Home contents insurance protects against loss or damage to personal possessions. The policy can be purchased by homeowners and also tenants in rented properties. Having the right cover in place provides great peace of mind in the event of the worst happening.
Most home contents insurance policies will cover damage or loss in your home caused by theft or attempted theft, floods and storms, a fire, explosion, earthquake or lightening and water that has escaped from pipes or tanks.
Could you really afford to replace all your possessions if one of these disasters were to strike? Without home contents insurance, or with an inadequate policy, it's quite likely that the cost of having to replace some or all of the items in your home could soon add up to quite a considerable sum of money. It's important therefore to make sure that the sum insured is enough to cover the worst case scenario.
Take a look in the wardrobe. Here alone there could easily be several thousands of pounds worth of suits, shoes, coats and casual wear. Gradually accumulated over a period of years it's easy not to realise that clothes and shoes alone can be worth quite so much.
Peek into the living room and if you see an expensive TV, DVD/Blue- Ray player, games console, laptop, I-pod and docking station, then that quickly mounts up too. Add on the cost of replacing an extensive DVD, CD and games collection and that could easily top a thousand pounds alone. Even the pile of children's toys is also likely to be an eye-watering amount to have to buy again from scratch. A quick check in the kitchen cupboards is likely to reveal piles of pots, pans, crockery and cutlery, glassware and small appliances which would be costly to replace. All this before you even think about having to buy new furniture, carpets, jewellery, watches and paintings.
Another thing to consider is protecting valuable possessions against loss, theft or damage out of the home. Some policies may include this, or you can pay extra to add it on. An engagement ring, laptop or watch are just some of the items you may want to get additional cover for.
There are online calculators available to help work out the value of your personal possessions and ensure you get the right amount of home contents insurance. It's just not worth saving a few pounds on the cost of the policy to be underinsured. Remember to review your policy regularly. Replacing a few major household items and buying new high value goods for the home could easily mean you exceed the limit of your policy.
Of course a student renting a room in flat will have fewer possessions to cover than a family in a house, so if your home contents insurance needs are quite small then make sure you don't pay for too much cover.
Whatever the scale of your cover, it would be distressing to have to go through a major trauma of fire, flood or burglary then discover that you weren't properly insured, so take the time to work out how much cover you need then shop around for the best quote that matches your circumstances.