Whether dealing with a home or office, calculating the costs of contents insurance is easy right? All you need to do is add up the projected value of your personal belongings and report that number to the insurance broker? Well no, not exactly. Contents insurance is actually much more complicated than that and it’s important you understand the minor details.
First off paint a scenario into your head. It’s not a pleasant scenario but you need to consider these options once in awhile. Your kitchen is destroyed by a rapid flood or devastating fire. Nothing valuable is left behind. Now you must make a claim. But not just a claim, actually two claims. You need a claim for appliances that were built into the room, and another claim for possessions that were added or are movable.
Fires, floods, and theft represent the three primary reasons for why household goods are damaged. Also worth mentioning are trees falling on your house or vehicles colliding into your wall. Make sure you check with the insurance company to find out exactly what disasters they do and do not cover.
Learn about other factors that fluctuate your house contents insurance costs, such as location of property, security systems, how often it’s attended, and history of previous claims. Most insurance companies allow you to tag on “add ons” which guarantee the coverage of minute details such as covering goods inside sheds and garages.
Another area many insurance companies can quickly skip over is whether your prized possessions are covered for replacement value or current market value. You want to have replacement value if you really have key household items that you hold dear to your heart. Yes the premium is much higher, but the coverage you receive in case of damages is much higher.
Most people will not have to worry about a ton of replacement value since you likely do not own a lot of jewelry or antiques. However, current market value is a good way to rip you off. Insurance agents will assess the value of the stolen or lost goods based on current value and not what it was worth back in the day.
Replacement coverage is much more expensive, so you can expect high premiums. It comes down to protecting for the future or for something that may or may not ever happen. On average, people who take out house contents insurance also look at the cross section of the value of their possessions losing money.
Contents insurance does not need to be outrageous because you and your house probably aren’t made of gold. Keep in mind that an average household makes $200,000 a year and spends 3% of that total income towards insurance. Spend your money wisely towards insurance and the coverage will stay as strong as more expensive policies.
Graham McKenzie is the content Syndication Manager at insurance123.co.zaSouth Africa’s leading Household Insurance information portal
Tags: Contents Insurance, finance, Household Insurance, Insurance, Property