Homelyfe: The startup wanting to transform the way you handle insurance

Homelyfe, an insurance startup, has launched as a company using technology to make buying and managing insurance easier for consumers.

Initially launching with Home Buyer’s Insurance, Homelyfe is set to release multiple lines of insurance over the coming months, aiming to allow users to manage all their insurance requirements within one app.

Homelyfe allows users to get quotes as well as purchase, manage and renew multiple insurance policies, and initiate a claim. Founders Peter Goodman and Andrew Craven found buying insurance complicated, outdated and time-consuming, which resulted in not getting the appropriate protection.

Goodman, co-founder and CEO of Homelyfe, commented: “The insurance industry is notoriously complex and archaic. The unfortunate result is that a lot of British consumers spend a long time answering outdated questions and are not getting the adequate protection or cover they need and want.

“Some providers are still posting quotes rather than emailing them and each time you get insurance, you need to provide the same information fresh again, regardless of whether you are with the same provider.

“It shouldn’t be as difficult… It is time the insurance industry caught up with today’s consumer expectations. We’ve created Homelyfe to make insurance simple, intuitive and cost effective. By taking a common-sense approach, without the jargon, we’re looking to make it easy for people to get the protection they need.”

Homelyfe previously conducted a YouGov survey of 1,300 British homeowners and those looking to buy their first home in the next two years. The research found that more than one in 10 property purchases have fallen through due to a seller accepting a better offer from someone else in spite of already accepting an oral offer, also known as being ‘gazumped’.

Being gazumped had cost 32 percent of those affected upwards of £500. The findings showed that the risk of losing money is compounded by a lack of understanding of Home Buyer’s Insurance (HBI), which is designed to protect fees such as conveyancing and valuation fees from being lost through gazumping.

With 82 percent of homeowners and those looking to buy their first house in the next two years having never heard of the insurance also known as ‘gazumping insurance’, only two percent had previously purchased it, despite nearly half of respondents (45 percent) saying they would now consider using it for a future home purchase.