As Crime Figures Climb Need Contents Insurance

Summary:  
Contents insurance covers all portable items in your home.  Find out what it would cost to replace your belongings.  You can decide to pay more for extra insurance cover.

Check out your home and notice the portable items that you take for granted, like TVs, the furniture, your clothes and jewellery, even the food in your freezer. Oh and don’tDon’t forget the lawn mower and garden tools if it’s kept in a secure shed down the garden.  And money you may keep under the bed, up to around 250 pounds perhaps. All these items make up the ‘contents’ for insurance purposes and they ought to be insured against loss or damage.

It is not essential to have contents cover so being able to obtain a mortgage would not depend on having it, but it’s rather important.

Consumers normally claim if their property has been damaged or stolen, but a contents insurance policy would usually also protect against situations such as damage due to water leaks, or if there is an explosion, or vandalism.

The cost of altering the locks is usually included in a contents insurance policy if your handbag was taken with the house keys in it. 

Accidents can and do happen, and most insurance policies will pay out for broken door for example.  You have to indicate and pay extra to incorporate damage to electronic equipment, so check the clauses in the insurance policy cautiously to be sure you are receiving the protection you expect.

You can opt for an ‘all risks’ extension to your home insurance policy which covers loss or damage to your property, when you travel away from home.  Things such as jewellery, cameras , binoculars or even your spectacles.

Most policies include personal liability cover which pays out if a visitor hurts themselves on your premises, or if you damage someone else’s belongings on their property.  This claim could be for up to £900,000 .

Some insurance policies have stipulations such as raising your cover around Xmas when you expect to have more presents in the house, likewise for a month either side of a family wedding so the wedding gifts are well protected. 

An extra gain for families whose children are away at uni is when your home and contents insurance covers their individual possessions and household objects where they are residing.  The cover might be for up to 15 per cent of your total sum insured.

If you run your business from home you will need an extra policy,  as a lot of contents policies omit cover for this.

The more cover you needthe higher your payments. The amount you are insured for is the limit the life insurance company will settle, even if even though all your belongings are ruined.  So you deliberate  carefully and sum up the cost of your items.

It’s hard to know the cost of your possessions but you need to have a rough idea in order to insure them properly.  Go through the whole house – garage, loft, shed, everywhere, and make a list of everthing.  Find out the replacement cost of your belongings.  You might be in for a surprise!

This doesn’t  apply to bedding, towels or clothes for example, as wear and tear is deducted from the cost of new.  Cheap Life Insurance companies sum up the cost of a dress, for example, by taking off a quarter of the initial cost for every year you’ve had it.

Many insurance companies offer discounts for having recommended locks to doors and windows, for example, or to customers who haven’t made a claim in a required number of years.