Insurance
Contents Insurance - How Much Are Your Home Contents Worth?
When buying insurance of any kind, and in particular home insurance, it's vital that you choose the right sum to insure. Too much, and you will be over-paying for your premiums; too little, and you will never be reimbursed with enough money to replace or repair your property. To make matters worse, being under-insured can often lead to additional penalties imposed by the insurance company.
Your insurer may suggest a ball-park figure for the value of your home contents, but you are the one responsible for ensuring that the amount they suggest would provide you with sufficient cover.
So, how do you go about making a well-judged assessment?
Whatever you do, don't guess! It is common to overlook valuable items, even whole rooms, and any answer you come up with based on a guess is unlikely to be right.
Instead, be methodical and work out the value in stages:
- First make a list of all the rooms in and on your property. This should include your loft, cellar, garage and outbuildings.
- Next, visit each room in turn and make a note of every item you find that is important to you and which you would want to replace if it were lost.
- After you have finished your survey, give each item a value and add up all the values to reach a total. When assigning values, use amounts that would realistically allow you to purchase an item of similar quality. Do not deduct anything for wear and tear.
- Finally, you should take inflation into consideration. You may need to make a claim at any time during the coming year before your next renewal date, so make sure that you add on enough to cover twelve months of inflation.
The figure you end up with will be a good appraisal of the worth of your home contents, and one you could feel confident in using for your sum insured. Remember to review it at renewal time.
Insurance policies for higher value homes frequently include a valuation service, so if your house comes into this category, it would be a good idea to take advantage of their expertise, especially if you have a fine art or antiques portfolio. It's not uncommon for such services to find hidden treasures you never knew existed!
Further information on contents insurance and other aspects of home insurance, with an emphasis on high value homes, may be found at http://www.highvaluehouseinsurance.com.
Clare Ferens
Tags: contents insurance, home contents, home insurance, sum to insure, sum insuredSimilar articles
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