Additional home contents cover 'provides real value'
12th Jul 2012
There is real value in taking out extra home contents cover when people negotiate their home insurance, one expert has advised.
Steve Foulsham, head of technical services at the British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba), said that people who use their local broker can get independent advice and will be more likely get a policy which is tailored to their own personal requirements.
"That would be our preferred route, but we have to accept that these days many people's first port of call would be to a comparison site which they can access quite easily through the internet. That would give them a good starting point in terms of a comparison for the values that they have at risk," he explained.
The important thing is that people need to have a certain level of cover in place to start with.
It is all very well thinking about protecting the contents, but what a lot of people perhaps forget is that a household contents policy per se is a package policy in its own right, and will also offer them for liability cover.
Not only does it protect their furnishings and other household goods, but if they are legally liable for an action involving a family dog biting someone, or if one of the children hits someone when they are on their bike away from the property, they are also covered.
"That is where the real value could come in because if someone were to use them as an occupier, then clearly their policy would normally respond," Foulsham added.
This is one aspect of a household contents policy that some people can forget unless they are led through and informed about everything the policy can cover them for, he went on to say.
Posted by Staff Writer: Robin Stenson
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