Privilege home insurance review

Founded in 1994, Privilege is an insurance provider offering home and car cover, with more than 600,000 policy holders in the UK. 

It offers two tiers of home insurance, which you can buy as buildings, contents or combined cover, and several add-ons, including accidental damage and family legal protection.  

But is it one of the best home insurance providers in the UK? Our Privilege home insurance review takes a look at what it covers, how to make a claim and how its customers feel about its service.

Privilege offers two tiers of home insurance: Standard and Platinum. Both can be bought as buildings, contents or combined cover. 

Standard home insurance

Whether you take out buildings insurance on its own or as part of a combined policy, Privilege will cover you for the following:

• Building cover: you’ll have unlimited cover if you need to rebuild your home, including any outbuildings

• Alternative accommodation and lost rent: if you can’t stay in your home due to an insured event, you can claim up to £25,000 for alternative accommodation. This benefit also includes lost rent if you have tenants and are unable to lease out your property due to an insured event

• Tracing and accessing a water or oil leak: you can claim up to £1,000 for tracing and accessing a water leak or a leak from an oil-fired heating system

• Loss of keys: you can claim to replace locks and other security systems if your keys have been lost or stolen

• Clearance costs: Privilege will cover the costs of clearing the worksite and making it safe before repairing or rebuilding your property

• Professional fees: the provider will pay for any professional fees, such as those for architects, surveyors or qualified consultants, incurred during the rebuilding process

• Accidental damage to service pipes and cables: you can claim for any accidental damage to service pipes, cables, underground drains and tanks
  
• Property owner’s liability: you’ll be covered for up to £2 million if someone makes a claim against you for accidental death, illness or bodily injury, or accidental loss of or damage to property

If you take out Privilege contents insurance, it will include coverage for the following:

• Content cover: you can insure the contents of your home up to £50,000. If you claim, items will be replaced on a new for old basis (mobile phones will be replaced with a Grade A refurbished phone)

• Alternative accommodation and storage: you can claim up to £15,000 for alternative accommodation if you cannot stay in your home following an insured event. This includes the cost of putting any items in storage

• Valuables: for valuables that aren’t listed as a specified item in your policy, you can claim up to 30 per cent of the overall contents sum you are insured for or up to £2,000 per single item. Privilege defines valuables as sets of coins, stamps or medals; furs; items, sets or collections of gold, silver or other precious metals; jewellery; watches; and works of art

• Theft from outbuildings: you can claim a maximum of £1,000 for theft from your garage or outbuilding

• Frozen and chilled foods: you can claim an unlimited amount for food in your fridge or freezer that’s been damaged by the temperature rising or falling or the refrigerant or refrigerant fumes escaping

• Loss of keys: if your keys are lost or stolen, you can claim for the costs of replacing your locks and security systems

• Moving home: you can claim if items are damaged when moving home (aside from bikes, china, glass, earthenware and other fragile items)

• Outside contents: you can claim up to £500 for any contents outside of your home (within the boundaries of your property) with the exception of bicycles

• Water and oil bills: you can claim for oil used in a domestic heating system or metered water bills following a leak

• Tenants’ liability: if you rent your property, you can claim up to £5,000 for any damage you’re liable to pay that falls under Privilege’s core buildings cover using tenants’ liability insurance

• Employer’s liability: you’ll be covered up to £5 million for any claims arising from a single incident involving accidental death, illness or bodily injury to any domestic staff member in your employment

• Personal liability: you’ll be covered up to £2 million if someone makes a claim against you for accidental death, illness or bodily injury, or accidental loss of or damage to property

Platinum home insurance

With Privilege Platinum building insurance, you’ll be covered for everything at the standard level of cover, as well as the following:

• Alternative accommodation and lost rent: your cover limit increases to £50,000

• Tracing and accessing a water or oil leak: your cover limit for tracing and accessing leaks increases to £5,000

• Emergency entry to buildings and gardens: if your home or garden landscaping is damaged by the fire brigade, police or ambulance services making a forced entry due to an emergency involving you, you can make a claim for the costs

• Selling your home: you’ll be covered for the period between exchanging contracts and completing when selling your home. The buyer will receive any payout

• Property owner’s liability: you’ll be covered up to £5 million if someone makes a claim against you for accidental death, illness or bodily injury, or accidental loss of or damage to property

• Accidental damage: you’ll be covered for accidental damage caused to your building (unless caused by a paying guest or tenant, tobacco burns or overflowing water damage where the taps have been left on)

• Family legal protection: you’ll be covered for up to £100,000 for legal costs related to personal injury, clinical negligence, employment disputes, contract disputes, property protection, motoring offences, inheritance disputes and legal defence. You must contact Privilege’s legal helpline before incurring any costs
  
• Home emergency cover: you can claim up to £500 for an emergency callout (including plumbing and drainage, heating assistance, security damage, electrical damage and pest control), up to £250 for a replacement boiler and up to £250 for one night of emergency accommodation

And if you take out Privilege Platinum contents insurance, your policy will include in the standard level, as well as the following: 

• Content cover: you can insure the contents of your home up to £100,000

• Alternative accommodation and storage: the cover limit increases to £30,000

• Valuables: the limit for a single valuable item increases to £4,000

• Theft from outbuildings: you can claim a maximum of £5,000 for theft from your garage or outbuilding

• Downloaded content: you can claim up to £3,000 for content that has been bought and stored on your home computer, mobile phone or other portable entertainment device

• Outside contents: the cover limit for outside contents increases to £2,500

• Garden plants: you can claim up to £2,500 total or £500 for any one plant or tree following damage caused by an insured event

• Money in the home: you can claim up to £500 for money in the home that has been damaged or stolen

• Contents at university, college or boarding school: you can claim up to £10,000 for any contents insured under your policy that are damaged or stolen when away at university, college or boarding school (in the British Isles). This excludes money, bicycles, camping equipment and items that fall under personal possessions

• Contents temporarily away from the home: you can claim up to £10,000 for any contents insured under your policy that are damaged away from home (but in the British Isles). This excludes money, bicycles, camping equipment and items that fall under personal possessions

• Guests’ belongings: you can claim up to £1,000 for damage to guests’ belongings in your home

• Special events cover: your overall contents cover will be increased by 10 per cent for 30 days before and after special events, such as births, religious festivals, weddings and civil partnerships

• Title deeds: Privilege will cover the cost of new title deeds being drawn up if yours are damaged due to an insured event

• Tenants’ liability: your tenants’ liability cover increases to £10,000

• Accidental damage: you’re covered for accidental damage to your contents when in your home or when moving home (this excludes bicycles, money, damage caused by tobacco burns and overflowing water damage where the taps have been left on)

• Employer’s liability: you’ll be covered up to £10 million

• Personal liability: you’ll be covered up to £5 million

• Personal possessions: you’ll be covered for personal possessions, such as valuables, sports equipment and luggage, that you carry outside of your home. Your cover limit is up to £4,000 per single item, up to £1,000 per bicycle, up to £500 for money and up to £1,000 for theft from an unattended vehicle

• Family legal protection: you’ll have the same family legal protection included with Platinum buildings cover

• Home emergency cover: you’ll have the same home emergency cover included with Platinum buildings cover

What Privilege home insurance doesn’t cover

You should be aware that you won’t be covered for the following with Privilege home insurance:

• Most claims if you haven’t regularly slept in your home in the last 60 days
• General wear and tear
• Loss or damage resulting from a lack of maintenance or routine decoration
• Damage caused by rot, fungus, woodworm, beetles, moths, insects or vermin
• Damage to fences, gates or hedges caused by storms or floods
• Damaged caused by frost
• Subsidence, heave or landslip damage caused by a water or oil leak
• Damaged caused by coastal erosion 
• Damage caused by overflowing sinks, wash basins, bidets, showers and baths because of taps being left on
• Loss or damaged caused by theft or attempted theft if the loss was caused by deception (unless the only deception used was getting into your home)
• Theft of attempted theft contents claims if the loss was by deception (unless the only deception used is to get into your home) or loss of money (unless force and violence is used to get into or out of your home)
• Replacement of frozen and chilled foods damaged by a deliberate act or neglect or if your fridge or freezer is over 10 years old (unless regularly serviced)

If you don’t want to take out Platinum cover, you can add the following optional extras to boost your policy: 

• Personal possessions: with add-on personal possessions cover you can claim up to £2,000 per single item, up to £250 for money and up to £500 per bicycle
• Accidental damage: you can choose between taking out accidental damage cover for your building, your contents or both
• Home emergency: with the home emergency add-on, you can claim up to £500 for emergency callouts. Privilege will also make sure a qualified tradesman does the repairs
• Family legal protection: you’ll be covered for up to £100,000 in legal costs for a range of different situations, including personal injury claims, contract disputes and employment disputes 

If you need to make a claim on your Privilege home insurance, you should follow these steps:

1. Contact Privilege as soon as possible: you can either start your claim online using Privilege’s form or ring 0345 246 8534 (8am to 8pm Monday to Friday; 9am to 5pm Saturdays; 9am to 3pm on bank holidays). If it’s an emergency, and you cannot stay in your home due to an insured event, you can call the 24 hour helpline on 0345 301 6243
2. Outline your claim: you’ll need to give Privilege as much detail as you can about your claim. The provider will ask for your policy number, the date and time of the incident, details of the event, what has been damaged and, if needed, a crime reference number
3. Gather evidence: it’s a good idea to take photographs, hold onto any damaged items and keep any receipts where relevant
4. Follow the next steps: once you’ve outlined your claim, the provider will let you know what happens next. For example, it may arrange for the value of the claim to be assessed or for an approved repairer to come out and fix any damage. You may be able to request a cash payout instead

If you need to contact Privilege about anything that isn’t claim related, you can use the following methods:

• Virtual assistant: you can try and find the answer you need using Privilege’s virtual assistant

• Live chat with an agent: if the virtual assistant can’t help you, you can chat to an agent from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and 10am to 5pm on Sundays

• Phone: you can call 0345 246 8534 from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, 9am to 4pm on Sundays and 9am to 3pm on bank holidays

How to cancel Privilege home insurance

If you need to cancel your Privilege home insurance policy, you can call customer service on 0345 246 8534. 

When cancelling your policy, you’ll be refunded for the time remaining on your premium (unless you’ve made a claim or had a claim made against you). 

Privilege has a “Great” Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of 5, based on more than 5,300 reviews.

It’s important to note that Privilege also offers car insurance, so its Trustpilot score is based on the brand as a whole, not just its home insurance products. 

Of the five-star reviews that mention home insurance, there’s a lot of praise for how Privilege handles claims, as well as relatively reasonable renewal prices.

There are repeated complaints, however, around failing to receive policy documents in a timely manner and some issues with contacting customer service. 

From Defaqto, Privilege has the following ratings:

• Standard buildings insurance: ★★★ 
• Platinum buildings insurance: ★★★★
• Standard contents insurance: ★★★
• Platinum contents insurance: ★★★★

From Fairer Finance, Privilege has the following ratings:

• Standard buildings insurance: ★ 
• Platinum buildings insurance: ★★★
• Standard contents insurance: ★
• Platinum contents insurance: ★★★
• Standard buildings and contents insurance: ★
• Platinum buildings and contents insurance: ★★★

One of the biggest positives around Privilege home insurance appears to be its claims process. There are numerous five-star reviews on Trustpilot that praise Privilege for its professionalism and promptness when dealing with a claim. 

However, the standard Privilege home insurance options are on the stingier side. This is reflected in a below-average three-star rating for both buildings and contents coverage from Defaqto and a very poor one-star rating for every standard option from Fairer Finance. 

The Platinum policies are more appealing and come with several optional extras. Even then, they still have a lower rating than many comparable policies from other insurance providers.