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• Home insurance tips

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Home insurance tips

• Make sure you have adequate home and contents insurance cover. Remember, things like new clothes and appliances may have accumulated between insurance renewals. Recent home improvements can also increase the value of your home.
  
  
• Where appropriate calculate the current replacement cost of all your contents, not the amount you paid or its second-hand value.
  
  
• Shop around; don’t accept the first quote you receive.
  
  
• Read the insurers product disclosure statement to see what is actually covered by the policy. It is always best to check what you will be paid in the event of claim. Some insurers offer new for old, some may factor in depreciation into your payout.
  
  
• Look for a policy that provides new for old. It is better to receive a full replacement of an asset than a partial payout that hardly covers the cost of the replacement.
  
  
• What limits has the insurer placed on claims? For example, some insurers will only pay out to a certain threshold for certain items. 
  
  
• Check the circumstances that the policy will cover. For example, your policy may cover your camera if it is stolen while at home. However, it may not cover the camera if it is stolen whilst using it when out and about. To cover household items outside the home may need a separate policy, and it is worth getting this straight with your insurer.
  
  
• For more valuable items, consider listing these as separate items. This would be in addition to your general contents amount.
  
  
• Bundle up your policies, if the insurer provides car, house, and other required insurances, find out what price will they give you if you had all the policies with the one insurer.
  
  
• Let the insurer know all the measures you have put in place to protect your home. Certain fixtures and security measures will reduce the cost of your insurance. A well protected home will go a long way to decreasing your insurance premium as your home represents less risk.
  
  
• Review your insurance cover annually. A good time to do this is immediately after Christmas. Your cover should include any items you may have received during this period.
  
  
• Make good use of the online calculators provided by some insurers. These calculators are great help in working out whether you have enough insurance cover.