Boiler cover checklist
Boiler cover checklist
Getting your central heating system repaired following a gas boiler breakdown can be expensive. You will also be without heating or hot water while you wait for a heating engineer to turn up. For peace of mind many people seek to protect themselves in an emergency by taking out gas fired boiler or central heating problem insurance.
There are a number of suppliers and a number of features to check when purchasing central heating cover. With all policies for a monthly fee your provider will send round an engineer to try and fix your central heating boiler when it breaks down. Most central heating insurance suppliers aim to do this within 24 hours of your call, this is a best endeavours target, no policies will give a promise of a response time unless you pay a premium. Families with young children and elderly individuals are typically given priority without any additional payment.
If you want you can extend the insurance to other services in your home such as the electrical wiring or plumbing and drains. Naturally the regular cost will increase as you incorporate additional characteristics.
The right type of plan will depend on your circumstances. You might want to expand the care beyond just the central heating system to incorporate your full central heating system and components. Depending on how aging your drains or wiring is you could also want to cover these.
Often a heating boiler cover plan will include provision of a twelve month gas boiler service. Due to safety considerations we recommend that have a twelve month gas fired boiler service whether you have a boiler insurance plan or not. As badly maintained boilers can produce deadly carbon monoxide gases it is absolutely essential that you have a 12 month boiler service.
Regular servicing can reduce the life-time cost of your boiler and will certainly ensure that it operates safely. The heating boiler service can be a condition of offering central heating care.
Keep an eye open for some of the after restrictions in your policy:
You may find the policy only contains one hours labour and a limited number of parts. You will be left paying the difference if you have a serious heating boiler failure.
If you have an older heating boiler you may find not all breakdown suppliers will accept you as a new customer. You need to check this in advance.
Existing customers should also be on guard. If you have a large number of breakdowns or your gas boiler is older than a certain age you might find that your plan no longer covers these.
Whilst it is possible to change the provider of the heating boiler cover, it would be an advantage to have a policy that renews cover for the lifespan of your gas boiler. Older central heating boilers have more issues and hence they are sometimes not accepted by new suppliers.
Some central heating boiler care plans only permits attendance at two failures per year. Ensure that you have limitless call outs if you have an older central heating system.
You can reduce your monthly fee by selecting a policy that integrates a call-out charge. The decision is yours as it will obviously depend upon the amount of breakdowns you have in a year.