Home Insurance
You Need Protection
Your life revolves around your home. Knowing you’ve a utopia filled with lots of personal memories to retreat to, gives a certain sense of security. When you’ve invested so much in your home, why risk losing it all?
Home and buildings insurance is a relatively cost efficient way to safeguard your personal possessions and domestic haven against any accidents, damage, fire and theft. Without it, who would foot the bill if disaster struck?Choose insurance products that think smarterYou’d be forgiven for thinking that all home insurance products are the same. But pricing, cover, excesses and optional extras do vary widely.
Only a regular review and direct comparisons will show if you’ve got the right level of cover in place at the best price. We advise annually, but a review is increasingly important when you’ve recently added space or made significant alterations to your property.
You Are Likely To Save Money if You’ve Got:
- Combined buildings and contents policy
- Security devices, like alarms and window locks;
- Good claims history
Making The Choice Easier
Why not reclaim some time for yourself and let us do all the hard work for you. We’ll take your existing home cover and do a comparison, making sure nothing of value has been overlooked. And if we can reduce your premiums a little and increase your financial protection to make you feel even safer, then all the better.Building Insurance that gets the job doneStructurally, your home may feel sturdy, solid and secure. That’s the beauty of bricks and double-glazing – you can shut out the world. Yet, even the most robust property is vulnerable to extreme weather, flooding, freak accidents or malicious damage.
Buildings Insurance
Buildings insurance covers the structure of your home, plus fixtures and fittings, such as fitted kitchens and bathrooms. When specific incidents occur, your insurer will pay out up to the maximum sum you’re insured for. Some insurance policies will also cover outbuildings, including garages and greenhouses.It is important that your property sum insured is enough to pay for a full re-build. Although these costs are influenced by market value prices, the real cost may be less or more.
Insurers Will Take Into Account The Following:
- Rising cost of labour;
- Cost of specialist materials on your property, including bricks, stone and tiles;
- Cost of removing debris and preparing the site ready for repair.
Insurance providers do make minor adjustments to sums insured year-on-year to mirror inflation rises.
What situations are covered?
It’s natural to be influenced by price. But when selecting your insurance policy, get clued up on what situations you are covered for, or your insurance could end-up being a false economy. You can source protection for most building risks, including:
- Damage caused by fire, explosion, lightning and earthquake.
- Damage caused by falling trees (from your own and neighbouring properties).
- Storm and flood damage (usually excluding gates, fences or railings).
- Impact from vehicles, animals, aircraft and items dropped from them.
- Cover for subsidence and/or heave of the land on which your building stands; or landslip.
- Water damage caused by burst pipes and tank leaks.
- Accidental damage to service pipes and cables.
- Riot, civil commotion, malicious damage, vandalism and theft.
- Oil leakage.
- Damage to glass and sanitary fixtures.
Optional add-ons, like legal support are also often available.
Need More Help Deciding?
If you’re wanting to research and cross-compare product features, we can give you some impartial and honest advice to help you choose. And remember, more savings can be had by combining your buildings and contents insurance.
Contents Insurance – Protecting Your Possessions
Spread over time, the outlay for filling your home with furnishings, trinkets, the latest gadgets and gizmos may appear manageable. But if you had to replace every item in one hit, what would the cost be to you? Walk around each room, including your loft, garage, cellar and shed and do a rough calculation. Add in clothes, DVDs, CDs, electrical items, not to mention jewellery, antiques and furniture, and you’re probably talking many thousands of pounds
Contents insurance is a cost efficient way to restore some degree of normality if your house burnt down tomorrow, was broken into and items stolen or vandalised, or flash floods washed away your prized possessions.
Think current value, not what you paid
If, like most people, you simply renew your contents insurance annually, you could be in for a shock. The price you paid three years ago for a flat screen TV, or to re-decorate a bedroom, could have jumped significantly in real cost. Your sum-insured today, needs to reflect the current cost of replacing all your items.
Even more important, luxury goods or high value items purchased as maybe a future investment should be listed separately. We would advise obtaining professional valuations of rare antiques, including furniture, or works of art, every two to three years.
There are two main types of contents policies available, which affect how claims are processed.
‘New for Old’
Most insurers today provide ‘new for old’ replacement cover, which means providing your items were well maintained, they will replace your loss with a brand new item. Clothing and linen that was over five years old may incur wear and tear deductions. With standard items, insurers can arrange replacement deliveries through their network of suppliers within days. Some insurers provide the option to upgrade specific items. You simply pay the difference in value.
Indemnity ‘wear-and-tear’ policies
The cheaper option of the two is the indemnity policy. Premiums tend to be lower as insurance companies take into account the amount of wear and tear when paying your claim. So, if your five year old three piece suite was ruined by leaking water, the pay-out would reflect the age of the suite.
What are you covered against?
Contents insurance will generally cover the same situations and incidents featured on our Buildings Insurance section.
Extra features or add-on extras may include:
Lock replacements if your keys are stolen.
Automatic increases in cover around Christmas or wedding gifts.
Accidental damage or loss of items that you frequently take out of the home, for instance cameras or sporting equipment.
Student cover for household items and personal effects.
Liability cover if you accidentally injure or cause damage to another property.
Discounts may be available if you:
- Fall within a specific age group;
- have security fittings at every point of entry;
- Have a claims free history? Combine your contents and buildings insurance
Things to watch out for:
If you work from home, your contents insurance may cover some losses, but limits could be applied. It is worth checking whether you need individual insurance or if your provider can extend cover.
If you are letting or sub-letting your property, remember to tell your insurer. Failing to do so could result in your policy being cancelled. Typically, insurers won’t pay out a theft claim unless there’s evidence of forced entry.
Need Even More Help Deciding?
If you’re wanting to research and cross-compare product features, we can give you some impartial and honest advice to help you choose. And remember, more savings can be had by combining your buildings and contents insurance.
For buildings & contents insurance we offer products from a selected panel of providers
Need Even More Help Deciding?
If you’re wanting to research and cross-compare product features, we can give you some impartial and honest advice to help you choose. And remember, more savings can be had by combining your buildings and contents insurance.
For buildings & contents insurance we offer products from a selected panel of providers