Zyra's website //// Proper Insurance Companies //// Home Insurance //// Site Index

You can be your own Insurance Company !


There are some circumstances in which you are allowed to be your own insurance company, to insure yourself! However, this is not an easy option. In the UK you are not allowed to insure your own car because the liability is very high and you might not being able to afford it, but if you own your house outright your are allowed to be insure it yourself!

The ramifications of this are: You don't pay any insurance premiums, and you hope you don't have to make a claim, because if you suffer some damage then it comes out of your own pocket! I am the insurer of my own house, and last year a slate fell off in a storm and smashed a window, so that's £300 I've got to claim off myself. However, I'm not paying a premium, so I'm still doing quite well on the deal

I could only justify being the insurer of my own house by being the outright owner, (no mortgage), and by having enough money in the bank to pay for rebuilding the house if it was lost in a disaster.

Other advantages of being your own insurance company: You're not going to swindle yourself on an insurance claim, so the average insurance premiums being too high because of widespread insurance fraud are avoided.

As you are your own loss-adjuster, you make minute-by-minute insurance risk assessments and generally take extra care to avoid having to pay out for any claims.

If you decide to insure your own house, you're in good company: Windsor Castle is not insured by an insurance company but has the risks taken by the royals.

Downsides of being your own insurance company: If you are unlucky and suffer a major disaster, you'll have to pay out a lot of money. That's a risk you have to take.

Although I am daringly being my own insurance company on my own house, I do recommend you get insurance from a proper insurance company, the sort of place where they've got so much money that they can afford to pay out even if there are a lot of claims!

Also, when I go travelling, which I do quite a bit, as I'm looking at the world's tax havens with a view to emigrating my prosperous Internet company, I always get travel insurance. I think I'm getting a good deal from Insure & Go, as my medical expenses for have been quite high. If I'd been so rash as to be my own health insurance I could have ended up paying thousands, as I have been known to become ill quite often.

Car Insurance is obligatory in most countries in the world, so I'm afraid you're stuck with it. The best you can do is to shop around the different car insurance companies and find somewhere that's offering a sensible premium.

Take sensible gambling risks!