When renewing your home building and contents insurance, keep these four things in mind:
Nobody enjoys thinking about the worst-caseWhen renewing your home building and contents insurance, keep these four things in mind: scenario's implications, especially the financial one. But did you know that today's UK might be hit by a powerful storm similar to the ones we saw in the late 1980s?
Since we already know how high the premiums will be, most of us just sign the renewal notice that we get in the mail each year for our home structures insurance and/or home contents insurance and return it to the insurance provider. Four major financial mistakes may be attributed to:
Have You Purchased Any New Items Recently?
The value of any new purchases you made in the last year, such as a television or video recorder, will not be included in the notice of renewal that you just provided to the insurance provider. Similarly, you are paying for home contents insurance on items you no longer own if you have sold anything of value within the last year and have not notified the insurance provider. In any case, the amount of insurance premiums you are paying is incorrect.
Did the prices remain unchanged?
Your personal property is insured for the amount it would cost to replace it if you had home contents insurance. However, labor and material costs should be partially covered by your home's building insurance. Now consider this: How much would it cost to replace the picture hanging in your living room now as it did the previous year? You will only be compensated for what you estimated the cost of replacing it would be, so bad luck if the response is that it would cost you more! It's the same with your helpful builder; would he bill you the same today for an hour of labor and supplies that he would have charged you last year? You should be prepared to give him the difference if the response is negative in this case.
Did Your Home's Value Continue to Rise?
In line with the previous point, you should consider if your home's worth has increased or decreased this year when it comes to your building insurance. Even if you didn't make any improvements to the house—like adding an addition—that would inevitably raise its value, you still need to be asking yourself this question.
Does Today's Home Feel Any Safer?
Here's the question: have you made any improvements to your home in the last year that would make it safer than it was a year ago? Did you, for instance, install any deadlocks on your windows or doors? whether this is the case, there is a strong probability that your home contents insurance price will be lowered since one of the main factors determining your premium is the level of security in your home (along with the crime rate in your neighborhood, so you may also want to check and see whether this has gone up or down).
Remember that no one can remain motionless in time. In order to ensure that your home contents insurance and/or house structures insurance renewal letters appropriately represent your life now and not your life from the past, you need carefully study them.
