What is Boiler Cover?
Boiler insurance is a fantastic way to provide yourself with peace of mind and ensure your boiler (and central heating) are kept protected from any unfortunate accidents or faults. Your boiler breaking down can be a massive pain if you lack coverage, as you’ll need to track someone down to fix it – which can be a huge issue during the winter (when many engineers are at their busiest). You’ll also have to pay upfront for the costs of repairs, rather than having the cost of parts, labour time, and the call out covered by any insurance.
Insurance covers all of this and makes sure that your boiler is kept in check by a fully certified Gas Safe engineer. They will visit your home in case of an emergency and provide you with an annual boiler service to avoid any breakdowns from occurring in the first place. There’s multiple ways to pay (upfront or annual) and you can provide yourself with a fantastic safety net that’ll keep your boiler in excellent shape all year round.
In this article we’ll discuss boiler cover in more depth – what kind of plans exist, who should get it, and why boiler cover is so important.
Boiler Cover Plans
Boiler Cover plans aren’t a one-size fits all style of insurance. There’s a variety of options available and you can pick what you want based on your model of boiler and the specific needs of your household. There are typically two kinds of boiler plan you can go for.
Both plans will usually include the costs of call outs and the labour involved, not to mention the parts as well. They will also include the cost for boiler maintenance checks, which are important for ensuring the boiler avoids future breakdowns.
- Boiler and Control Cover
This plan is relatively simple; it covers the breakdown of the boiler and its controls (though often not ‘smart’ controls). These plans also usually cover the annual boiler service, which is important for the validation of any warranties that your boiler has.
- Cover for your whole central heating system
This kind of boiler cover plan covers not only the boiler but also the whole central heating system. This includes,
- The flue
- The pipes
- The pump
- The radiators
This is an excellent way to keep the heating systems of your home safe and properly maintained.
Who needs boiler cover?
Legally no one requires boiler cover. If you are renting your home or flat, you also are not required to get boiler cover – that is the responsibility of your landlord or the property owner (and it is not a legal requirement on their part either).
If you are a home or property owner, then it is your choice to get boiler cover. It is not a legal requirement, but there’s important things to remember.
Boilers have about a 50% chance of breaking down within six years of being installed – so hoping you will not suffer issues is a costly coin toss and a poor decision in of itself. Boiler breakdowns can often happen out of seemingly nowhere as well.
Likewise, when a boiler breaks down can be a major pain; boiler breakdowns in the winter, for example, are often very costly and can take quite long to get (engineers tend to be their most busy during the winter).
This alone is a major reason to have boiler cover. There are only so many qualified and properly accredited engineers – and trying to find one can be difficult, especially during busy periods.
What cover should I get?
Your plan should be based around your needs.
It should always be remembered that the older the boiler, the harder it is to get coverage. Few providers will supply insurance for a boiler older than 15 years, and some will not even insure a boiler than 7 years old. The potential for breakdowns, issues, and other problems means that these kinds of boilers are effectively a huge liability.
Even if you can find insurance for these boilers, it is often significantly more expensive than a new kind of boiler – up to £1,500 to insure an older boiler. In these cases you should probably just replace the old boiler.
It is best to find an insurance plan which is comprehensive and offers the widest range of benefits. You will want an insurance plan which covers the controls of the boiler, the boiler itself, and your CHS Glasgow (such as the radiators, flue, and pump). This guarantees you can maintain your peace of mind knowing that if there’s any issues, your boiler will be kept in check by an experienced and properly accredited engineer.
