Contents Insurance Explained

Do I Need Contents Insurance?

It’s a question asked by many and in our opinion yes. It’s a smart idea to take out a home content insurance policy to protect your belongings against fire, theft and other threats, such as accidental damage. When or if anything happens that destroys or ruins your belongings in any way, it would likely cost you a lot of money to get it replaced, repair it and to also dispose, clean and renovate it. SOme things may not be necessary but others might be essential and if you couldn’t afford to replace, repair or renovate something with the cash you have in the bank or simply wouldn’t want to use your savings then it’s definitely worth looking into contents insurance. You don’t necessarily have to be a homeowner to take out contents insurance, you could be a tenant in a rented property but we’ll go over that in the next few paragraphs.

This post will teach and tell you about everything you should expect from a home insurance policy, how to pick a policy, and what issues you may have with submitting an insurance claim if any.

Top Tips

When you download music and videos to your device, smartphone, iPod or mp3 player, several home content plans offer download protection as an add-on.

Such insurance protects you from the cost of replacing your downloads if they are damaged, lost or stolen.

However, you’ll be not protected if the loss is caused by a computer virus or hardware malfunction, so make sure you have up-to-date anti-virus security.

What is Home Contents Insurance?

Home contents insurance is a type of insurance policy that protects you against loss, theft or harm to your personal and household belongings and property. Should you take out such an insurance, you will also be protected if you take things out of your house, on holiday, and those ‘things’ are lost, stolen or damaged for example.

The policy protects your own belongings and those of your family members who live with you. It will not protect the belongings of someone staying with you on a temporary basis. You don’t have to take cover for your home contents. Though, it’s a good idea to do that, because if any of your contents become lost, stolen or destroyed, you’ll have to pay to repair or replace them out of your own pocket whereas you wouldn’t need to do this if you had insurance.

What Should Your Home Contents Insurance Policy Cover?

Your insurance will cover the damage caused by burning, floods, storms and theft. You might have to pay extra for unintended loss or damage to your belongings. It could be worth considering if you have children or pets. Nonetheless, it’s best to check to see what’s included.

You may also have to pay extra to cover the items that you take out of your house, such as cameras or jewellery, or to cover a particularly valuable object. The policy does not cover the contents of a freezer or smartphone, and there may be an upper limit on a single object.

Many policies have an excess. This means you’re not going to be compensated for the first few hundred pounds of a claim. Typical excess will be between £ 50 and £ 100 but again check this as you wouldn;t necessarily want to have to pay £1000 excess to make a claim on your policy.

Some of the policies provide new ones for old protection. It means that you get the full cost of replacing things that are lost, stolen or damaged. Nevertheless, certain plans can only provide you with the value that your goods are actually worth if you need to make a claim. Be sure you know what you’re being offered to replace your agreement before you take it out.

Home Content policies will also pay a lump sum if you die from a fire, robbery or accident at home. You will also be protected if anyone is injured or dies on a visit to you.

Can You Get Home Contents Insurance If You Are Renting?

When you are a tenant, check to see if you are responsible for insuring the contents of your house, as you will be liable for the repair of any missing or damaged objects during and at the end of your tenancy. For example, if you rent a TV, you will need to ask if you are liable, for the insurance.

How To Take Out A Home Contents Insurance Policy In The UK?

When you make a policy, you need to figure out how much cover you will need, depending on the cost of replacing all of your belongings. Many people do take out enough cover, ensure you include everything, including carpets or flooring, and the contents of your garage or shed. Before deciding on a scheme, you may want to get a few quotes.

Sum-Insured And Bedroom Rated Policies

Home Content insurance plans typically operate depending on the number of rooms in your house. They are ‘known’ bedroom policies. Additionally, they may be based on the overall value of the products and belongings that you own. Those are referred to as sum-insured plans.

Premiums will be higher if you follow a policy that has been worked out on the number of bedrooms, but they will provide more coverage.

What you are going to need to compare:

• What’s protected by every policy, and what are the exclusions?
• The fee you’ve got to pay
• The cost of any excess you have to pay yourself.
• No claims bonus that increases every year if you don’t make a claim
• Any additional requirements, such as keeping your home unoccupied for a long period of time.
• You must send your insurer as much detail as you can on anything that could impact their decision to provide you with insurance, or how much to charge you. You will need to inform them of any changes to your circumstances.

What Problems Can Arise With Home Contents Insurance Policy Claims?

• When you are under-insured, your insurer can pay only a portion of your claim.
• There could be a limit on what you may request on a single object, so you will have to pay an extra sum.
• If you didn’t make a new policy for the old one, you wouldn’t be compensated for acceptable wear and tear on the piece.
• Your policy can state that your insurer should offer a substitute item instead of the money to buy it.
• If one object in a collection is destroyed, such as a chair in a set, you will not be able to find a similar replacement. If this occurs, the insurance will compensate for the damaged item and should compensate for replacing the other items in the set that are not damaged.

Which Companies Provide Home Contents Insurance in the UK?

We have checked online review scores and comments to provide you with a list of home contents insurance providers that can provide you with a quick and easy quote about insuring the contents of your home.

• RIAS – Home Insurance
• Direct Line Home Insurance – Home Insurance Plus
• Barclays – Home Insurance
• Direct Line Home Insurance – Home Insurance Plus
• M&S Bank – Standard and Premier
• Churchill – Home Insurance Plus
• Age Co – Home Insurance (formerly Age UK)
• Tesco Bank – Home Insurance

To get more information about content insurance it’s best to do your own research first, we hope you found this blog post useful, comment below if you have any other suggestions.