). The excess is the amount you pay towards a claim. Generally speaking, selecting a higher excess should lower the premium you pay—but remember the insurance company will contribute less towards claimable events should the need arise.
Who are Policy Expert? Policy Expert is a broker that has won "Best Insurance Broker" in the Insurance Choice Awards in 2017, 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, and they were a finalist in the running for many categories in 2021 including "Best Home Insurance Provider". They are also rated the number 1 home insurance provider on Reviewcentre.com, based on over 50,000 customer reviews.
Policy Expert Customer Reviews and Ratings
Existing customers seem quite happy with the service from Policy Expert, as evidenced by very solid customer reviews and ratings. Frequent comments include praise for a clear and easy process, good prices and helpful, knowledgeable staff. It is also clear from the customer reviews that many people renew with Policy Expert year after year.
- Review Centre: Over 55k customers have rated Policy Expert with 4.7 out of 5 stars, one of the best home insurance ratings in the UK.
- Trustpilot: TrustScore of 4.6 out of 5, with 77% of the over 71k respondents reporting an "Excellent" experience and only 3% a "Bad" experience.
- Reviews.io: Rated 4.7 out of 5 for customer service by over 19,000 customers.
But what about customer complaints? Here are a few to give you a sense of frustrations some customers have had—most of which related to the Home Emergency cover:
"... had a leak coming in through my kitchen, this happened when we had a weekend of severe high wind and rain. Surveyor came out stated that it was wear and tear and not down to the severe weather..."
"Sold me house insurance and paid extra for cycle insurance. My boy had his stolen so i attempted to claim for the 1st time in 24 years since I've had my house and told the excess of £100 would be more than what they would pay out on a 3 year old £500 bike."
"I had some damage from a storm this winter. After making the initial claim which was contracted out to Trinity Claims. I heard nothing for several weeks."
"Do not take out this insurance before checking the credit status of the occupiers of your home. If anyone living in your home including your children who are over the age of 18 has bad credit then they will not pay out for a claim on home insurance despite the fact that you own the home and pay the insurance and have excellent credit yourself."
"The use a company called Trinity to deal with all their claims. Trinity are the worst company I have ever had to deal with. Their employees are pushed from pillar to post. Don’t answer your questions. I am now 3 months on after a small house fire and nothing has been done."
Policy Expert Home Insurance Quote Comparison
According to our check of the market, Policy Expert is one of the best, cheap home insurance companies in the UK market. It's Essentials policies in particular is usually reasonably priced compared to other household names, as you can see below for our sample homeowner.
To get these prices we gathered pricing data for a sample 35-year-old policyholder living in a mortgaged, 3-bedroom semi-detached home in SN11 to see how Policy Expert quotes compared to other household names. Quotes for your profile may be very different, so please just use the following data for educational purposes only; your quotes may reflect a large degree of variation. Additionally, insurance policies across different companies can be difficult to compare directly, as they can vary in terms of excess, inner cover amounts, etc.
Policy Expert Home Insurance Policies: Features
Policy Expert home insurance policies can be extended through the addition of cover for: Personal Possessions Away From Home, Additional Accidental Damage, Home Emergency. For more complete details like full exclusions, please see the policy documents.
Policy Expert Home Insurance Extra Features
- Personal Possessions Away From Home
- Cycle Cover
- Key Cover
- Accidental Damage
- Home Emergency
- Home Legal Expenses
Policy Expert Home (Buildings and Contents) Insurance Add-On Costs
Costs for add-ons can vary, but here are some sample costs gathered from their website for a test case:
| Estimated Costs of Policy Expert Home Insurance Extras | |
|---|---|
| Accidental Damage (buildings) | Approx. £30 to £60 |
| Accidental Damage (contents) | Approx. £20 to £70 |
| Home Legal Expenses | £29.95 |
| Home Emergency Plus | £69.95 |
| Key Cover | £21.75 |
| Bicycles | Approx. £25 to £125 for a £1,000 bike |
Policy Expert Home Insurance Notable Exclusions
Policy Expert home insurance exclusions include (but are not limited to) damage to fences, gates or hedges, loss or damage if you've been away for 60 days or more (occasional visits don't count), frost damage, damage by pets, etc.
A few exclusions stood out to us as particularly mentionable. You may want to keep them in mind if you go with Policy Expert or as you're comparing different home insurance plans. It's always a good idea to read through the full list of exclusions in the policy documents as we've only mentioned some exclusions here and others may be more relevant to you.
- 1. When you're away: You must tell Policy Expert if your home will be unoccupied for more than 30 days.
- 2. Check your grout: Escape of water not covered if your grout or sealant fails to work properly, or by an inappropriate grout or sealant being used.
- 3. Storms damage: Storm damage only covered for winds of Force 10 or more (i.e., 55 mph or higher), torrential rain falling at a rate of at least 25mm per hour, snow falling to a depth of at least 30cm in 24 hours or hail so severe it causes damage to hard surfaces or breaks glass.
- 4. Frost damage: Not covered.
- 5. Damage by pets: Not covered.
Policy Expert Buildings & Contents Insurance: What's Covered?
Policy Expert home insurance policies protect against calamities such as fire, smoke, explosion, lightning, earthquake, flood, storm, escape of water or oil, theft or attempted theft, collision damage, riot, malicious damage or vandalism, subsidence, heave or landslip, falling objects (e.g., telephone poles, trees and satellite dishes), etc. Here are the coverage limits for different sections of cover according to the insurance policy you take out through Policy Expert. (Other providers include Axa, Aviva Your House, Aviva Home Plus, Midas and UK General.)
| Cover Limits | Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buildings insurance sum covered | £600,000 | £1,000,000 | £1,000,000 |
| Contents insurance sum covered | £60,000 | £75,000 | £100,000 |
| New for old cover as standard | Included | Included | Included |
| Alternative accommodation (buildings) | Up to £75,000 | Up to £100,000 | Up to £150,000 |
| Alternative accommodation (contents) | £10,000 | £10,000 | £25,000 |
| Credit cards in and away from home | £1,000 | £1,000 | £1,000 |
| Personal money in the home | £250 | £250 | £1,000 |
| Deep freezer contents | £300 | £500 | £750 |
| Property owners liability | £2,000,000 | £2,000,000 | £5,000,000 |
| Replacement locks or keys | £300 | £500 | £1,000 |
| Legal Expenses Select | n/a | Included | Included |
| Legal Expenses Select | n/a | Included | Included |