Guide to insurance - Home Insurance contents cover
When you are arranging home contents insurance, you can normally choose one of two types of cover:
- specified perils (which means you are only covered for damage to the contents of your home caused by the specified events), or
- accidental damage (which means you are covered against any accidental damage to the contents of your home, provided the damage is not specifically excluded by the policy terms).
Clearly, accidental damage cover is much wider and it costs more but it can be worth the extra cost if you have children running round the house, a lot of breakable things, or an expensive carpet that can be damaged by spilt paint or wine.
It's important to check any limitations or restrictions in a policy before taking a final decision on which cover to buy. Many specified perils policies include accidental damage protection for some items, like your TV and sound system, without any additional charge, and some include other items too.
Make sure you understand and comply with any security requirements in your policy conditions, (e.g. your doors may need specific types of locks, or the windows may all need to be secured by key operated locks). If you don't comply with these conditions the insurer may refuse to pay a claim.
You also need to think about 'all risks' insurance - if you want to protect your clothes, personal possessions and/or money outside your home. Otherwise cover is generally limited to incidents in your home. 'All risks' cover costs extra and, if you have particularly valuable items (e.g. expensive jewellery), you may have to specify the items individually. But the cost and extra effort will be worthwhile if you leave something on a train or have it stolen from your car boot.
As with so many things, cheapest does not always mean the best when it comes to home contents insurance!