Save Money By Using An Insurance Comparison Website

Posted by myarticlenetwork on February 2, 2010

Have you ever used an insurance comparison website? I would guess that the majority of the readers of this article will have answered yes to this question. I have to say that I think they are fantastic. Why do I think in this way? Well because they have saved me a massive amount of money over the last few years and they are likely to continue to do so. In this article I will be describing about the way in which I use them.

Now I am not a financial salesman and therefore I am not attempting to sell you anything. I actually run stuttering treatment courses here in the UK, I am also involved in a company that sells composite doors and I offer an article submission service on a part-time basis .

A good example of my use of insurance comparison sites would be the way in which I recently managed to save over £70 on my home insurance. At the beginning of June I received the renewal quote for the home insurance. The amount that they were quoting me was slightly higher than last year but I suppose you have to accept this.

I knew what I was going to do, in any case, whatever the premium had shown; I was going to put in my relevant details into one or two of the insurance comparison websites. I duly did this and low and behold there were three companies who were able to beat my renewal premium. The best quote was in fact £60 cheaper for the same cover.

This was not exactly a surprise to me as I have had similar successes on numerous previous occasions. So did I go ahead and take up this lower quote? No. Why not? Well I wanted to save even more money and therefore decided to contact my current insurer to see of they could offer me an even cheaper price! I phoned them and said:

“I have received your home insurance renewal quote but have managed to obtain a better quote by using one of those comparison sites. It was substantially lower that the price that your company has quoted. I am phoning you as I would rather keep the insurance with your company as I have been very impressed with the level of customer service that I have received. Would you be able to match or beat their quote?”

Guess what? They did match it – how cool is that? That is what I call one heck of a result.

Now I have decided to instruct a firm of cost reduction specialists in a quest to save even more money.

Holiday Home Owners Hit By New Tax Laws

Posted by myarticlenetwork on December 15, 2009

Holiday home owners here in the UK who rent their house out for a large proportion of the year are expected to be hit by a new stealth tax in 2010. Around 60,000 holiday home owners will be affected by the new taxes, wth each one being charged an extra £4000 every year.

The taxes will affect those who offer their house to rent for atleast 140 days a year. Fortunately for some, out of those 140 days, the holiday home has to be rented for atleast 70 days. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if we saw some home owners offering their home for atmost 139 days a year.

The reason why these taxes will be coming in is because, according to the Treasury, the current ones break European laws. This is because currently, holiday home owners are classed as traders, meaning they pay less taxes on certain things. These new guidelines will mean that the home owners will now be classed as investors which means that will be required to pay tax.

Although these new taxes won’t be good for holiday home owners, they are good for the Government. With over 60,000 UK holiday home owners being affected by the new stealth taxes, the Government looks to make a £20 million income. Although the Government will be getting an extra £20 million a year from these taxes, it could end up being worse for them than it first appears.

This new stealth tax won’t come as good news for holiday home owners. The majority of second home owners already pay high prices for things like maintenance and holiday cottage insurance. Now as a result of the new stealth taxes, holiday home owners won’t be making as much income and this could end up forcing some homes to close. According to tourism experts, the news taxes could result in the tourist industry loosing £200 million each year. Not only will the tourist industry lose money because of less tourists finding places to stay, but jobs will also be lost due to so many closing holiday homes. Yet more unwelcomed news for the recession.

If you are after insurance for holiday homes based in the UK, or just overseas property insurance for your holiday home overseas, Schofields is the place to go.