I live in the UK and my home insurance has just expired. I want a good
deal and heard that if I buy online I can save money. Which UK
companies should I try and which of these will let combine my home
insurance with my motor insurance?

Hello pietch-ga

Thank-you for your question.  You are indeed correct that you can save
money on your insurance by buying online.  The amount you can save
varies from company to company but is usually in the 5-15% bracket. 
Any insurance company that offers both car and home insurance will let
you combine the two but it does not unfortunately mean you will always
get a discount by doing this.

The following website is the one I always use when searching for insurance:
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/insurancedefault.asp

This site allows you to search multiple companies at once to find the
best deal for you.  For instance, it searches over 50 car insurers and
60 home insurers following the details you give them.  The site covers
all types of money matters and is the leading one in its field so all
of the major UK insurance companies are involved.

Most home insurers will combine your car and home insurance but in my
experience I have not found this to be beneficial as I have found it
cheaper to keep them separate.

This would be my plan of action for you:

1) Visit moneysupermarket.com
2) Enter your home insurance details and retrieve your quotes
3) Enter your car insurance details and retrieve your quotes
4) Compare all the quotes carefully and see what the lowest quotes offer you
5) Combine the prices given from a selected company and see if the 2
lowest quotes are beaten by this combination
6) Visit the websites of your selected companies and enter your
details again, sometimes you get a better deal by using their site
directly (although I have found with moneysupermarket.com this is not
usually the case)
7) The final step would be to telephone any selected companies that
are offering you a low quotation and ask them if they can combine home
and car insurance quotes for a further discount.  Unfortunately there
is no (known) method of doing this online yet but I am sure they will
all be happy to take more money off you!

It may still sound like a lot of work but the list of quotations from
the moneysupermarket.com site should save you a lot of time and only
takes 5-10 minutes to do itself (much easier than telephoning 60
companies!).

The plan of action should discover the lowest insurance quotes for
your situation and enable you to barter with the insurance companies
knowing what offers are available to you.  Do not be afraid to
telephone them and ask them if they can beat the price of one of their
competitors as I have found that most are willing to at least offer
you a slightly better deal to try to convince you to sign up to them.

I hope this answer has provided you with the information that you
require.  Should you have any further questions on this matter please
ask for clarification and I will do my best to respond swiftly.

There are a few insurers who now offer cover to combine all your
insurance needs in one policy. One that springs to mind is Axa
(protection account), Legal & General have a 'choices' policy and I
think Barclays did do a similar policy. Moneysupermarket.com is a good
place to compare most insurers instantly online, but also try
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com for good tips and
http://www.uk-insurance-index.co.uk for a directory of insurers.