The energy crisis continues with the cost of living soaring for millions across the UK.
Because of this, experts have been helping people by providing advice during what is a hard time for many with peoole trying to save money.
With this in mind, experts at BOXT have revealed that one common mistake that many could be doing can actually be costing you more in the long run - and not just by a few pounds with the experts saying it could be as much as thousands.
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Speaking about the mistake, Andy Kerr, Founder at BOXT, explained: “You may save money in the short term, but not having a regular boiler service can put you and your family at risk, not to mention financially out of pocket. The average cost of repairing your boiler can be between £100 and £500, depending on the issue, and if you need an emergency repair this can add around £400 to the final bill. This costly expense can easily be avoided, and the best way to ensure that your boiler isn’t costing you more money than it should is by regularly servicing it.
"While one-off services may seem cheaper in the short term, with a boiler service or full cover plan, you get the peace of mind that your service will be arranged and the cost is covered by your monthly payments, and, depending on the type of cover plan you have, any necessary repairs could be covered too. A one-off service will cost you between £80 and £150, depending on the kind of boiler you own. A service plan, however, could cost you less than £8 pounds a month, under £100 each year, and will guarantee everything you need for your annual service is sorted.”
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Andy continues: “You need to make sure that you’re finding the best cover plan out there. Some plans will offer a wider range of services compared to others."
He adds that, for instance, you might want to verify:
What type of issues the plan covers, and the ones that aren’t included;
If your boiler is too old to be repaired;
If there are any call out fees for repairs;
If there are any additional fees that aren’t built into the standard price;
If there’s a limit on how long the engineer can spend on repairs;
If you’ll only be able to make a limited amount of claims in a year;
If there’s a waiting period after you take your policy out during which you won’t be able to claim.
Not servicing your boiler every year could invalidate the manufacturer’s warranty. If you still have a remaining warranty on your boiler, make sure you’re getting it serviced every year in case you ever need to claim the warranty. Not having an annual service invalidates the warranty, meaning that if anything goes wrong, you’ll have to foot the bill. So, by having a boiler service or full cover plan in place means you don’t have to worry about forgetting to arrange it and invalidating your warranty.
Not getting an annual boiler service could invalidate your home insurance. If something goes wrong with your boiler - for instance, a gas leak - you’ll want to make sure that your insurance provider will cover the costs of the damage. If you don’t get your boiler serviced annually your insurance provider may not cover the costs if something goes wrong, putting you out of pocket, so make sure you check the fine print of your home insurance policy, and what’s required of you.
Not servicing your boiler will cut its lifespan. Boilers are not cheap to repair or replace, the cost of a boiler with installation nowadays is, on average, between £1,500 and £3,500. But a regular boiler service helps to spot early warning signs of damage and can help to prevent bigger issues developing, maximising your boiler's lifespan of between 10 to 15 years.
Not servicing your boiler won’t allow it to run efficiently and your energy consumption could increase. With the current energy bill increase, keeping your energy consumption at a minimum is essential. Some boilers can underperform and end up using more energy as a result. Having a regular boiler service enables it to run as efficiently as possible, saving money on your energy bills in the long term.
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