Contents Insurance

Generally speaking contents insurance providers cover for:

• Electrical appliances i.e. fridge, freezer, washer, dryer
• Clothes i.e. clothes, shoes, personal effects
• Furniture i.e. beds, wardrobes, sofas, shelving units and draws, dining table and chairs
• Soft furnishings i.e. cushions, throws, bedding
• Kitchen contents i.e. pots, pans, plates, bowl, chopping boards, cutlery, freezer contents
• Home entertainment i.e. TV, DVD, stereo, computer, games console
• General household items i.e. books , paintings, ornaments, clocks
• Toys & games

It covers these items (and many others) against loss or damage caused by:

• Theft
• Vandalism or malicious damage
• Fire
• Storms
• Water leaks
• Subsidence

Some contents insurance policies also offer the following…

Aside from the basics that make up a contents insurance policy and dependent upon the insurance provider, you may also have cover for things like:

• Possessions away from home - Cover for items that are frequently taken outside the home isn’t included as standard by all insurance provider. However, some of those that don’t include it may offer it as an extra. This tends to include cover for bicycles, jewellery, mobile phones, laptops, cameras and other gadgets. If in your home at the time of loss or damage; they should be covered as standard.
• Accidental damage - Not all contents insurance policies provide cover for accidental damage as standard, but most will at the very least give you the option to add it on as an extra.
• Sports equipment – Some insurance provider include cover for sports equipment i.e. golf clubs, skis/ski wear, scuba diving kit, some offer this cover as an extra, and a small number don’t cover it at all.
• Special events increase - A number of insurance providers automatically increase your sum insured for a period of time (usually 30 days) either side of a major celebration i.e. Christmas or a Birthday in order to provide extra cover for any gifts that are in your home.
• Cash at home – Some insurance provider include cover for physical cash that you have at home. The amount of cover provided will vary by insurance provider, but is likely to range from £200 to £1,000.
• Loss or theft of keys - Most policies incorporate cover for the cost of having new locks fitted as a result of an existing key being lost or stolen. Some insurers extend this cover to incorporate malicious and accidental damage to locks.
• Theft from outbuildings - Contents insurance often automatically includes cover for contents that are kept either permanently or temporarily in secured outbuildings, sheds, garages, gazebos and greenhouses.

Most contents insurance policies come with exclusions and although they can differ by insurance providers, here are the most common:

• Acts of god - The ‘Acts of God’ clause is present on almost all insurance policies and essentially means that your insurance provider reserves the right not to accept a claim if it is for loss or damage caused by war, terrorism or an unprecedented natural disaster to name just a few potential scenarios. The definition of this clause tends to vary by insurance provider so it’s worth checking the small print before you buy contents insurance.
• DIY disasters - Although the odd insurance provider may provide cover for DIY disasters and others might offer it as an extra, it isn’t generally included.
• Sub-letting - Insurance provider won’t automatically provide cover for subletting. Some may be willing to add the cover as an extra while others will simply refuse to provide you with cover if you have or intend to sublet part of your home.
• Unoccupied properties - Most insurance provider won’t provide cover if your home is left unoccupied for long periods of time, generally defined as 30 or more consecutive days within a 12 month period. For this you’ll need unoccupied property insurance.
• Business equipment - Business equipment isn’t usually covered by on a contents policy and you should therefore check with your insurance provider before you buy contents insurance. You may need a business contents policy.

The 'declared value' is the collective value of all possessions that you would like to be covered for under a contents insurance policy. This is calculated by you and should be as accurate as possible as to avoid a claim being underpaid and you personally being left out of pocket.

Meanwhile, 'sum insured' is the total declared value with the addition of a buffer to take into account any inflation that may occur during your policy term. This is calculated by your insurance provider.

According to the ABI Property Premium Tracker, the average home has contents worth £35,000 and an average contents insurance premium of £127. However, the amount you will have to pay to get covered will depend on your own circumstances, where you live, what possessions you have, how much it would cost to replace them and how an insurance provider translates this information into risk.

For example, a high risk might look like this...

• Your house is situated in an area prone to flooding and is left unoccupied for months on end.
• Your list of contents includes a number of high-value antiques and some high-value jewellery and watches.
• You have made two high-value contents insurance claims in the last two years.

...and a low risk might look like this:

• Your house is situated in a quiet cul-de-sac and the area isn’t prone to flooding.
• Your list of contents doesn’t include any high-value items.
• You have never made a contents insurance claim and have proof of seven years No Claims Discount (NCD).

There's nothing worse than overpaying for something you could have got cheaper elsewhere and that's especially true when it comes to insurance. Thankfully there are a number of things you can do to ensure you get the best possible contents insurance deal; these are:

• Compare contents insurance - When you're looking to insure your contents, it's' all too easy to accept the first quote you obtain, but doing so won't guarantee you the best price. It's therefore important to compare options form a number of insurance providers. However, you should also consider differences in cover rather than focusing on price alone.
• Increase your excess - Most contents policies have a voluntary excess, often ranging from £0 to £500, increasing this will effectively give you a discount on your contents insurance premium, but means you will have to pay a higher excess in the event you need to make a claim.
• Combine your home and contents insurance - A combined home and contents policy will usually work out cheaper than buying individual policies. However, if you're a tenant this might not be applicable as the building usually remains the responsibility of the landlord/property owner.
• Build up a NCD - Just like car and home insurance, insurance providers offer a discount for every claim free year you have on a contents insurance policy; usually up to a maximum of 7 years and 70% discount. This discount can be transferred from one insurance provider to the next so if you've had contents insurance previously and are simply looking to switch provider, you should be able to use it to reduce your premium.

With One Call Insurance, you can obtain a contents insurance quote online in minutes. To make this possible; you will need to provide us with the following information:

• Home address - Your full home address, property type, size and how many internal rooms you have i.e. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 reception room, 1 kitchen.
• Locks and alarms - Details of the type of locks you have fitted to all exterior doors and windows.
• Contents and their value - You will need to have an idea of what contents you have and how much it would cost to replace them. It’s important to get this as accurate as possible as any shortfall in cover could leave you out of pocket. For example, if you specify contents to the value of £25,000, but actually have contents to the value of £50,000; you might only be paid out for half of their actual value, potentially leaving you £25,000 out of pocket.
• List of high value items - Details of any ‘high value’ items that you would like to insure. The threshold for high value items varies by insurance provider, but is often in the region of £1,000 - £1,500; any items that have a higher value must be listed individually on your policy.
• Details and value of any claims - Information relating to any claims you have made in the last five years i.e. circumstances, dates and value. This includes instances where a claim has been refused or where you have discussed making a claim, but for whatever reason didn’t proceed and subsequently no pay out was made.

At One Call, we understand that our customers value their privacy. This is why we keep your contact details secure, only to be used by us, and never passed on to other companies for any marketing purposes. To view more information on how your data will be used, please visit https://www.onecallinsurance.co.uk/privacy-policy to view our privacy policy.

An unrated insurance provider is an insurance provider that does not carry an insurance provider financial strength rating given by international rating agencies, such as Standard and Poor’s 500 index (S&), Moody’s, Fitch Ratings and A.M. Best. An insurance provider financial strength rating ‘provides an assessment of the financial strength of an insurance organisation’ and its ability to pay claims to its policyholders.

Each agency has its own methodology, but ratings are usually organised on a scale based on letter grades to indicate the degree of credit risk. For example, an ‘A’ rating means that the insurance provider have an excellent ability to pay out claims, while a ‘C’ rating means that the insurance provider has a weak ability to pay out claims.

Some unrated insurance providers have been trading in the United Kingdom for many years, and so failure is not seen as likely, but this is not any sort of guarantee and such firms can fail given the appropriate combination of circumstances. However, just because an insurance provider is rated does not mean they cannot get into difficulty.

Risks of using an unrated insurance provider include:

• Unrated insurance provider may be based overseas and outside the influence of UK regulation. The home state regulation they are subject to may be less intrusive, less rigorous or a lighter touch than that of the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) / Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
• In the event of an overseas insurance provider failing, claims may have to be directed to an overseas equivalent of the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and this may bring delays in dealing with the claim.
• Unrated insurance providers lack independent corroboration of the quality of their current financial stability. As your Insurance Broker, we carry out monthly due diligence checks on our entire panel of insurance providers, Underwriting Agencies & Managing General Agents and the underlying insurance provider. We are confident in the panel we choose to do business with.

• You may only be able to source cover from an unrated insurance provider due to your particular circumstances
• They may offer comparably lower prices than an alternative rated insurance provider
• There is no legal requirement for an insurance provider to be rated; brokers are not obligated to restrict placing business with rated insurance provider only