Review: The AA Home Insurance
By
David Woodfield
In summary
While the AA might be best known for its breakdown cover, it also offers a number of insurance products, including home insurance. Customers can choose between two levels of policy – home insurance and home insurance plus – and whether they want buildings and / or contents insurance. Both these policies are Defaqto 5-star rated and are aimed at the mass market, with the AA also offering a more expensive Prestige Home Insurance policy which is aimed at affluent customers needing higher cover levels.
Get a quote for home insurance at the AA website.
Background to AA home insurance
The Automobile Association (AA) has a long history - it was founded in the early 1900s by a group of enthusiasts who wanted to warn motorists about upcoming police speed traps. It launched its first insurance product in 1907, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that the AA diversified away from car insurance to launch pet, business and home insurance.
The organisation is probably most widely known, however, for its emergency roadside rescue service.
Overview of the cover provided by AA home insurance policies
AA has two policies on offer for the mass market: home insurance and home insurance plus. The organisation acts as an intermediary and chooses from a panel of 13 underwriters - the idea being that this allows them to serve a wider portion of the market with attractive prices than if they had just one.
Some cover features are common to both policies, for example cover for matching sets such as wooden flooring, kitchen cabinets and bathroom suites.
However, home insurance plus offers more comprehensive protection in many areas; unlimited rebuilding costs, for instance, compared to a maximum £1 million market value on its foundation policy; accidental damage cover as standard; home emergency cover; and unlimited coverage for replacing locks and keys.
Policyholders can also benefit from AA’s additional services, including free roadside breakdown cover for a year, and up to 50% off your next motor vehicle MOT.
Meanwhile AA Prestige Home Insurance is designed for affluent customers who need higher sums insured (over £75,000 in contents and over £1,000,000 in buildings).
You can get a quote for home insurance at the AA website.
How much does home insurance from AA cost?
There is no set price for AA home insurance – as with all insurance products, your circumstances will impact the price of the premium as will the choice of the level of cover you want.
Generally speaking, the AA's standard home insurance policies will prove cheaper than Home Insurance Plus, although you may find it beneficial to invest in a more expensive policy that offers greater levels of protection.
To assist new customers moving over, the AA offers a refund of up to £25 on buildings insurance and £25 for contents insurance to cover the administration fees for cancelling your policy with a previous insurer.
Get a home insurance quote from AA to find out how much your policy would cost.
What AA customers say
AA customers have rated its home insurance as ‘good’ on website Money.co.uk, with an overall score of 3.8 out of 5. One reviewer commented “I believe the mark of a good insurance is when you have to claim. I have claimed twice with no problems,” while another said “good price and cover for buildings and contents”.
In our experience, reviews for insurance companies need careful consideration as we often note a bias in the reviews and the scores.
For example - sometimes reviews appear to have been written after the purchasing process and so their rating only reflects how easy the insurance was to buy, and does not refer to the quality of the service after the purchase. Sometimes the reviews appear overwhelmingly negative, due to the fact that people with a negative experience are more motivated to write the review.
As such, we believe some thought is needed to ensure that reviews and star ratings are interpreted correctly.
What the expert reviews say
Which? has given AA home insurance a score of 62%, placing it 28th out of 39 insurance providers. Its Which? customer score of 61% ranks the AA 19th overall.
Financial advice site Fairer Finance awarded the AA 55% for its home insurance, enough to rank it 37th out of 43 providers.
Other home insurance reviews
You can get a home insurance quote from the AA, or alternatively to compare the AA’s home insurance with other policies, scroll down to read further reviews in our series.
