Cost for food shopping and various other things.

[Ginger81]

Guys,

Is the cost for food over there more expensive than the UK?

What about car insurance and house insurance?

Just trying to do a rough cost of living comparison. Anyone got a cost comparison mapped out?

[m1key]

Originally Posted by Ginger81

Guys,

Is the cost for food over there more expensive than the UK?

What about car insurance and house insurance?

Just trying to do a rough cost of living comparison. Anyone got a cost comparison mapped out?

There is a website called crap free that will give you an idea for everything. Forget the address so just Google it...

[Jumeirah Jim]

Unless you insist on doing all your shopping at waitrose/spinneys, sticking to all the uk brands you're used to, it's quite a lot cheaper here. Best to avoid the local shops for big shops bacause, just like the uk, their prices are high. Try to do most of your shopping at hypermarkets like Carrefour,geant or lulu. Look for local fruit and veg too.

Things like uae bell peppers, cucumber, courgettes/zucchini are just as good as the imports and a fraction of the price. We don't save money on meat though and always look for the best. Still most including steaks are cheaper here.

I've lost touch with uk car insurance by think it's about the same here. Surprisingly given the accident rate...

[wazza2222]

Insurance runs at between 3.5 and 4.5 % of the cars purchase value generally...
Don't know about UK insurance, but the deal here (I went with Royal Sun A) kicks ass on New Zealand insurance!
Here is what they are offering on home/contents at the mo...

"With our jargon free policies and convenient claims service, RSA Home Insurance cover is the ideal way to safeguard your home. RSA's simple yet comprehensive package of benefits designed to cover;
1)Contents within the home
2)Contents away from the home ( personal belongings) against all kinds of perils such as fire, earthquake, storm, flood and burglary

Simply choose from the home insurance plan that suits you the best

Your options Contents Personal Belongings Your Annual premium
Plan Sum insured (AED) Sum insured (AED) (AED)
1 50,000 10,000 250
2 100,000 20,000 450
3 200,000 30,000 800


Added benefits include:
1) Free of cost accidental damage for contents
2) Contents cover while you are on holiday for up to 60 days
3) Worldwide cover for personal belongings for up to 60 days
4) Worldwide Personal Liability cover for up to AED 1 million
5) Money at home cover for AED 1,000
6) Contents covered for loss or damage during transit
7) Quick and simplified process to buy policy and make a claim

Conditions include:
1) Single article limit (content) is AED 20,000
2) Single article limit (personal belonging ) is AED 5,000
3) Must be a UAE resident
4) Contents/personal belongings must owned by insured for personal use.
5) Option to include items over the single article limit at additional premium

Deductible/Excess:
1) Minimum excess on all claims: AED 250
2) Any single item under content in excess of AED 10,000 : 10% of the claim amount
3) Mobile phones, portable computers-devices (including lap tops), hearing aids, contact lenses: AED 500"

Hope this doesn't count as advertising, I don't work for them and don't endorse their service
Waz

[Jumeirah Jim]

That sounds a good deal for contents insurance waz. Might look into that as I've been winging it here for years on that front.

I'm with RSA for car insurance. I shop around each year but noone else has matche or beaten their quotes.

[wazza2222]

Originally Posted by Jumeirah Jim

That sounds a good deal for contents insurance waz. Might look into that as I've been winging it here for years on that front.

I'm with RSA for car insurance. I shop around each year but noone else has matche or beaten their quotes.

Don't know if they cover North Korea mate!!

[Ginger81]

This sounds remarkably cheap! 800 Aed for the year? Less than £150? Wow!

So if we were to budget in addition to this.
3500AED For food and general household stuff per month.

Car insurance of 3000AED On a 70,000AED car?

Is there any further significant costs we could be faced with that we wouldn't expect?

We are a couple with a daughter who will be 3 by the time we come out there

Thanks!

[TallyHo]

Food expenditures does seem to wildly vary from household to household, with about half the people swearing it's cheaper than the UK and the other half swearing it's more expensive.

Your food expenditures will depend entirely on:

1) where you shop
2) what you buy
3) how much you eat

In general, my observation is that if you retain the same shopping list as in the UK, buying plenty of frozen and prepared food and a regular supply of cheese and meat, snacks and crisps, your food bill will be higher over here than back home. Most western expat families I know with 1-2 children at home spend about 1,000 AED a week on food. Some go as high as 1,500 AED.

But if you adjust to "local" standards, buying local vegs (which are ok, not great because it's watered mostly with desalinated water and as a borderline vegetarian I can assure you there's a world of difference between the local vegs and the airlifted ones from Europe or Australia), and cheap imported meats from Brazil as opposed to proper meats from the UK/Australia/NZ, and changing your diet somewhat and shopping solely at hypermarkets, you can get away with a relatively inexpensive food bill. But you do sacrifice in terms of quality for the most part. You simply don't get the range of high quality but inexpensive produce and cheese and even meat as in the UK. You can get high quality but it comes at a high cost.

[TallyHo]

I will also toss out that eating out in Dubai is very expensive by UK standards. I'm always surpised when I return to the UK and rediscover that a perfectly decent, freshly made pizza can be had for as low as four quid, even in central London, but it's closer to 8-10 quid in Dubai. And that's just on the low end of the scale.

The only places where eating out is a relative bargain are at Indian curry and kebab houses.

[Piers]

So guys where do you shop most frequently?
I'm coming next week and need to check this kind of thing out.