Many people get insurance for their home, their automobile and their health, but many overlook the fact that you need to get insurance for the contents of your home. Theft is more common than fire or other disasters that hurt your home. Doesn’t it make sense to insure the valuables that you have worked so hard to obtain? With home content insurance, you can have your possessions replaced if they are damaged during a disaster or they are stolen from your home.
Simply put, home content insurance will protect your possessions in the event of a fire, theft and (in some cases) when they are lost. Under certain circumstances, you may also be able to use your policy if one of these events happens outside of your home. It’s important to read the details of your policy to make sure you understand the stipulations of reporting a claim.
When you get a home contents insurance policy, you’ll be insured for the value of your possessions. You’ll be required to provide a breakdown of all the major items in your home and their estimated value. Be aware that many insurance companies have a max limit for specific items. This way people can’t declare that their home computer was worth three or four times the amount that standard home computers are worth. It’s a way to weed out scammers and it also protects the company. Of course, if you do have a legitimate purchase that is well over the reasonable limit you can increase your level of coverage if you can show purchase receipts at the higher rate.
Home contents insurance policies deal directly with how much cash your possessions are worth. Even though some items in your home may be very valuable to you, they may have no value in the eyes of the insurance company. You’ll be required to catalogue your purchases. You can do this by taking pictures, or by walking through your home with a video camera. Make sure to do this each time your home content insurance policy is renewed so that you can keep your records up to date. Add new valuables to your policy and record them with your camera or video camera. Send a copy of the photos or the footage to your insurance company and keep one for yourself as well.
Although home content insurance policies are normally pretty reasonable, be prepared to pay more if you live in a high crime area or if you’ve submitted a claim in the recent past. You can offset this increase slightly by having burglar alarms and other devices in your home that will minimize theft. However, if you want to get the lowest rates possible you’ll need to find a place to live that has a very low crime rate.
Be aware that each time you renew your policy, the rate of pay for certain items may go up or down. Items like televisions depreciate over time, and other collector items may increase in price. Your insurance company will send you a detailed accounting of how much your policy is worth and what it covers.