The Importance Of Home Insurance

By Author: Anastacia Kriegh
Total Articles: 11
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Home insurance, what does yours include? Have you gone for combined cover, or do you value your contents over the building itself or vice-versa? With pretty much every insurer offering a discount if you take out combined cover, coupled with an increase in severe weather which can damage you home externally and internally, you would be foolish not to buy combined cover.

Our possessions are pretty important to us, and in most cases are more likely to get broken or damaged. A recent survey by Swinton Insurance found that over a third of UK homeowners value their electronic equipment over any other type of possession.

I-pods, mobile phones and computers are now treasured more than photographs and family heirlooms. Next in the list was furniture, followed by jewellery. Surprisingly, photos received a low percentage of the vote with just 2% compared to 35% for electronic gadgets, however, this could be due to the fact that all of our photos are now in digital form therefore on the computer, i-pod or mobile anyway.

Seeing as Christmas is only a few months behind us and Valentines is still fresh in our minds, it ...
... may be worth checking your contents insurance and adding any new purchases to your policy. This is particularly important if you have bought an engagement ring as this is likely to cost quite a substantial amount and therefore will need to be ''named'' on your contents policy documentation.

According to RIAS insurance, up to 17 million homes in the UK could be underinsured because they don''t know the real value of their possessions. It claims that because the cost of gold has risen by 25% in the last year alone, UK households could be underinsured by almost ?5 billion.

Your insurance policy should therefore be reviewed regularly and it is your responsibility to keep on top of market values for your possessions. Buildings insurance is not too complicated, but contents insurance needs a careful eye to avoid becoming underinsured.

If you are conscious of the price of your overall policy there are ways you can keep costs down without cutting out important coverage such as flood damage insurance.

Reassess your policy each year and compare it, like-for-like with other insurers to make sure you are still getting a good deal. Up your excess to lower your premiums if you are unlikely to make claims and if you can afford to you will often save money by paying in one lump-sum annually as some insurers charge interest for monthly direct debits. Anastacia Kriegh chose the right home insurance policy with Kwik Fit Insurance. Anastacia Kriegh has been writing about them since.