Homeowners looking for home insurance cover are advised to shop around as a new analysis shows that people could be charged nearly twice as much depending on the provider.

This comes following a review of insurance pricing by the Central Bank, which showed that customers who stay with the same home insurance company for nine or more years pay a whopping 32% more on average than people who shop around.

There were vast differences in price quotes for the same level of cover, according to an analysis by INSUREMYHOUSE.ie, which ran a cost comparison scenario on three average homes in three counties.

The broker took three typical home insurance cases on three-bedroom, semi-detached properties in Dublin, Cork, and Galway. Quotes were obtained from 15 insurers it deals with regularly.

Jonathan Hehir, head of INSUREMYHOUSE.ie, said: "Using a sample quote for building cover of €300,000, and €50,000 contents cover, our analysis shows a huge gap in prices between the highest and lowest quotes.

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"The highest quote for the Dublin-based property at €585 was almost double the lowest quote at €285.08 - so a homeowner could end up spending twice as much as they need to. Outside of Dublin, the price differentials revealed were slightly lower, but still hugely significant.

"We found a 71% difference between the lowest and highest quote for a standard three-bedroom in Cork, and a 77% difference in Galway." Mr Hehir said people might assume the premiums quoted by insurers for each house should be "broadly similar", but that "there are clearly big differences between insurers". He said: "When it comes to shopping around successfully, the key to the best value is making sure you get a wide number of quotes; don't limit yourself to just one or two from the main providers."

Mr Hehir said people should consider a number of options when it comes to buying home insurance to make it cheaper.

INSUREMYHOUSE.ie said customers can get discounts if they bundle together home, motor and other insurance policies with the same provider, and that a monitored alarm system can also bring down the cost of premiums. The company is also advising people to review the value of their possessions regularly and update the policy to include any new purchases.

Mr Hehir added: "These sample costings demonstrate the huge price variability that exists in the market.

"By shopping around or engaging the services of a good broker to do it for you, and by being a little savvier about your policy details, there are plenty of ways to potentially curtail your costs.

"We are making it a priority to make people aware of this and to save people money by highlighting the benefits of shopping around. Surely, savings of this size are worth that little bit of extra effort."

According to the review by the Central Bank, some policyholders are paying an amount in excess of that required to cover the expected costs of their policy.

"From the analysis completed, it is evident that insurance providers may subsidise the premiums charged for more price-sensitive groups of consumers with that of less price-sensitive consumer groups," the Central Bank said.