subject: Home Insurance Do You Need It? [print this page] Home Insurance Do You Need It?
Buildings insurance and household home contents insurance are different. Buildings insurance covers your properties structure and the fixtures and fittings and is designed to provide you with insurance should the building have to be repaired or rebuilt due to fire etc. If you have a mortgage your mortgage provider will normally insist on you having buildings insurance cover.
Home Contents insurance is different as it is designed to cover your possessions like furniture, furnishings and personal items or in a nutshell the items you would take with you if you moved house so clothes, televisions, linen, electrical, jewelery etc. Worryingly some recent articles have suggested that many people have stopped taking out home contents insurance during the credit crunch and even those that have it are normally under insured on their household contents insurance policy.
Have you actually worked out what your home contents actually cost? Studies have suggested that the figure is over 45,000 (based on a 3 bedroom house with 2 adults and 2 children) for the typical house!! Try a quick calculation in say your living room...3 piece suite, carpets, rugs, tables, lights, ornaments, widescreen television and DVD player plus maybe dozens of DVDs and CDs @10+ per item it soon adds up and bedrooms are no different when you add up what the clothes, bed linen, jewelery etc have cost.
Without home contents insurance if you have a worst case scenario like a fire or theft (yes thieves have been known to empty a house) you will have to replace everything at your own expense and not many families have that kind of money easily available.
If you are in a situation where you are struggling to find the money to pay for home insurance consider these tips to try and reduce it.
Try increasing the policy excess as this will often reduce the premiums.
Shop around as it is surprising how often consumers remain loyal to their current supplier without checking to see if they are offering a reasonable or bad insurance deal.
Consider amalgamating both your home contents and buildings insurance as by looking around you might see a cheaper offer. For instance many insurers offer large discounts if you buy a combined policy.
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