Which? recently revealed the findings after carrying out research into the terms and conditions of a large number of home insurance and car insurance companies. 34 home insurance company websites were examined in total, as well as 39 car insurance websites, and the findings were surprising.

In the May issue of its magazine it revealed that homeowners are sometimes made to pay up to £30 in fees for making simple changes to their policies such as changing their address or other personal information. On top of that, many customers are charged for renewing or cancelling their policies.

It’s the same story with motor insurance, meaning many customers are being hit by hidden charges when they least need them.

Which? has complained that the insurance companies seem to be “taking consumers for a ride” by failing to make the changes clear enough. It also complained that fees were not being published on many insurance company websites, making it very hard for consumers to make an informed decision.

However, insurers hit back by saying that they always attempt to keep prices as low as possible. Axa and Swiftcover said that they only sell insurance online and that people can make changes to their policies online without any charge. They confirmed that customers were only charged a fee if they called into the help desk to make their changes.

The advice? Always check the small print very carefully before making any decisions as to which insurance company to choose because a cheap policy may come with hidden expenses for which you are not prepared.

However, it has now been revealed that home insurance customers across the UK are still not making the effort to take advantage of switching providers and are wasting a possible £1.7 billion a year as a result.

The news comes from one of the largest comparison sites, Confused.com, which recently carried out a survey on our switching habits.

It found that many home insurance customers are simply not making any effort to find a better home insurance deal and are potentially wasting lots of money as a result.

One of its findings was that 70% of customers have kept the same provider for two years or longer. It also found that 34% of customers have never once switched providers.

This is surprising given that the average customer can save £95.26 a year by switching providers, and it could take as little as a few minutes of effort to find a better deal. In these tough economic conditions, this could be a significant saving for a relatively small amount of effort.

But despite the constant reminders that switching providers is easy, this is not what many people seem to think. From the results of the survey, 32% of respondents said it required too much effort to switch, and 22% said that it was too complicated.

Now Confused.com is advising customers to look around and try to find a better deal. There is no reason to spend more money than you have to on home insurance, but just make sure that when you switch you still have the right level of cover that you need for your home.

Now AA Insurance has revealed the full scale of the damage by announcing that it has seen a surge in claims.

The AA has experienced 200% more calls than is normal for the time of year, mainly as a result of the stormy weather. Rises in claims for damage to roofs have been particularly dramatic, being 12 times higher than normal.

Direct Line Insurance also said that it has seen a 300% rise in calls for claims on home insurance, with nearly half of these due to roof damage.

Whereas last year the majority of winter insurance claims came from snow and ice damage to buildings and property, now it is the wind and the rain that is causing all the problems.

Stormy weather can cause damage to doors and gates, and flying debris such as branches and tiles can smash windows.

Aerials and gutters are other items which are commonly damaged during storms.

One of the major problems now is that the bad weather is preventing essential repairs from being made by contractors. Although the insurance companies are promising to do all that they can to arrange the repairs, sometimes the contractors may only be able to use temporary measures to prevent the problems from worsening.

If you have home insurance you should always call your insurer as soon as you notice a problem. It is also recommended that you take photos of the damage if possible because this can make the process easier when it comes to settling claims.

Axa recently revealed that it is expecting 2012 to be a bumper year for insurance claims as a result of events such as the Olympics, the Diamond Jubilee and Euro 2012.

The reasoning behind this is that more people are likely to hold gatherings in their homes during the major events, and this is always a recipe for a greater number of claims being made.

This is not just a wild guess. Axa revealed that it saw a 78% increase in claims on New Year’s Day 2011.

On top of that, there is the added threat of burglaries taking place. Thieves know when homes are more likely to be empty. For example, on the August Bank Holiday in 2011, there was a 24% increase in the number of thefts occurring.

Axa also claims that smart criminals will be making use of the internet to find out when people are leaving their homes empty because 34% of people will post the news to their social networks when they are attending events like the Olympics.

In addition to that, Axa has revealed that there are currently more thefts due to the economic problems the UK is facing. Attempted and actual theft increased by 12% from 2009 to 2010, meaning there is greater risk overall.

And as well as that, even the weather could play a role this year in the number of claims being made. This is because the very dry conditions could lead to a rise in subsidence during the year.

Axa said that it hoped it was wrong in its predictions, but that homeowners should get cover and take precautions to avoid disappointment during the year.

The insurer warned that as many as 40% of homeowners could be vulnerable to damage to their properties this winter, lulled into a false sense of security due to the mild weather experienced in the preceding months.

According to the insurer, last year as many as 3 million homes were damaged by the cold weather. Topping the list of problems was damage to roofs (35%), followed by frozen and burst pipes (31%), central heating (16%) and broken boilers (15%).

Interestingly, the insurer also revealed that the 18 to 34 age group is the least likely to prepare for the winter months, with the over 55s the most likely.

It also differs by region, with people living in London being the least likely to prepare for the worst with only 50% having made any preparations. In contrast, those living in Northern Ireland are more likely to make preparations, with 71% having already prepared.

The cold weather can cause serious problems for homeowners, but a few hours of preparations is sometimes all it takes to protect your home from the worst of the winter weather.

Getting an engineer to check over your boiler and insulating your pipes are two simple and quick ways to keep your home protected, and could save a lot of money which might otherwise be spent in repair bills. It could also help to prevent the need to make a claim on your home insurance policy.

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the cost of the riots is placed at “tens of millions of pounds”. Nick Starling, the director of the ABI, says “We have every sympathy for residents and business owners who have suffered damage to their properties. Insurers will be on hand to answer any queries that they have.”

Affected customers are therefore urged to call their insurers as soon as possible to check what they are entitled to. The ABI have said that most policies should cover fire, looting or damage caused, as well as accommodation costs for those who had to leave their homes.

For those who do not have home insurance, there is still help at hand. According to the 1886 Riot (Damages) Act, the police must compensate residents who have had property damaged or stolen during a period of riots.

Uninsured home owners are advised to make a claim to their local police force. The time limit for these claims has always been 14 days, but the ABI has been consulting with home secretary Theresa May to get this deadline extended to 42 days to allow residents more time.

It is highly likely that insurance companies will pay claims but will themselves recover costs from the police too. Grahame Trudgill, the head of corporate affairs for the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba) has said the police may be forced to pay out to insurance companies for “effectively failing to keep law and order”.

Confused.com’s research found that:

• 40% of home insurance customers have not switched at all in the last three years or more
• 5% of customers haven’t switched for 10 years or more
• 13% of customers have never switched providers

So why are people so reluctant to switch providers? With numerous comparison websites now available it only takes a few minutes to look for a better deal, and almost £100 a year is not to be sniffed at. Confused.com looked into this as well and found that:

• 39% of respondents said they had a great insurance deal and didn’t need to switch
• 20% can’t be bothered to switch
• 19% didn’t think the savings on offer made switching worth the effort

Perhaps the most surprising thing to come out of the research was that 4% of respondents didn’t even know that they could switch providers. With so much publicity at the moment about switching providers to get a better deal in this tough economic climate, it is amazing that some people are still not aware that they can change their providers.

If you do switch, remember that you should not make your decision on price alone because it is also essential that the cover is appropriate for your needs. Mark Gabriel, the head of home insurance at Confused.com, said that “levels of cover can vary between providers so check everything you want is covered and then select a policy that meets your needs”. He also added that it is good practice to do this every year to ensure you have the appropriate level of cover at a good price.

To put this into perspective, that is more than twice the amount paid out in insurance claims the last time the country suffered a bout of freezing weather (£650 million).

From properties to vehicles to businesses, nothing was spared from the sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall that hit the UK throughout December. Low-speed vehicle collisions and burst pipes were some of the biggest problems, with burst pipes alone responsible for 100,000 claims at a cost of £680 million.

In total, there were 478,000 claims made during the spell of freezing weather. 190,000 of these were for home insurance, totalling £900 million, and the rest were claims on car insurance policies, making up a total of £530 million.

The director of general insurance and health at the ABI, Nick Starling, said that “when bad weather strikes there is no substitute for insurance”.

He added that even though it had proved to be a very costly time for insurers, they would do all that they could to keep prices competitive. As of this moment it does not appear that premiums have gone up as a result of the bill, and hopefully it will stay this way.

It is of course a legal requirement to have car insurance but if you are in any doubt about the need for home insurance then this could be a good reminder of the huge bills that you can face if you don’t take out the appropriate cover.

According to Direct Line, just over a quarter of us have under-insured items ranging from designer clothes to the latest technological gadgets and the top of the range luxurious leather sofa to the total sum of £20,000. This statistic may sound alarming but it actually sounds pretty positive when placed alongside another figure released by the insurance company. One fifth of households in the UK have no sort of home contents cover at all, despite the fact that possessions within these households hold an average overall value of £14,000.

The reasons behind the astounding level of undervaluing that seems to be going on in many British households are fairly simple. Never mind the fact that many Brits don’t know the precise value of many of their possessions, or that some homeowners don’t take into account inherited items, the more pressing fact remains that many individuals considering taking out home insurance policies consider their expensive items in isolation. However, incidents such as widespread flooding or house fires can wreak havoc across an entire property, wiping out all valuable possessions within minutes.

By taking some time and care when taking out a new policy, and of course ensuring that you actually do take out an insurance policy, you should be able to avoid the financial pitfalls that can arise from under-valuations.

With hazards such as overloading plug sockets and using worn or damaged cables having the potential to result in loss of life, the importance of being well-informed of the risks is all too apparent. It is thought that over 40 people died and 4,000 individuals suffered injuries ranging from minor to severe following electrical fires in 2007.

However, even minor electrical fires can prove to be utterly devastating, with the financial implications often extreme. Around 60% of accidental fires reported in 2007 were blamed on electrical equipment, with extensive home insurance claims from those fortunate enough to have policies not unusual following such an incident.

The idea behind Electrical Fire Safety Week is garnering widespread praise, with Allianz Engineering just one company to offer support to the initiative. Allianz Engineering used the week to encourage companies of all sizes to have their electrical appliances checked regularly, since it is of course not just homeowners at risk of suffering the ill effects of electrical fires.