|
||
Building and contents insurance are a way of protecting the shell of your home and your contents inside against disaster and loss. If you take out the protection together you can often get savings compared to taking each policy individually with different providers. Another way to get the best deal of the insurance is to allow a specialist broker to search on your behalf.
There are different levels of building and contents insurance so before taking out the cover it is essential to check out the terms and conditions to see what is and is not covered as there can be exclusions as there are in all types of insurance. Contents insurance has to be considered carefully as if there are any items of particular value in the home these might not be included in the policy. Items such as jewellery, collections and high tech gadgets may not be covered but can often be added on for a little extra.
To get a quote for contents insurance you would have to calculate how much the contents of your home add up to so you would need to take an inventory. Of course the higher the insurance level you want, the more home contents insurance will cost, so it is essential that you calculate correctly as you could pay over the odds for protection you do not need. However do not just take a wild guess as you could under insure and if you should lose all the contents of the home in a fire this would be disastrous. Usually when taking out a standard home contents insurance policy you would be protected against such as fire, theft and accidental damage. However you would have to check the small print with a fine tooth comb before buying and also check to find out if the policy covered such as flooding as often this needs adding onto the policy and you have to pay out extra.
When looking into taking buildings insurance you would also have to take into account the worst case scenario and how much it would cost to rebuild your home from the ground up if it should be totally destroyed. Buildings insurance would pay for the cost of rebuilding the shell of the property but the contents of the home are not included in this. Buildings insurance would usually also protect such as outer buildings, pools, garages and patio furniture. Usually a policy will cover damage caused by fire, vandalism and theft at least; however you would need to check the small print to find out if your home was covered for what are classed as “Acts of God”, for example storm and flood damage. Sometimes these have to be added onto the policy as extras particularly if you live in an area prone to flooding. When taking into consideration how much building insurance you need do not factor in land, however you would need to take into account such as clearing the area to rebuild.
All homeowners should have building and contents insurance as without protection if the worst did happen you would be covered for both rebuilding your home and for replacing all the contents of the home. Without a policy to fall back onto you would lose everything.
So what does the cover do? Contents insurance pays for loss or damage to your belongings (furnishings, clothing, TV's – everything that is movable inside the property) while the outer shell of your home, fixed features such as bathroom or kitchen and fences, walls, (and often sheds and greenhouses) are covered by buildings policy.
A combined building and contents insurance policy allows you peace if mind that if disaster struck, you would not have to find the money needed to pay for replacement or repairs yourself.
So, with cover for the shell of your home, and a policy for the contents, you would have peace of mind that if damage occurred through fire, subsidence, flood or any of the criteria set out in the policy's terms and conditions, you would not lose out financially.
Combined building and contents insurance can often be bought much cheaper when searching and comparing quotes gathered from an online specialist. These brokers will be able to do the legwork for you and get quotes for you from some of the top policy companies in the UK.
So, how do you get cheaper insurance? There are several ways. If you elect to pay more on the excess, you can often save on the amount you have to pay in premiums for the security.
And spending a little on making your home more secure can reduce home cover premiums as your property will be harder to break into and so not a big a risk.
When you take out contents cover for your home you will have to define a sum assured – this is amount that the policy company would have to pay out in the event of a claim. The larger amount you insure then the higher your premium will be so state this amount carefully and do not take out more policy than you need. However, that being said, do not under insure, either. Go round your home and take a full inventory of every single item – you may be surprised how much they all add up to in value.
Also, never be complacent. If you do not look around each year and see if you can get your policies a little cheaper then it is quite possible that you will be paying out much more than is needed.
A point to note is never assume that any items which are particularly expensive would be covered in a home contents policy. If you are in doubt about whether something would be protected then make sure you ask the provider before taking out the home insurance.
Great savings can sometimes be made on combined building and contents insurance if you look into taking both of the policies together with the same policy provider. The policy company will sometimes offer additional cover for just a little extra cost.