Tesco Bank home insurance review

With Tesco Bank home insurance, you can take out buildings, contents or combined cover – and even receive a discount if you are a Clubcard member. 

But does that make it one of the best home insurance companies in the UK? Our Tesco Bank home insurance review details exactly what is offered, what industry experts say about its policies and how customers feel about its service. 

Tesco Bank provides three home insurance options: buildings, contents and combined buildings and contents insurance.

Buildings insurance

If you take out Tesco Bank buildings insurance, your cover will include the following:

• Buildings cover: you will have unlimited buildings cover for your home and any outbuildings
• Alternative accommodation and lost rent: you can claim up to £50,000 if your home becomes unliveable due to an insured event and you need to arrange alternative accommodation. You can also claim if you let out your property and you are unable to collect rent due to an insured loss
• Water leaks: you can claim up to £5,000 to trace, access and repair a water leak
• Oil leaks: you can claim up to £5,000 to trace, access and repair an oil leak related to an installed heating system
• Lock replacement: if you lose your house keys or they get stolen, you will be able to claim the replacement cost of the locks and new keys
• Accidental damage to service pipes and cables: you can claim for the cost of repairing accidental damage to underground drains, pipes, cables and tanks you are legally responsible for and that provide services to and from your property
• Repairs to sewer pipes: you can claim for the costs of accessing and repairing the pipes that connect your home to the main sewer pipe
• Accidental breakage: while most accidental damage would require an optional add-on cover, you can claim for accidental damage to your windows, door glass, solar panels and bathroom suites on your standard buildings cover
• Emergency entry: you can claim the costs of any damage caused to your property, including your garden, by emergency services entering your home
• Selling your home: you will be covered for any insured events up to the completion date when selling your home
• Fees and other costs: you can claim for any expenses incurred by architects, surveyors, consultants and legal experts, as well as the cost of clearing a building site and making it safe, that arise if your home needs to be rebuilt
• Property owner’s liability: you will be covered up to £2 million for any costs related to death, injury, illness, damage or loss that you are legally responsible for as the property’s owner

Contents insurance

If you purchase Tesco Bank contents insurance, your policy will include the following:

• Contents cover: Tesco Bank contents insurance comes with £75,000 of cover as standard but can increase to £100,000 if needed
• Alternative accommodation and lost rent: you can claim up to £15,000 for alternative accommodation or lost rent following an insured event
• Theft from outbuildings: you can claim up to £5,000 for items stolen from an outbuilding or garage on your property
• Water leaks: you can claim for damage caused by water leaks and loss of metered water
• Oil leaks: you can claim for damage caused by oil leaks and loss of metered oil
• Visitors’ personal belongings: you can claim up to £1,000 for a visitor’s personal belongings that are lost or damaged in your home
• Garden cover: you can claim up to £1,500 for garden items, such as barbecues and lawnmowers, and up to £2,500 for plants, shrubs, trees and lawns
• Frozen food: you can claim for food spoiled in your fridge or freezer by a rise or fall in temperature or contamination by refrigerant or refrigerant fumes
• Downloads cover: you can claim up to £2,000 for legally downloaded digital media if the smart device it is stored on is lost or damaged
• Personal money: you can claim up to £500 for lost or stolen money (though many exclusions apply)
• Contents temporarily removed from the home: you can claim for contents temporarily removed from the home, for example, if you are staying somewhere else or at your regular workplace, as long as there are signs of forced or violent entry
• Contents at college or university: you can claim up to £5,000 for contents lost or damaged while in halls of residence or other term-time accommodation
• Home office equipment: you can claim up to £10,000 for lost or damaged home office equipment if it is used for admin, clerical or child-minding work
• Valuable items (not specified on schedule): valuable items, such as jewellery, watches, furs and works of art, are included in your contents policy as standard (but only if they are not left in the open)
• Special occasion increase: you can receive a £7,500 boost to your contents cover during religious holidays, weddings and other special events
• Tenant’s liability: if you live in rented accommodation, you can claim up to £10,000 for any damage done to the property’s structure or the landlord’s fixtures and fittings with tenants’ liability cover
• Replacement locks: you can claim for the costs of replacing your locks if your keys are lost or stolen
• Accidental damage to home entertainment equipment: you can claim for accidental damage to items such as television sets, gaming consoles, desktop PCs and laptops 
• Household removal: you can claim for items lost or damaged when they are being permanently transported by a removal company (aside from china, glass, money, jewellery, money and watches)
• Personal liability: you will be covered up to £2 million for any costs you or a member of your family are legally responsible for relating to death, injury, accidental loss or damage to property
• Employer’s liability: you will be covered up to £10 million for any costs you or a member of your family are responsible for relating to death, illness or injury to a member of domestic staff in your employment

Combined buildings and contents insurance

You can take out the above buildings and contents insurance policies under one combined premium and benefit from the protection offered by both. 

What is not covered by Tesco Bank home insurance?

It is essential to understand that you will not be covered for the following when taking out Tesco Bank home insurance:

• Fire loss or damage not accompanied by flames
• Storm loss or damage to gates, hedges or fences
• Storm or flood loss or damage that does not meet Tesco Bank’s threshold definitions of storm or flood
• Theft, attempted theft, vandalism or other malicious acts if committed by a member of your family
• Theft, attempted theft, vandalism or other malicious acts when your home is occupied overnight by someone who is not a member of your family unless there is evidence of a violent or forcible entry
• Theft, attempted theft, vandalism or other malicious acts when your home is unoccupied
• Water or oil leaks caused by a tap left on, subsidence, heave or landslip or when your home is unoccupied
• Damage to plants in your garden caused by frost, snow, smoke, bonfires or when your home is unoccupied
• Loss or damage to valuables or money left in the open or stolen from an outbuilding or garage
• Scratches or dents to fixed glass, ceramics and mirrors
• Accidental damage to handheld home entertainment devices, such as handheld consoles, digital cameras, mobile phones and smartwatches 
• Refrigerated or frozen foods caused by your power supply being turned off; a strike, lockout or industrial dispute; or when your home is unoccupied 

You can add the following optional extras at an additional cost to your Tesco Bank home insurance:

• Accidental damage: you can take out extended accidental damage cover for both buildings and contents insurance 
• Personal possessions: this add-on allows you to claim for loss, theft or damage to money, credit cards and mobile phones anywhere in the UK (including your home) and for trips abroad lasting a maximum of 60 days 
• Specified items: you can individually add specified items to your contents cover, allowing you to claim for loss, theft or damage anywhere in the UK (including your home) and for trips abroad lasting a maximum of 60 days 
• Bicycles: you can gain cover for your bicycles, allowing you to claim for loss, theft or damage anywhere in the UK (including your home) and for trips abroad lasting a maximum of 60 days 
• Family Legal Guard: this provides you with up to £100,000 in legal expenses cover for a range of incidents and circumstances
• Home Emergency cover: you can claim up to £1,000 per call-out for a range of situations, with no excess to pay and unlimited call-outs

If you need to make a claim on your Tesco Bank home insurance, you should take the following steps:

• Contact Tesco Bank ASAP: following the incident, you should speak with Tesco Bank as soon as you can. To make a standard home insurance claim, you should call 0345 677 722. For home emergency claims, you should call 0330 123 1963 or submit a claim online
• Explain your claim: when you contact Tesco Bank, you will need to provide your policy number and outline your claim in as much detail as you can
• Wait for Tesco Bank to assess your claim: this will involve discussing the applicable excess and reviewing whether your claim is eligible
• Settle the claim: this could involve Tesco Bank arranging for repairs to be made or items to be replaced or providing you with the cash value of the lost, damaged or stolen items

If you need to contact Tesco Bank about your home insurance unrelated to a claim, you can phone 0345 246 2904 or 0113 209 3099 when calling from a mobile device.

You can also change your policy using your online login without incurring any fees. 

How to cancel Tesco Bank home insurance

If you need to cancel your Tesco Bank home insurance, click “Manage Renewal” in your online account or call 0345 246 2904. 

When cancelling your policy, you will be refunded for the time left on your policy (if you have not made a claim) minus any cancellation or administration fees. You can cancel during the 14-day cooling-off period without incurring any additional costs. 

Tesco Bank has a “Great” Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of five, based on over 22,000 reviews.

However, this is for the entire brand and not just Tesco Bank’s home insurance policies. This is because Tesco Bank offers a range of other products, including car insurance, travel insurance, pet insurance, credit cards and savings accounts.

Of its five-star Trustpilot reviews that mention home insurance, there is praise for Tesco Bank’s speedy and understanding response to claims and the quality of its customer service team. Multiple reviews speak positively of its new home insurance quotes.

Yet, as is the case with many home insurance providers currently, there is a lot of criticism of Tesco Bank’s renewal quotes and the need to negotiate the offer down. 

From Defaqto, Tesco Bank has the following ratings:

• Buildings insurance: ★★★★★
• Contents insurance: ★★★★★

From Fairer Finance, meanwhile, Tesco Bank received the following ratings:

• Buildings insurance: ★★★★
• Contents insurance: ★★★★
• Combined buildings and contents insurance: ★★★★

With just one level of cover for buildings, contents and combined home insurance, it’s easy to know what you are getting with Tesco Bank home insurance. And, based on its Defaqto and Fairer Finance ratings, that is a solid home insurance policy.

It has blanket five-star ratings from the former and a robust four-star rating from the latter, which is usually a harsher reviewer than Defaqto. It also received a “Bronze Ribbon” from Fairer Finance for its customer experience, scoring 67 per cent. That is higher than many prominent providers. 

It is also always a good sign when Trustpilot is full of reviews praising a provider for its customer service and how it deals with claims, as is the case with Tesco Bank home insurance. Be aware, however, that you may end up with a sizable increase in your premium when renewing (an issue that, admittedly, is far from limited to Tesco Bank).