Home Contents Insurance: a necessity

Many people have been caught out by the rising cost of home contents insurance. It’s tempting to gamble that you will never need it. But that gamble is less and less easy to calculate, particularly in the case of one kind of natural calamity. This, in the opinion of all but a few revisionist climatologists, is one of the more obvious effects of global warming: increased flooding.

Home Contents Insurance: better to be safe than sorry

The stress and unhappiness experienced by families who have lost everything to flooding is bad enough without the extra blow of having to pay to replace it all. Everyone should have contents insurance, but if you are in an area which is or could in the future be prone to flooding you should definitely have it. The only problem is that the gradually increasing number of claims means that insurers are becoming loathe to award it to people that need it most. Not all is lost though. With insurance of every kind, time and effort spent in searching often brings the reward of a suitable deal – for example, in 2004 the Post Office introduced its new home insurance policy by saying that it would quote for almost everyone, including home owners in flood areas.

Another thing to note is that it’s important to stick to the letter of your policy, as Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne found out the hard way. In December 2004 burglars made off with about ₤2m worth of jewellery, including Sharon’s wedding ring. Which is bad enough. Then they found out that because they hadn’t put the jewellery in their safe that night they had failed to comply with their policy requirements and would get no compensation. Even if you are a bat-biting Prince of Darkness that would be a huge nightmare.

Having said all of that, the sad fact is that there are some things that money can’t replace. Perhaps the only bright side of losing possessions of sentimental value, be it through theft or destruction, is the way it highlights the fact that it’s love, friendship and memories, not money, which really make the world go round. But so does a good night’s sleep, and adequate home contents insurance will help you get that. For more advice on insurance matters, organisations such as the Association of British Insurers and the Consumer Association will be able to help. There are also several online consumer sites, and the industry as a whole is regulated by the Financial Ombudsman.

 

 

 

 

© AskFinancially.com 2008

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