Using household contents insurance can help keep your most-treasured items safe in the United Kingdom. Find out in this article, how to use the policy to protect your items.
What is Household Content Coverage?
It is a type of insurance policy that protects or covers the personal belongings of the policyholder. It is also known as home and contents insurance.
Household content insurance is often compared to a home insurance policy. While it protects your belongings, home insurance covers the physical structure of the home.
What Does Household Contents Insurance Cover?
Your household content insurance covers damages to your belongings or possessions. These damages must be caused by any or more of the named perils, including:
- Fire
- Burglary
- Theft
- Vandalism
- Water damage
- Natural disasters, such as storms and flooding.
Note that the personal belongings covered with a household content insurance policy are the items you can take with you. They must also include possessions that you can move to and from your property.
Examples of the items or possessions covered with household content insurance are:
- Kitchen appliances
- Television set
- Jewelry
- Gadgets
- Clothing
- Furniture
- Bedding
- Curtains
Facts About Getting Household Content Insurance in the UK
Here are some facts you need to have in mind before purchasing the household content insurance policy:
Owner-Only Coverage
There is a myth that household content insurance only covers the possessions of the policyholder. While that is true to some extent, it doesn’t reflect the entire fact.
The fact is that you may be able to cover both your belongings and that of family members living in the address with the same policy.
The major exception is that the coverage doesn’t always extend to visitors. For example, a friend who came on a holiday may not be covered by the household content insurance policy.
What Isn’t Covered with Household Content Insurance?
The policy covers the aforementioned coverages or hazards. However, you wouldn’t be able to make a household content insurance claim if any of the following happens:
- If the personal belongings begin to wear and tear.
- Making claims above the recommended household content insurance limits.
- Leaving the home vacant for over 60 days. In this case, you need to get vacant home insurance to cover insurance for your possessions.
House Contents Insurance for Students
Are you a student? You can get house contents insurance for students to cover your most-treasured items.
Note that this type of coverage is commonly offered alongside the renter’s insurance. Check if you are responsible for insuring the properties belonging to your landlord.
You also want to check if you are responsible for insuring the items you rented while schooling.
Student contents insurance in the UK is commonly offered by Endsleigh. According to the insurance company, the provision is made available via the studentGuard plan. Through this, students using the Endsleigh student insurance would get coverage for laptops, phones, tablets and other important belongings.
Additional Coverages for Your Household Content Insurance
The basic household content insurance covers your belongings. However, you can get additional coverage if you purchase any of the following policies:
Home Emergency Coverage
Probably, a television set was affected by power surge and you needed to use it that day. You may be able to do that if you have the home emergency coverage. It is an add-on to household content insurance used for settling the costs of emergency repairs or replacements of your belongings.
Accidental Damage Coverage
Did you unintentionally damage your belonging? Perhaps, you spilled paint on your sofa or knocked over an electronic set in the home.
Either way, you can get coverage for such damages with the accidental damage coverage.
Legal Expenses Coverage
This type of household content insurance add-on extends to lawsuits and other related charges. It covers both the disputes opened by your neighbor(s) and the cost of following up a court case.
All-Risks Coverage
Typically, the household content insurance covers only damages to personal belongings in the home. But, what happens if you took your possessions out of the home and they got damaged?
You can use the all-risks coverage to cover the damages done to your possessions outside of the home.
One of the benefits of the all-risk’s coverage is that it covers damages from the same perils, even if they happened outside of the home.
Disadvantages of Contents Insurance
Getting the household content insurance comes with some demerits. Here are some of the disadvantages of contents insurance:
Proportional Claim Payout
In some cases, your household content insurance provider may not make the entire payout. It happens when you are underinsured.
Inability to Cover Matching Sets
Do you have a matching set, such as a tri-piece jewelry set? Except you have the dealer’s contact, getting the exact design may be hard once it’s lost.
That is why your household content insurance company may be unable to cover matching sets. What happens most of the time is that the insurer would pay an amount enough to cover the cost of getting the replica.
Direct Replacement
Always read the household content insurance policy to be sure of the replacement options. Your insurer may decide to make the replacements rather than paying the amount of money for the replacement.
How to Calculate Replacement Cost of Home Contents
It is time to replace the content of your home that has been damaged, burgled or stolen. How do you calculate the average household contents insurance value?
Here are some tips to guide you:
Use a Contents Calculator
You can search online for reliable contents calculator to evaluate the cost of your household items. With the calculate, you can get real-time quotation of your properties’ worth.
All you have to do is to enter the names or categories of the items and their worth. The calculator would work out the sum and give you an idea of the average replacement cost.
Do It Manually
Looking for a better way to calculate your household contents list without shortchanging yourself? Do it manually!
Start by making a household insurance contents list of all the items you own. The list should include your:
- Television set
- Jewelry
- Bedding
- Furniture
- Curtains
- Kitchen Appliances
- Electronics, including laptops and mobile phones
Keep a Property Inventory
Aside from making a list of contents for insurance purposes, try to keep an inventory. Then, constantly update the value of the properties. That should help make the claim process easier for you when it is time.
Conclusion: How Much Should Contents Insurance Cost?
The cost of household content insurance varies by the provider. However, it is better to let your insurer know if you have items with a worth above £1,000. The average household content insurance value ranges between £24,000 and £100,000. Of course, damages to the belongings or possessions must be named on the policy to qualify for a claim.
