Rob, 44, lives is a large detached house in the countryside, with his wife and his 2 children. Rob is now a wedding photographer, after previously being an aerospace engineer.
Rob only recently changed professions, as three years ago his contract as an aerospace engineer came to a sudden end. Unfortunately, this happened just after he had committed to buying a new house, a house which was a significant step up from his previous home (£150,000 more than the current property at the time). He was out of work and without an income for a year, so his financial situation was impacted,
also affecting his mental health and relationship.
The loss of income did not impact on the house purchase as Rob and his wife had a large savings pot and did not have any outstanding debts. However, it did impact on their lifestyle, as they had to avoid some of the previous luxuries they had been used to.
Rob sees himself as very financially savvy and does tend to shop around for financial products. However, he hasn’t reviewed his mortgage, current account or his car insurance for some time, as he feels he already has the best deals.
In October 2017 Rob’s property was damaged by a storm. The storm caused considerable damage to his large electric gates. Rob contacted his home insurance provider to make a claim.
The initial call hander he spoke to informed him that the repairs to his gates would be covered by his policy. Rob sent a claim for the cost of restoring the gates to the insurer when he was then informed that they would not cover the costs, as the gates were classed as fencing which is not included under the policy. He later realised that this was mentioned in the small print of the policy documents.
If you want to replace the insurer, instead of paying the premium for the insurance companies, make a monthly provision. In case something goes wrong, you can always trust yourself.