All Covered?

Summary
Research suggests that most people in Britain are seriously under-insured. One reason for this is that children, rather than their parents now own a number of expensive high-tech goods. Adults often forget to include these on their insurance policies and also, are guilty of not up-dating the value of their own possessions.

Tips On How To Arrange Cheaper Home Contents And Buildings Insurance: Some sure fire ways of reducing the cost of home insurance.
Buildings Insurance and the Threat of Flood: If youre thinking of buying a house in a flood area, read this.
Home Insurance. Flood Alert: Houses in high flood risk areas could be uninsurable. That's bad news for owners as its value could drop by 80%. This article provides the background.
Making A Claim On Contents Insurance: If you damage something at home, you may wish to claim through your home contents insurance policy. We have put together a number of tips to ensure your claim is processed smoothly.
All Covered?: Research suggests that most people in Britain are seriously under-insured. One reason for this is that children, rather than their parents now own a number of expensive high-tech goods. Adults often forget to include these on their insurance policies and also, are guilty of not up-dating the value of their own possessions.

Life Insurance News

Two disturbing reports suggest that if your house burnt down tomorrow it is likely that you would not be in a position to replace many of your prized possessions including cherished family heirlooms, mementoes, antiques or jewellery - most of us, it seems, are seriously under-insured

A survey by the insurer Hiscox reveals the average homeowner's possessions and contents are undervalued by a little over 50 per cent. 'We live increasingly material lifestyles and spend far more than we realise on gizmos, clothes, DVDs, furnishings, computers and other electronic equipment, so when our home is damaged by a fire or flood we turn into claim victims and end up many thousands of pounds out of pocket,' claims a Hiscox spokesman.

The most revealing finding in the report is that it is the children in today's household– rather than the parents - who are the big spenders. Hiscox says the cost of clothing for young people has escalated and it is easy to spend £100 on an item of clothing. Add to that all the CD collections, Game Boys and ipods and you are soon faced with a replacement bill of hundreds of pounds.

A poll by Lloyds TSB Insurance claims the UK 's under-16s own 28bn pounds worth of hi-tech equipment - some storing items costing up to a total of £2,000 in their bedrooms. Almost three quarters of those surveyed had TVs in their bedrooms, nearly 60 per cent owned a games console and a third had an iPod or MP3 player. The young also appear to be well connected. A third had a computer, one in ten were linked to broadband and a sixth could tune in to digital TV or Sky in their bedrooms, reveals the report.

The managing director of Lloyds TSB Insurance, Phil Loney, thinks British kids are quite literally sleeping in a gold mine. As new technology goes up so does the bedroom value of the British youngster with many kids owning seven or eight individual high-value items.

It's not only the young who are flashing the cash. Increasing numbers of homeowners in their 50s and 60s are purchasing luxury goods and high-quality possessions such as antique or period furniture and jewellery. The Hiscox spokesman believes that as people get older they enjoy buying items of value and sentiment. Unfortunately, they often forget to add the new items on to their insurance policies, nor do they realise that a product they purchased 10 years ago is now worth a good deal more.

So how are the UK 's insurers helping to halt a growing problem that is costing millions of pounds a year to homeowners? Malcolm Tarling from the Association of British Insurers says: 'We urge all owners to review their contents policies before they are renewed each year and to insure particularly valuable items separately.'

Bryan Brown of the financial database Defaqto that gives advice to insurers, agrees that homeowners ought to make regular room-to-room inspections of their houses to calculate how much any new items, furnishings or gizmos are worth. Also, if they own antiquarian books, works of art or rare antiques or antiquarian books, it is important to get them assessed by a professional valuer from an auction house every two or three years.

One group of companies has also marketed a slogan to try to bridge the cover gap. The Halifax, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Marks and Spencer Money, Abbey and Dudley Building Society, are advising customers to ensure they are 'Never knowingly under-insured' - a variation on 'Never knowingly undersold', pioneered by John Lewis.

Some owners are also being offered unlimited home contents cover by the insurers. The policies have several restrictions, however, and premiums are slightly more than for normal cover. M&S and Abbey, for example, pay out up to 500 pounds for any loss of cash in the home and have a cap of 2m pounds for personal injury accidents, while Halifax, on the other hand, insures personal injury separately and has a 15,000 pounds limit for specified items or groups of items.