Evening all ,
Which insurance companies would people recommend for house/contents insurance ?
We have just bought a house near Limoges initially as a holiday home with a view to moving later on .
Would you have to declare that it’s a holiday home etc
Thanks in advance
Yes, maison secondaire is important to declare. If you look at the banner at the top of your screen the second right is “insurance”. Click to be directed to a good bilingual broker.
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Initially we used this company whilst the house was still a holiday home :
http://www.myinsurancequotes.co.uk/
They were quite a bit cheaper than French brokers. Once we moved here permenantly we switched to @fabien.
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I moved from Intasure to Pacifica (Credit Agricole) when the house was a holiday home and almost halved the premium. When we moved over permanently, the premium went up by around 80 euros - presumably because the risk had increased with us in the house.
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Hi Mat, thanks for quoting me here 
Just as an information but, a foreign insurance is only valid in France if the insurer is paying some fraction of the premium to the “FGAO fund” (fond de garantie des assurances obligatoires). If a foreign insurer is paying to that fund, then that insurer is usually refered to as an “LPS” (it’s a label and that means “libre prestation de service” in French). Since roughly 2016 that LPS label has become mandatory for foreign insurers (even if they are European) so said differently, if you have something in France and that something is insured by a foreign insurer BUT that insurer is not labeled as an LPS in France and/or doesn’t pay to the FGAO then it’s a felony and the burden of the claim (and the responsibility) will fall back on you in case of a problem.
Because of these new legislations, many foreign insurers stop doing business in France and they’ve gradually bailed out since 2016 (Acasta, Navigators, CBL, Kudos, Alpha insurance, Elite insurance, etc.) so many insuree which had already pay their premiums were found in a situation where they needed to pay again to remain insured or be in an illegal situation.
As retail customers you may not be aware of all this and the legislation but it still applies and the consequences might be ravaging in case of a big claim so I highly advise people that have home(s) / vehicle(s), etc. in France to get them insured through a French based insurer (not especially me though ).
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Pacifica is one of the cheapest for small to medium homes. Their quality of service is in adequacy with the premium but all claims are processed according to the law so if one is after the premium then it’s a perfect fit
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