If you are buying home insurance, there is a whole
world of detail to look at. If it’s surprising how
much car insurance policies differ, well that’s nothing
compared to Home.
| The things to look for are many
and varied, so to start with you can look for
whether your policy covers accidental damage.
This applies when you spill a bottle of perfume
on your dress or a bottle of port on your living
room carpet, or when you knock the mirror off
the wall when demonstrating your golf swing after
a few too many tots of port.
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It’s also worth finding out whether they are offering
‘new for old’ cover, and what level of cover you get
for items in your garden, as well as which items in
your garden are covered… yes, these all vary wildly.
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You may need to check what the ceiling
is on your buildings cover, but this is rarely
a big issue as a lot of companies offer a blanket
ceiling of a cool million, knowing that rebuild
costs are quite unrelated to the market value
of your home.
Something definitely worth being sure of, in our experience,
is whether they manage the claim, whether they find
and book the workmen to fix your roof, whether they
arrange the delivery of replacement goods or is all
that left up to you to organise. This can seem unimportant
right now but just when it matters you may wish you’d
checked these little things out. |
Some customers who have experienced poor customer service from overseas call centres like to check whether the insurer has UK call centres handling their claims. It may or may not be an issue, but if you are left explaining to someone with little knowledge of the UK that you know your vase was genuine because you bought
it from John Lewis’ you may wish she could see the
logic of that.
Then there is personal possessions cover, which can
include jewellery, cash, credit cards and so on, outside
the home. How much is covered for each of these, are
they all covered away from the home? Are there circumstances
when they aren’t covered? What if you have them stolen
onboard a cruise ship in international waters? You
may like to check these details out.
Then there is the question of to what extent they
cover alternative accommodation costs, will they find
you a hotel if your house just burned down, and do
they cover burst or frozen pipes, or leaky tanks,
and the damage that ensues, and whether this depends
on how they got that way
A couple of other things to check out when you’re
looking at a potential supplier of cheap home insurance
in the UK are what happens when you leave your home
unoccupied and if you have laptops what sort of cover
you get for them. These are another two areas where
policies vary but if there is one message of this
page it is simply that there are no two insurance
policies exactly alike.
What you should expect in most policies are: buildings
cover against explosions, lightening, earthquake,
falling trees, storms, winds, hurricanes, floods,
heave, landslip, subsidence and also malicious damage,
and with contents covered for malicious damage too
plus theft and water damage from burst pipes or tank
leaks.
But check whether your policy fully covers your liabilities
as owner, and ask if you have a number to ring in
emergencies.
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