Saga home insurance review

Saga is an insurance broker offering buildings and contents cover to over-50s. The company has provided home insurance in the UK since the 1980s as part of a wide array of insurance and financial services products. 

Saga is a broker, so your home insurance policy will be underwritten by one of its partner companies, rather than by Saga itself. 

But how do its policies compare to the best home insurance providers in the UK? Our Saga home insurance review looks at its features, claims process and customer service. 

You can choose between two levels of Saga home insurance: Select and Plus. Both tiers can be purchased as buildings, contents or combined cover.

Saga Select

If you take out Saga Select buildings insurance, your cover will include:

• Buildings cover: you can claim up to £1m in buildings insurance to cover loss or damage caused by an insured event
• Alternative accommodation and lost rent: you can claim up to £100,000 if you can’t stay in your home – or gather any rent you would have received – due to loss or damage caused by an insured event 
• Water leaks: you can claim up to £5,000 to trace and access a water leak
• Oil leaks: you can claim up to £5,000 to trace and access an oil leak
• Lock replacement: you can claim up to £1,000 for new locks, intruder alarms and safes if your keys are lost or stolen (you can only claim on your buildings OR contents policy)
• Accidental damage to service pipes and cables: you’ll be covered for any damage to cables, underground pipes or tanks that you’re legally responsible for
• Emergency entry: you can claim for loss or damage to your home, lawn, trees, shrubs and plants caused by a forced entry for an emergency when you’re involved
• The sale of your home: if you’re selling your home, the buyer will be covered for an insured event affecting your home until completion
• Trauma cover: Saga offers an extensive level of trauma cover. Following a violent crime against you by a third party in your home or forcible and violent entry to your home, you can claim up to £1,000 for temporary accommodation for up to seven days and up to £5,000 for conveyancing, removal and estate fees if you feel you need to move home and weren’t already planning to. You can also claim £1,000 for professional counselling fees and up to £30,000 for necessary alterations to your home if you’re permanently disabled following the incident 
• Fees and other costs: if needed, you can claim for architect, surveyor, consulting engineer and legal fees (as long as they’ve been agreed to in advance with Saga)
• Property owner’s liability: you’ll be covered up to £2m for any physical injury, illness, loss or damage caused to a third party in or around your home

If you take out Saga Select contents insurance, your policy will include:

• New for old contents cover: you can get cover up to £100,000 for the contents in your home, which will be replaced new for old following an insured event
• Alternative accommodation: you can claim up to £25,000 for alternative accommodation, if needed, following an insured event
• Theft from outbuilding: you can claim up to £3,000 total for anything stolen from an outbuilding or domestic garage on your property
• Theft by bogus officials: you can claim up to £250 for theft of personal money following an unforced entry by a bogus official 
• Water leaks: you can claim up to £2,000 for metered water bills following a leak
• Oil leaks: you can claim up to £2,000 for oil bills following a leak
• Visitors’ personal belongings: if a visitor’s eligible personal belongings are lost or damaged at your home, you can claim £250 per person up to £1,000 total
• Carers’ personal belongings: if a carer’s eligible personal belongings are lost or damaged at your home, you can claim up to £250 per person
• Contents in the open: you can claim up to £1,000 for any contents that are outdoors but within the boundaries of your property
• Garden cover: you can claim up to £1,000 for damaged hedges, lawns, trees, shrubs and other plants, as well as other garden contents
• Lock replacement: you can claim up to £1,000 for new locks, intruder alarms and safes if your keys are lost or stolen (you can only claim on your buildings OR contents policy)
• Frozen food: you can claim up to £500 for the deterioration of food or drink in a fridge or freezer as a result of an accidental power failure, freezing unit failure or leaking refrigerant fumes
• Personal money and credit cards: you can claim up to £500 for loss or damage to personal money or financial loss resulting from credit card fraud
• Contents temporarily removed from the home: you can claim up to £5,000 for loss of or damage to items while you’re staying in a different property or at work, if there’s evidence of forcible and violent entry (excludes bicycles, personal money and valuables; not valid for stays in student accommodation, caravans and other mobile homes). The claims limit is £1,000 for anything stored in an outbuilding that is stolen or damaged during an attempted theft
• Medical equipment on loan: you can claim up to £5,000 for loss or damage to any medical equipment, such as a wheelchair, that you’ve borrowed from a UK-based hospital, local authority, Red Cross or relevant mobility shop
• Business equipment: you can claim up to £5,000 for any home office business equipment used for clerical work, with a limit of £2,000 per item
• Valuable items (not specified on schedule): you’ll be insured up to the amount shown on your policy schedule, with a limit of £2,500 per item (unless specified), for any valuables such as jewellery, watches, furs and gold items
• Fatal accident: you can claim up to £5,000 if you or your partner dies as a direct result of a fire, theft or assault at your home, within 60 days of the event
• Special occasion increase: you can receive a 10 per cent increase to your contents sum insured during the month of any religious festivals you celebrate and a 20 per cent increase for the month before and after weddings, civil partnerships, birthdays and anniversaries
• Tenant’s liability: you can claim up to £5,000 for any damage you are legally liable for as a tenant (accidental damage only included if you purchase optional cover)
• Title deeds: you can claim up to £2,500 to replace title deeds lost or damaged due to an insured event
• Unrecoverable court awards: you can claim up to £100,000 for costs you’ve been awarded in court that haven’t been paid to you within three months of the decision
• Property owner’s liability: you’ll be covered up to £2m for any physical injury, illness, loss or damage caused to a third party in or around your home
• Personal liability: you’ll be covered up to £2m for any physical injury, illness, loss or damage caused to a third party in or around your home that isn’t connected with the occupation of your home
• Employer’s liability: you’ll be covered up to £5m for any physical injury, illness or accidental death suffered by domestic staff in your employment
• Trauma cover: you can claim up to £1,000 for counselling following a violent crime against you by a third party in your home or forcible and violent entry to your home, as well as up to £10,000 for accidental damage to the contents of your home caused by human bodily fluids during the event

Saga Plus

One of the major benefits of Saga Plus home insurance is that it comes with a three-year fixed price guarantee. While the policy will only last 12 months, at the end of that period, you’ll be offered the option to renew at the same price, as long as none of your details have changed and you haven’t made a claim for accidental damage, accidental loss or personal belongings.

In terms of cover, Saga Plus buildings insurance includes everything found at the Select tier, with the following differences:

• Alternative accommodation and lost rent: you can claim up to the buildings sum insured
• Accidental damage: you can claim up to the buildings sum insured
• Water leak: you can claim up to the buildings sum insured to trace, access and repair a water leak
• Oil leaks: you can claim up to the buildings sum insured to trace, access and repair an oil leak
• Lock replacement: you can claim up to the buildings sum insured for new locks, intruder alarms and safes if your keys are lost or stolen
• New home cover: if you’ve exchanged contracts, you’ll be covered for loss or damage to the building of your new home, as long as you’re not occupying it
• Replacement of matching pairs and sets: if something is part of a set or pair and the single item can’t be repaired or replaced, Saga will replace the set

Saga Plus contents insurance includes everything found in Select, as well as:

• Alternative accommodation and lost rent: you can claim up to the contents sum insured
• Accidental damage: you can claim up to the contents sum insured
• Water leaks: you can claim up to the contents sum insured
• Oil leaks: you can claim up to the contents sum insured
• Visitors’ personal belongings: your cover for visitors’ personal belongings increases to £2,000
• Contents in the open: this level of cover increases to £5,000
• Garden cover: you can claim up to £5,000 for garden cover
• Lock replacement: you can claim up to the contents sum insured
• Frozen food: you can claim up to the contents sum insured
• Personal money and credit cards: you can claim up to £1,000 for loss or damage to personal money or financial loss resulting from credit card fraud
• Business equipment: you can claim up to £10,000 for any home office business equipment used for clerical work only
• Personal belongings (not specified on schedule): you can claim for loss or damage up to £2,500 for an individual item, pair or set and £1,000 per bicycle up to £10,000 per event. This includes valuables and personal belongings such as mobile phones anywhere in the world, bicycles anywhere in the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man or travel in Europe for 60 consecutive days
• Student cover: you can claim up to £10,000 for any items lost or damaged in student accommodation
• Special occasion increase: the boost to your contents cover during religious festivals increases to 20 per cent
• New home contents cover: you’ll be covered for loss or damage to furniture, soft furnishings and freestanding kitchen appliances for seven days prior to moving into your new home
• Tenant’s liability: your tenant’s liability cover increases to £15,000 
• Deeds and documents: in addition to title deeds, you can claim up to £2,500 to replace other important documents that are lost or damaged
• Replacement of matching pairs and sets: if something is part of a set or pair and the single item can’t be repaired or replaced, Saga will replace the set
• Unrecoverable court awards: your cover increases to £2m
• Employer’s liability: you’ll be covered up to £10m for any physical injury, illness or accidental death suffered by domestic staff in your employment

What isn’t covered by Saga home insurance?

You should be aware that when taking out Saga home insurance, you won’t be covered for:

• Loss or damage caused by wear and tear
• Mechanical or electrical fault, failure or breakdown
• Theft, malicious acts or vandalism if your home was unfurnished or unoccupied at the time of the loss or damage
• Damage to gates, hedges and fences caused by storm
• Escape of water or oil if your home was unfurnished or unoccupied at the time of the loss or damage or if it was caused by subsidence, ground heave, settlement or landslip
• Damage or loss caused by coastal or riverbank erosion, demolition, structural alterations or repairs
• Financial loss relating to credit card fraud if the loss of the card was not reported to the police and card company within 24 hours of discovery
• Theft of personal money by a bogus official if the crime wasn’t reported to the police within 24 hours 
• Loss or damage to your new home if you haven’t moved in within eight weeks of the exchange date
• Student cover, which excludes bicycles, personal money, credit cards and theft or attempted theft unless someone uses force and violence to get into or leave the accommodation
• Garden cover if the item in question has been damaged by natural ageing, insects, slugs, snails, vermin, rot, fungus, frost, drought, smoke, domestic animals, subsidence, landslip or ground heave

Saga specialist home insurance policies

Alongside Select and Plus, Saga offers a few other non-standard home insurance policies:

• TailorMade home insurance: if you need buildings insurance worth more than £1m or contents insurance above £100,000, you can take out a Saga TailorMade policy. It’s available as buildings, contents and combined cover and offers enhanced cover limits compared to Saga Plus home insurance
• Holiday home insurance: if you have a second home that’s unoccupied up to 60 days in a row or rented out to strangers, Saga offers specialist holiday home insurance 
• Renters insurance: if you rent the property you live in, you can take out up to £100,000 in Saga tenants insurance to protect your belongings, as well as any improvements you’ve made as a tenant. This is available at both the Select and Plus levels
• Landlord insurance: if you’re a private landlord, you can take out both buildings and contents landlord insurance to cover damage to the property itself and the fixtures and fittings inside

Depending on which level of Saga home insurance you’ve taken out, you can add the following optional extras:

• Accidental damage cover: if you have Saga Select, you can pay for the accidental damage add-on to both buildings and contents insurance
• Personal belongings cover (unspecified items): if you have Saga Select home insurance, you can add personal belongings cover to protect your items, including valuables, when you’re out and about. You’re covered for up to £1,000 per bicycle and up to £2,500 per single other item to a maximum of £10,000 per event. This level of cover is included in Saga Plus as standard
• Personal belongings cover (specified items): you can take out additional personal belongings cover for specified high-value items up to the amount you are insured for
• Specified bicycles outside home cover: you can add specific cover for bicycles outside of your home up to £1,000 per bike
• Legal expenses cover: you can claim up to £100,000 for a variety of legal proceedings, as well as unlimited legal and tax advice
• Home emergency cover: from £34.99 a year, you can add Saga home emergency cover for up to £2,000 per incident. This includes emergencies related to plumbing and drains, electrical failure, pest infestation and security risks

If you need to make a claim with Saga home insurance, follow these steps:

• Check if you’re covered: Saga recommends that you first verify whether you’re covered for the incident before contacting the provider
• Gather your details: before contacting Saga, you should find your policy number and other relevant details
• Contact Saga: you should then contact Saga as soon as you can. The provider states that the claims telephone number will be in your policy documents. However, if you also have Saga home emergency cover, you can call 24/7 on 0800 092 1426 
• Wait for Saga to inform you of the next steps: once you’ve outlined your claim to Saga, the provider will review it and inform you of the next steps. This could involve requesting photographs of any damage, getting estimates for the cost of repairs and any other relevant information.
• Settle your claim: once Saga has everything it needs, it’ll make you an offer to settle your claim

If you need to contact Saga about your home insurance unrelated to a claim, you can use one of the following methods:

• Automated assistant: Saga has a virtual bot that can try to assist you with your query
• Live chat: if the chat bot can’t help, you can ask to speak to one of Saga’s agents
• Phone: you can reach Saga by phone at 0800 056 9102 (8.30am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm Saturday and 9am to 5pm Sunday)
• Mail: You can send mail to Saga Services Limited, PO Box 253, Seaham DO, SR7 1BN

How to cancel Saga home insurance

If you need to cancel your Saga home insurance, you should contact the provider on 0800 056 9102. 

If you cancel your Saga Select policy, you may incur the following fees: 

• Cancel before the policy starts: you won’t be charged a fee if you cancel your home insurance before the policy starts, and you’ll receive a full refund of your premium
• Cancel within the 14-day cooling off period: if you cancel within 14 days of receiving your policy documents and your cover has begun, you’ll receive a refund for the time left on your policy minus a £30 arrangement fee
• Cancel after the first 14 days: unless you have Saga Plus, which has no cancellation fees, you’ll be charged £35 if you cancel your policy at any time after the 14-day cooling-off period. You’ll be refunded for the time left on your policy

Saga has a “Great” Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of 5, based on more than 38,200 reviews. 

However, it’s important to note that Saga offers a range of products aside from home insurance, including car insurance, travel insurance and financial services. So, its Trustpilot score is representative of the whole brand, not just its home insurance products. 

Of its five-star reviews that explicitly mention home insurance, Saga is praised for the competitiveness of its new quotes, the ease of its application process and the helpfulness of its customer service when switching or renewing. Multiple reviews also mention the trust in Saga as a brand, and that’s a big selling point. 

As for Saga’s more negative home insurance reviews, there are repeated complaints about increased renewal costs – an issue that is admittedly common with many providers.

From Defaqto, Saga has the following ratings:

• Saga Select buildings insurance: ★★★★★
• Saga Plus buildings insurance: ★★★★★
• Saga Select contents insurance: ★★★★★
• Saga Plus contents insurance: ★★★★★
• Saga TailorMade buildings insurance: ★★★★★
• Saga TailorMade contents insurance: ★★★★★
• Saga landlord insurance: ★★★★

From Fairer Finance, meanwhile, Saga has the following ratings:

• Saga Select buildings insurance: ★★★★
• Saga Plus buildings insurance: ★★★★
• Saga Select contents insurance: ★★★
• Saga Plus contents insurance: ★★★★
• Saga Select combined insurance: ★★★
• Saga Plus combined insurance: ★★★★

If you’re in your 50s or above, there’s a lot to recommend when it comes to Saga home insurance. Every tier of its building and contents insurance has five stars from Defaqto, and its Select and Plus buildings covers have a four-star rating from the harsher reviewers at Fairer Finance. It also earned a “Gold Ribbon” 71 per cent customer experience rating from Fairer Finance, with only three brands scoring higher. 

There’s little argument that its Plus level of cover is stronger than Select, not least because it comes with a three-year fixed price promise. However, Select has the same buildings and contents limits as Plus, a healthy alternative accommodation limit and extensive coverage for trauma following a violent theft at home. 

When it comes to online reviews, there’s a lot of praise for its application process and competitive quotes – unless you’re a renewing customer, where there are many complaints about price hikes.