Contents Insurance! Protect your stuff!

Contents insurance is not a legal requirement, but you are taking a serious gamble if you do not insure your possessions. Contents insurance should be taken by anyone who owns possessions in a property. After all, if anything happened, it can cost tens of thousands to replace those possessions if they are lost or damaged. 

Do I need contents insurance, or is buildings insurance the same?

WHAT IS CONTENTS INSURANCE? 

While buildings insurance insures the building, contents insurance covers what’s in the building. Depending on what you choose to be in your policy, your contents insurance will cover your household assets and belongings, and protect you against theft, damage, and loss inside and away from the home. 

WHAT SHOULD I LOOK OUT FOR WHEN CHOOSING THE RIGHT POLICY FOR ME? 

Typically, there are two types of policy which are called “as new” and “new-for-old”. The latter is self-explanatory; providers will either replace the damaged item for a new one or will offer a cash settlement. “As new” policies are more officially known as indemnity policies and they are cheaper … for a reason. They pay out what the item’s perceived depreciated value having taken wear and tear into account. 

It's estimated that the average British home contains £35,000 worth of contents. As well as knowing details about your property (see below), there are additional elements to your policy which you should review. For example, there’s home emergency cover (boiler breaks down), or legal cover (costs and expenses of fighting a legal dispute), away-from-home cover (possessions covered even when outside the house, like jewelry, laptops etc), accidental damage (dropping an antique vase).

When understanding the cost of contents insurance you first and foremost need to understand the value of your belongings. Think carefully and make a list of everything from furniture, clothing, sporting equipment, jewelry and get as close to that figure as possible. There is no point in being over insured and ultimately some people are happy to just take the risk! When you have made your decision do your market research!

GoCompare, Money Supermarket, Confused.com, Money Saving Expert are all websites we like! But it is also worth seeing if you can get any cashback from websites like TopCashback and Quidco. Just to confuse matters some companies do not work with these kind of websites and offer the best deals when you contact them direct like Direct Line

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONTENTS INSURANCE AND HOME INSURANCE?

Home insurance is a form of packaged / bundled insurance. It includes both contents and buildings insurance. The people who benefit from these dual properties in the UK are freehold property owners. 
If you’re a tenant or you own a leasehold property, the buildings insurance should be sorted by your landlord or freeholder respectively. However, Mr Insurer recommends it is ALWAYS worth checking there’s a valid policy in place.

 WHAT DETAILS DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MY PROPERTY BEFORE I START LOOKING FOR QUOTES? 

There are some key dates and information you’ll need when insurers start preparing quotes for you. These include knowing when the property was built (however sometimes internet is so clever it can pre-fill that slot for you!), the year you either bought your house or the date that you moved in as a tenant, the types of locks that are installed on the doors and windows, whether you have a burglar alarm installed, the value of individual expensive items (for example anything over £1,000 should be detailed like engagement rings or computer equipment) whether you have made insurance claims in the past five years (across any provider), the total value of personal belongings – handily, there are Confused.com has a contents calculator which can help you work this out.

Be aware that you may already be paying for insurance for certain items like your mobile phone through your service provider. These add on’s are often poor value and you can get a better deal by consolidating you and your families requirements under one policy. Don’t be over insured and don’t be insured twice and you will of course save money.

Mr Insurer urges you to do your due diligence and research. Try and understand your risk levels and remember to always be truthful with your insurer as if you are found to have made a mistake or deliberately lied your Insurance is not valid. This could result in a small cost saving day 1 but a big problem were you to be burgled! 

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