When making an application for home insurance, it’s always best to take care not to under-insure oneself. For example, were you to lose some or all of the contents of your property to a fire, it can be nightmarish to find that you weren’t covered for various items purely because you’d forgotten to list them originally.
Also, it can be easy to underestimate the value of your assorted possessions. Do you think you could accurately guess how much your CD or DVD collection is worth? Or your clothes, your jewellery, your kitchenware, electrical goods, children’s toys...? You may find that your answer falls significantly below the mark.
Make a list
So how much contents insurance do you need? Well, why not make a list of each room in your property, and write down all the items within them. Don’t do it from memory – this isn’t ‘The Generation Game’! Be sure to look through each room thoroughly – in all nooks and crannies, to ensure you’ve missed nothing of value. And don’t forget the attic.
And don’t just stick to the house. If you have a garden or any outbuildings, remember to have a thorough poke around in those too. Things like garden ornaments, bicycles and anything you keep in your shed can be included in your home insurance cover as well. For more information, read this article about insuring your outbuildings.
In addition, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has a home contents value calculator on their site – so if you’re in any doubt as to the value of your possessions, this could be a big help.
Tally up the values
When you have a nice long, comprehensive list of the contents of your home, then tally up the values in order to know how much contents insurance protection you’re after. If you’re not sure of the value of an item, you could try and find it online (on eBay, for example) and use its price as a guide.
It is worth noting that it’s a good idea to value your contents annually. It’s also wise to recalculate after you’ve redecorated, or bought new and expensive items for your home.
Don’t forget:
- Don’t just jot down ‘computer’. If there are any peripherals such as printers, scanners, external hard-drives etc, then be sure they’re included.
- Be thorough with your clothing. Don’t just guesstimate the value of items – they may be expensive (e.g. designer clothes, suits etc.).
- Are you covered for your downloads, such as software you’ve paid for or digital music? Some policies will cover for these, so be sure to keep your email receipts when you buy stuff online. Make a new folder in your email clients specifically for your online purchases.
- Have you any expensive items associated with your pets, such as a kennel or tropical aquarium? Don’t forget them!
