Interesting
Fact: almost 80% of UK households
have home contents insurance*.
*(UK
Insurance Key Facts, 2003/4, Association
of British Insurers)
Home contents insurance
covers the contents of your home, which
means things like your furniture, television
or CD collection, against theft, flood
and so on. It is your responsibility
not your landlord’s to make sure
you have adequate insurance in place.
There are usually
two types of cover to choose from when
taking out contents insurance:
New
for old cover – with
this sort of policy, if you make a
claim for an old sofa or television,
the insurance company will look at
how much it will cost to replace them
with new models.
Indemnity
cover – with this policy,
your insurance company will take into
account the age and condition of items
and reduce the cost accordingly.
Recently, insurance
companies have worked hard at making
insurance policies clearer and easier
to understand. But they can still be
quite complicated so if there is anything
in your policy that you don’t
understand, contact your insurance company
for an explanation.
Home contents insurance is also an area
that it could really pay to read the
small print. Policies differ so it is
important to be aware of the cover or
exclusions that are specific to your
policy. For example:
Some insurers
insist you have window locks or a
burglar alarm
Some include
accidental damage while with others
you have to ask to add it to the policy.
Accidental damage gives you cover
if you spill a bottle wine on the
carpet or your child paints the curtains.
If you have
any individual items that are worth
a lot of money, such as antiques or
expensive video cameras, they might
not be automatically covered.
Before
you attempt to put a value on your home
contents, why not get an idea of what
you should cover and which areas are
most at risk by moving over the various
areas of our house plan below.
