It is recommended that you get your boiler serviced once a year to ensure that it won’t break down over the winter months and that it is as energy efficient as possible.

However, if something goes wrong and your boiler does develop a fault when you need it the most are you covered to get this fixed quickly?

That is when boiler insurance cover can come into its own as it gives homeowners peace of mind that their central heating system can be repaired quickly without having to phone around local companies to get quotes and then schedule the boiler to be fixed. But many people consider boiler insurance as a waste of money as it could be something that is never needed. These people feel it is better to run the risk and if a breakdown occurs they will pay for it out of their savings. Also, with the credit crunch hitting family spending and budgets the thought of paying for additional insurance cover that may not be required can seem uneconomical.

The main benefits of boiler insurance cover is that it firstly covers all your call-out charges, labour and parts, so is comprehensive in this manner. Secondly, the policies will often cover the annual servicing fees as well as providing safety checks. Thirdly, there are policies which can pay towards the cost of boiler replacement if the boiler is beyond repair.

However, there are also disadvantages of boiler cover. The main one is that you could take out the cover and never use it and therefore could spend a lot of money that could be utilised elsewhere. Also, with ad hoc servicing and repair it is understandable why individuals decide just to pay out rather than taking out a policy as it is estimated that the average cost of a service is £70 and a repair to a boiler is £200.

At the end of the day, the decision as whether to take out boiler insurance cover or just rely on ad hoc boiler servicing is a personal one that is swayed by the households’ personal finances. It needs to be a balance between whether it is felt that ad hoc boiler servicing is enough or if the boiler is old and prone to breakdown whether it needs some more robust cover. It is therefore up to you to assess the risk of the boiler breaking down and to make a judgement as to what is the best option.

There is no doubt that if you need to get your boiler fixed or replaced it will cost a large sum of money so paying a small amount each month won’t hit your pocket for one lump sum. However, insurance cover can be expensive as there are varying degrees of cover that can be taken out. For example, just covering the boiler and controls will be a lot cheaper than insuring the whole central heating system. Also, the make, model and age of your boiler will affect the monthly price that needs to be paid. And you will also need to find what the policy covers and whether a replacement boiler if required is part of the plan. If not, you could still be paying out.

Guest Article by Sarah Wain

Right, this sort of question is one of those tricky little conundrums that really depends on various factors and your personal situation.

And like most insurance situations, you have to weigh up what suits you in terms of the risks involved.

Let’s take the boiler. Nowadays they are quite complicated pieces of kit and whereas one might last 15 years without a hitch, another one might break down on regular intervals. And who’s to stay why. Take cars for example. We’ve all known cars that go on for mile after mile without so much as a kind word. Yet we’ve known others that breakdown if it’s raining.

So, if you own a modern, latest specification boiler with a nice guarantee, then maybe you are safe at least for the first year. But do read the small print on the guarantee as, let’s be honest, a number of companies have a way of getting out of any commitment if they can.

But once out of the guarantee period, you are then starting to run the risk of what happens if a major failure occurs? Modern new boilers can cost anywhere from £250 to £3,000, depending on the size of your property. So, if you have an expensive boiler, then you might want it covered. Mind you, even if you don’t have an expensive boiler, the cost of replacement could still be, in relevant terms, a fortune, given your own personal budget. What effectively an insurance plan does, is to spread the cost of a new boiler over a number of months, if you assume the worse and think that your boiler will inevitably breakdown. And, that’s assuming it requires a complete replacement, rather than just parts.

So lets say you take out a monthly policy of between £10 and £15 a month, which will cost you between £120 and £180 a year; it’s cheap if you’re boiler breaks down. But let’s say it doesn’t break down for five years, then the total cost would have been £600 to £900, maybe twice as much as a new boiler for an average house. But, who can say? It’s your judgement and your risk.

But, if there’s one strong argument for getting insurance, it’s that you have someone else paying your boiler attention. Boilers should be serviced once a year, otherwise you not only run the risk of having an inefficient boiler which is costing you more money than it should, but you are risking your own and your families’ lives. A faulty boiler can kill; it’s that simple. Carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty boilers kills around 30 people in the U.K. every year.

Now, to get your boiler serviced, you have to remember to book and arrange a Corgi-registered engineer to do the job. Boiler servicing is, by law, a job for a professional. DIY servicing certainly is not allowed and should not be tried, nor can some odd-job man do it for you.

So, a boiler service can set you back at least £95, so if you think that an insurance plan can start from £120 (and includes a yearly service), then it would make sense to pay that bit extra, spread over monthly payments anyway. And apart from the economic argument, you also have someone who will remind you about your service and arrange to do it. Which saves the hassle of you remembering your annual service and having to negotiate a service price.

Right, you pays your money and takes your choice, but on balance, a good boiler insurance seems sensible not only for your wallet, but also for your health.

Guest Article by Neil Camp