Contents Cover

[BertiWooster]

What criteria does an insurance company use to decide if the amount your contents cover is insured for , is sufficient , should you ( god forbid ) have to make a claim for total replacement .

[bednobs]

dont you decide what cover to get, rather than your insurance company

[wiggal]

I'm looking into contents insurance at the mo, and rather worried that whoever we go with will not like the amount we say!

My fella works from home and is also techinical director of a company that do servers and hosting remotely, so we have a lot of computer and IT stuff in the house, along with 3 laptops for personal use and his work laptop!
We also have a 7.1 surround system for the T.V, and the amp for the music system on its own is �700!

[BertiWooster]

If I insure the contents of my house for , say 20k
Is it the case that the insurers could only argue that I was under insured , if I was making a claim for repalcement costs for an amount in excess of 20k

Or is there other scenarios where they could raise the issue of being under insured

[CheekyChops]

If you insured your contents for �20K and then proceeded to make a claim in excess of this, they wouldn't pay up, simple as that.

[CheekyChops]

I mean of course, that they wouldn't pay anything over the �20K that you were insured for, not that they wouldn't pay anything :-)

[cassa333]

Wiggal, wouldn't you need partly commercial insurance not just household insurance?

[sandmaster]

If you insure your contents with the same company as your buildings you will probably be covered for a minimum amount, �30,000 is not unusual. Have a good look around your house and add up the cost of each item - not forgetting carpets, curtains, bedding etc. If you are underinsured the company may average your claim. That means if, say, your contents are worth �50,000 but you have insured them for �25000 you will be deemed to have accepted half the risk. So if you have a claim for, say, �1000 you will only be paid �500.
Better to be overinsured a little than underinsured.

[BertiWooster]

Yes, but who decides what they are worth .

I insure the contents for 25k - i make a claim for replacement , for 25k or less
The loss adjuster comes round - can he or she put a value of more than 25k , and then say that i am under insured .

Afterall , the costs of replacement is going to depend on where you buy items from

Or is it as simple as , if I insure for 25k and i claim for 25k or less , then there wont be a problem ?

[harryt]

Its far better to overrinsure than underinsure.
Iie if you insure your contents at �10,000 and a loss adjuster values your items at �15k then you have underinsured yourself by 50% so they wont pay out �10k they will only pay ot �5k as you underinsured yourself by 50%.
I work for an insurance company and the general rule is �5k per room in the house ie 2 x bed, 1 bath, 1 kitch and 1 sitting =25k
To be honest when an insurer pays out on home insurance it is normally under goodwill ie you have saids your items are worth �10k so they will generally pay that out. obviously if you say u had a �7k telly, they will ask for receipts.

[EverClean]

Decent insurers now have very large standard limits.

L&G, ALLianz Cornhill, etc will have �55k standard limit and anything up to �100k for their "advanced" policies.

There is no excuse to be under-insured.

[x31tna]

i work for halifax home insurance...they dont set a limit on the contents or buildings its full rebuild for buildings and full repair/replacement for contents..

the only limit is on high risk items such as tv's jewellery dvd players etc...


you cant be over insured or under insured if you have that cover!!