However, many of us do not actually realise that our gardens may not be protected by our home insurance in the event of theft, loss or damage.
It's something that probably many of us have not even thought about – insuring our garden. But it makes sense to protect our investment. The cost of garden furniture, ornaments, state of the art barbecues etc all soon mount up as we have seen and if something happens, you could find yourself seriously out of pocket.
And no matter how hard we try and protect our gardens, they will never be as secure as our homes, meaning that they are left vulnerable to theft and vandalism.
Recent research from the insurer Direct Line reported that one in ten of homeowners is likely to be a victim of theft from their gardens. They say that the most common items that are stolen are hanging baskets, lawnmowers, gnomes, furniture, tools and even the plants!
Similarly, the Nationwide list garden furniture as the most common item to be stolen, followed by bicycles, garden ornaments and statues. Even your clothes on the washing line are not safe, with them being the seventh most common item that goes missing from the garden!
And its not just theft that is a problem. The weather can wreck havoc on your garden with snowstorms and gales causing severe damage and sadly, mindless vandalism is all too common.
Check your home insurance policy thoroughly to see what cover you have, if any. If it does offer cover for the garden as standard, do not that only a limited number of insurers do and even then it will probably be basic cover.
While most policies will cover sheds and other outbuildings, do not assume that this includes the rest of the garden – it probably won't.
If you garden is not covered, then look at possibly changing insurer. And if you are not convinced, why not go around your garden and tot up how much it will cost to replace everything, plants included. You could be shocked!
American Family Home Insurance
Can you think of anything in your life, outside of your family of course, more worthy of protection than your home? It's not just a case of material worth but increasingly of massive personal significance. Think of all the time we spend these days hunting down somewhere that we feel fits the bill perfectly. So much consideration goes into the process of finding the dream home these days ? location, size, suitability and increasingly that much discussed but hard to pin down ?wow' factor. It's hard to imagine a more devastating blow than suffering significant damage to your home or its contents. All this means that home insurance should surely be a top priority.
Making sure you end up with the right policy to fit your needs and that you feel is cost-effective can be a complicated process though, it would be nice to think you could take the easy route and default on a standard policy but, really, there's no such thing. You'll need to check though any prospective insurer's levels of cover and various exclusions. But let's start by breaking the subject into the two principal types of cover ? Building Insurance and Home Insurance.
Building Insurance
Building insurance should cover more than simply the main building and include any outbuildings such as garages as well as gates, patios, sheds and fences. It's important to give any exclusions or clauses, and there will almost certainly be quite a few, a thorough examination. Make sure you know what's covered and what isn't. Don't over-insure yourself; the sum should be the cost to rebuild rather than what the property is worth. In certain cases the insurer will only pay out the cost to rebuild anyway. A rebuild cost should be pretty cheap and easy to come by so make sure you get it right. Also take into account the likelihood of rebuilding costs increasing over time especially if you make any modifications. A worthwhile piece of advice for cutting costs is not to pay with a direct debit, it could mean being charged as much as 30% interest. A good alternative is to pay using a 0% purchases credit card.
Contents Insurance
Once again it is important to be certain that you are insured for the right amount. Try compiling a full check list of everything, it may seem long-winded but is definitely worthwhile. It's quite possible that your insurer will put a limit on individual items, if this is the case and a single item is worth more than an imposed home contents limit try to negotiate an increase or, failing this, you'll have to insure it separately. Make sure your contents are insured beyond the basic theft and fire cover and encompass other threats like storms or flooding. A decent money saving idea is to look at the possibility of a combined deal that covers both contents and building, this might be offered at a reduced rate and should obviously speed up the process. Don't just plump for a combined deal for convenience sake though; a good policy for contents could be teamed up with a less impressive deal for the building or vice-versa.
Both Jason Hulott1 & Jay Smith are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jason Hulott1 has sinced written about articles on various topics from Used Car, Lose Weight and Online Dating. Jason Hulott is Business Development Director of Protection Insurance, an internet based insurance business dedicated to getting consumers the best rates and the best products. Visit our. Jason Hulott1's top article generates over 301000 views. to your Favourites.
Jay Smith has sinced written about articles on various topics from Social Issues, Fitness and Mortgage Insurance. Once you’ve seen Asda's best price, you won’t want to look elsewhere. Jay Smith's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
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