Contents Insurance

This website is about home contents insurance, home insurance quotes, new for old, accidental, personal possessions and companies - a basic guide to UK contents insurance.

Contents insurance provides protection for your belongings inside the home - and sometimes includes the outside premises as well. There are very slight differences in how each individual policy works, but the purpose is the same: to insure the contents of your property from damage, accident or from being stolen.

Items that are considered contents of your home are: electronic devices and appliances like televisions, personal computer systems, home sound systems, kitchen appliances, paintings and other works of art, and sometimes even the contents of your refridgerator.

Typical contents insurance will normally cover what is already available from your home insurance policy, but a big difference is that content insurance can even cover for what is in your handbag just in case it gets stolen. Also, some policies even offer to cover any legal expenses that might arise after your property has been burglarized or vandalized. You are normally not able to get this type of coverage from home insurance policies.

Taking precautions

Here are a few tips to ensure optimum security for your property and for whatever is inside:

• If you are going away from the house for a considerable amount of time, for say a holiday or a business trip. Consider temporarily cancelling your newspaper, milk and mail deliveries. You can also ask someone you know well to pick these items up from your home on a regular basis and to change lighting and move things around in order to fool any would be burglar. A home with a porch full of old newspapers is a sure magnet for thieves.
• If you have recently moved into a new home, make sure to replace all the locks - this is to safeguard against any unauthorized entry by someone who may have access to the previous owner's keys.
• When leaving the house, try not to make it as obvious as possible that there is nobody home. It is well known that homes that are left unoccupied for more than five hours a day are more likely to be burglarized than one that is not. That does not mean you have to have someone in the house at all times, you just need to take steps to secure your property when away. Your neighbour might be able to help you out with this, be creative!

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