Compare home emergency cover quotes

Home emergency insurance – also known as home emergency assist – provides professional help if something goes wrong in your home. If an accident happens while you’re covered, your provider will send a registered tradesperson to perform emergency repairs to fix the problem.

Home emergency insurance covers you for anything that:

• Makes your home unsafe

• Makes your home vulnerable to thieves

• Causes permanent damage to your home

• Risks your health and wellbeing

Only homeowners need home emergency insurance. But before taking out separate cover, check your standard home cover policy as some buildings and contents policies include home emergency insurance. Others offer it as an extra.

If you’re a renting, any emergencies in your home should be handled by your landlord.

Landlords can get specialised landlord home emergency cover rather than a standard policy. This provides professional help if something goes wrong in your rental property.

Home cover insurance covers damage that could impact your health, such as broken heating, or damage that could become permanent, like a broken roof.

It can cover boiler breakdowns, too. But you might get better protection through a specific, separate boiler insurance policy.

Your policy may also include plumbing cover, which includes any issues with your home’s plumbing and drainage.

Discover exactly what’s covered with our guide to home emergency cover.

Home emergency cover can also provide:

Alternative accommodation

If your home is rendered unsafe by flood or storm damage, your insurer should cover the cost of alternative accommodation until it’s repaired.Your policy will likely provide comparable alternative accommodation, so you should be housed in a similar sized property.

Make sure to check your level of cover, as some damage can leave your home uninhabitable for a significant period of time, sometimes over a year.

Accidental damage cover

This protects your property against any sudden and unintentional physical damage. This could include putting your foot through the ceiling when in your loft, or accidental damage to your brickwork.

These disasters could end up costing hundreds of pounds to repair, so it’s worth making sure that accidental damage is included in your cover before you buy a policy.

It depends on your circumstances. Some prefer to add home emergency cover to their existing home insurance policy. It’s usually cheaper than taking out an additional home emergency policy, and you’ll only have to deal with one company if you need to claim.

On the other hand, standalone insurance offers many other benefits, including:

• Maximum protection: separate home emergency cover is usually more comprehensive than that offered by regular home insurance

• Flexibility: tailor your policy to add the exact amount of cover you want

• Budget control: save money with a basic policy

• Good value: allows you to include elements like boiler servicing to provide more than just emergency cover

Think about the specific areas you need to cover and focus on these when comparing home emergency policies to decide which is right for you.

When comparing quotes, also check how much cover you get for each claim, and whether there’s an excess you need to pay – most policies don’t charge this, but if they do, make sure you can afford to pay it in an emergency.

Also read other people’s home emergency cover reviews to compare experiences and find the best home insurance companies that offer policies you can rely on.