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Does Your Home Insurance Fall Short?

If you have buildings and/or contents insurance, you’ve already taken an important step in safeguarding your home and family against loss. However, it’s just as important to continue making sure you’re protected by keeping your insurance up-to-date so that it accurately reflects the value of your home and possessions.

Adequate Cover is Essential

According to a survey carried out by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, up to 70% of British households do not have adequate home insurance cover. Many people may believe they’re saving money on insurance premiums by under-insuring their homes, but inadequate coverage becomes a nightmare in the event of a disaster that damages or destroys your home.

Unfortunately, some policy-holders don’t find out they’re under-insured until they have to make a claim. Many people carry hundreds of pounds worth of electronic gadgets with them every day; mobile phones, digital cameras, laptops or iPods, without thinking about whether or not their insurance policy will stretch to cover them if those items are lost or stolen. Every time you make a significant purchase, the total value of your possessions goes up, and while most people believe their insurance will automatically cover them for all new purchases, that isn’t always the case.

Then there’s your home itself. Improvements that you make to your property may add to its value, and it’s important to review your policy after any significant addition or renovation to ensure that your policy covers the new and increased value of your home. The harsh storms that hit many British households in January of 2007 resulted in insurance claims totaling one billion pounds, and with environmental scientists predicting that these types of weather patterns will increase in frequency, ensuring an adequate level of insurance coverage is more crucial than ever.

How to Make Sure Your Cover is Up-to-Date

It’s easy to get insurance. Making sure that your policy is kept up-to-date and accurately reflects the value of your home and its contents takes a little bit of extra work, but if you ever have to make a claim, you’ll be glad you took the time.

The best time to review your policy is after Christmas, when expensive gifts may significantly increase the value of your home’s contents. This is particularly important when it comes to items such as jewelry and antiques, because these items may require additional or separate coverage in addition to your standard homeowner’s insurance policy. Additionally, you should review your policy any time you make significant improvements to your home or garden, or if you install or upgrade any security devices. Installing approved security devices such as deadlocks and alarms can actually reduce your premiums, so it’s well worth reviewing your policy if you are thinking of installing these.

When you review your policy, check the following points:

1. The total you’re insured for. Your home should be insured for the rebuild cost of your home rather than its market value, and your contents insurance should cover all your possessions.
2. Make sure you have “all-risks” cover if you want coverage to apply when you take possessions outside of your home.
3. Your “single item limit”. This is the maximum amount your insurer will pay for any single item (usually in the region of £1,000 to £1,500). Any possessions that are valued at more than the specified amount need additional coverage.

Discover how and where to buy more buildings and contents insurance cover for less money at UK Insurance Index. You’ll learn the simple tricks to keep your premiums low every year and which UK home insurance companies have the best customer reviews.

Do you know how much your home contents are worth today? If not, chances are your home insurance policy does not reflect the true cost of replacing your possessions and valued items at today’s prices. Discover what to look for and how to ensure you are fully covered.

Tag: home insurance,house,buildings,contents,cover