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What is not covered
A standard contents insurance
package may include limited accidental damage
for some of your belongings, but unless you
pay extra you will not be covered for all
accidental damage, nor will your belongings
be covered outside your home. No contents
policy will cover you for:
• Your
buildings – unless you buy a combined
contents and buildings policy
• Theft or damage to your car, whether
or not it is covered by car insurance
• Normal wear and tear
• Electrical
or mechanical breakdown
• Gradual damage caused by processes
like rot, woodworm, mildew and rust
• Most day-to-day pet-related damage
(e.g. your cat clawing away at the upholstery)
• Catastrophes such as sonic bangs,
radioactive contamination and war
• Theft and damage if your home is left
unoccupied for a certain period of time (usually
30 days but sometimes longer)
• Matching items (so if one chair from
a three-piece suite is damaged beyond repair,
you cannot claim to replace the whole suite)
• Theft of your belongings, if you let
or sub-let your property.
Theft of pets is not covered,
but you can ask for this to be included. However,
if your pet is particularly valuable (financially
rather than emotionally), you can either ask
for your contents insurance to provide cover,
or you can take out specialist pet insurance
Limits on cover
for high-risk items
Most policies put limits on what will be paid
out for ‘high-risk’ or valuable
items – those which are most likely
to get stolen and cost a lot to replace, such
as televisions, hi-fi and camera equipment,
jewellery, works of art, clocks, watches and
stamp and coin collections.
There may be a
‘single article’ limit, for example
£1500, and also an overall limit for
the total of your high-risk possessions, say
£3000.
Alternatively, the limits may
be worked out as a percentage of the total
value of the belongings that you are insuring.
These limits represent the most that will
be paid out for these sorts of items in the
event of a claim, even if the cost of replacing
them is higher than the limits given in the
policy.
If your valuables are worth more than
the insurer’s limits, you will either
have to make up the difference between what
the item costs to replace and what the insurer
will pay out, or pay more for a higher limit.
Optional extras
- All risks contents insurance
No policy will include cover
for all your belongings all the time –
unless you pay for it. ‘All-risks’
cover is an industry term for an extension
to your policy designed to cover other eventualities,
but usually only refers to accidental damage
extensions: for example, accidental damage
to your belongings while they are in the home,
or loss, theft or damage to your possessions
when you take them out and about – or
both.
The two types of cover can be sold separately,
although ‘all-risks’ usually means
cover for your possessions outside the home
as well as inside it – you should check
what is included with your insurer.
A standard policy may pay a claim for accidental
damage to certain specific items in the home
environment, but will not pay out if you spill
wine on the carpet or break an expensive ornament.
If you want your policy to pay out in all
sorts of situations, you should buy additional
‘accidental damage cover’.
This
costs more because there is a greater chance
of you making a claim. However, if most of
your possessions would cost less to clean,
repair and replace than the amount you have
to pay towards any claim, or have purely sentimental
rather than monetary value, then accidental
damage cover is not worth buying.
Home and away cover
- aslo known as personal possessions cover
away from the home
Because most standard policies cover your
belongings only while they are in the home,
if you want cover against loss, theft or damage
when you take them outside the building –
including taking them abroad – you will
need to buy an all-risks extension to your
policy, which may be referred to as ‘contents
cover away from the home’ or ‘personal
possessions cover’. This is useful if
you have an expensive handbag, briefcase or
other luggage, or if you regularly take the
following sort of items out of the house:
• Jewellery
• Cameras and camcorders
• Expensive sports equipment
• A mobile phone (but you will not be
covered for breakdown or unauthorised use)
• A bicycle (although a standard policy
might cover theft of your bicycle from your
home, it might not be covered elsewhere)
• A personal organiser or lap-top computer
• An expensive fountain pen
• A musical instrument (if it is very
valuable you may need specialist insurance)
• Glasses or contact lenses (tell your
insurer that you specifically want cover your
contact lenses to avoid their exclusion)
• Special equipment that you take out
of the house (e.g. if you take your sewing
machine or DIY tools to an evening class)
You have to pay extra
for this type of cover – and there is
likely to be an overall limit on what will
paid out for an all-risks claim, As well as
a single item limit for each individual item
covered – but it can save you money
on your travel insurance, since your belongings
will typically be covered for 60 days anywhere
in the world (although different insurers
have different limits).
An all-risks extension
to your contents policy can also be cheaper
than buying separate insurance for a mobile
phone or contact lenses, for example.
All-risks
cover will also give better cover than your
car insurance for theft of items from your
car – provided theft was as a result
of forced entry, you had kept the objects
stolen out of sight and the car was locked.
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