| HOME INSURANCE
Owning a home is a greatest accomplishment and something that millions
of people strive for every year. However, along with owning a home
come the responsibility and requirement of keeping the right level
of home insurance on the home. This type of insurance protects both
the property and contents of the home.
Home
Insurance Quotes - Click Here
The nice thing about home insurance is that today, anyone can
purchase property insurance to protect all their belongings. For
instance, there is even a way for student accommodation in that
they can purchase insurance to cover all the contents of their
apartment or flat. This is often referred to as “Renters
Insurance”, which acts just as home insurance except it covers
only the contents.
Having home insurance creates a sense of comfort knowing that
should there be a fire, theft, and most acts of God, your property
would be protected under the policy. Unfortunately, about 25% of
all homes in the UK are without insurance. When you consider that
one in three homes will be burglarized at one time or another that
is a dangerous way to live. Because of this, approximately six
million homes are setting themselves up for financial disaster,
when it does not need to be that way.
With our services, we can help you choose the type of coverage
you need, whether it is for the building only or the building and
contents of the building. If you are a homeowner, you will need
the type of coverage for both the home and the contents. If you
rent, then you need insurance for the contents only. If you happen
to be a landlord, then you will need to have building insurance
with content insurance that will be limited if the property is
unfurnished or just partly furnished.
The easiest way to handle your homeowner’s insurance is
by having it handled through your mortgage company, which is how
about 50% of the policies are managed. Unfortunately, some insurance
companies know that people will not have the time, interest, or
capability of hunting for the best price. In this case, they can
get away with charging outrageous prices. Our goal is to stop this
practice by helping to educate you on insurance types, type of
questions to ask, and where online to obtain the best quotes.
Building and Content
For building and content, this is the type of insurance coverage
that covers your home (property) and possessions. For the building,
again, you can choose to pay through your mortgage company or on
a stand-alone policy. Regardless, you will need to have a current
appraisal of your home so the current value is known. Appraisals
are not expensive and they can make a huge difference when it comes
to choosing the right level of insurance coverage.
Some things to keep in mind are that there are factors that will
affect the cost of your home policy. For example, some roof types
are prone to fire more than other roofs. Therefore, they would
cause your policy premium to be higher while having an alarm system
might qualify you for a nice discount.
The insurance you purchase provides you with the funds needed
to rebuild your home in the event of loss, whether partially damaged
or totally destroyed. The coverage usually includes:
- Storm and flood damage
- Burst pipes and incidents of other
water leakage
- Fire, smoke, and explosions
- Subsidence
- Vandalism, theft, or third-party damage
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Knowing the difference in policy coverage is to your advantage
since not all policies will cover the same things. For this reason,
you should never take for granted that one policy to the next is
the same. Always read the fine print and if you have any questions,
ask. In addition to the insurance policy covering the home’s
structure, you also want the policy to cover roofing, windows,
bathroom and kitchen, plumbing, and electrical wiring.
When it comes to your possessions, be sure you do not underinsure,
which is a mistake that many homeowners make. If you have antique
furniture, take pictures and get appraisals that you can show to
the insurance company. This will ensure the right amount of coverage
is purchased should something happen to those pieces.
The best way to determine what needs to be covered is to take
a pad, pencil, and digital camera and walk through your home, room
by room and capture each piece of furniture, artwork, jewelry,
tools, and so on that would be expensive. Now keep in mind that
while most of the contents will fall under your standard home insurance
policy (clothes, dishes, linens, and so on), some items will need
a separate policy. Typically, these items would include antique
furniture, firearms, artwork, and jewelry. However, these specialty
policies are cheap and easy to buy.
Try to stay away from blanket coverage that some UK insurance
companies will try to sell you. These packages are based on the
number of rooms in your home and have nothing to do with the actual
content. This means you could end up paying more than you need
to pay or some items needing to be covered with more insurance
are not covered enough. Your best option is to shop around and
use our online quote service by clicking here.
Renters
If you currently live in an apartment, flat, or some other type
of rented accommodation, you too need to have adequate insurance.
Although the insurance would not cover the building, it would cover
the contents of the structure that you are renting.
Too often, renters do not insure their belongings and should there
be a fire or burglary, they loose everything. Considering that
this insurance is dirt cheap, it is a real shame that this type
of coverage is simply overlooked. Just as with owning a home, you
want to go room-by-room and make a list of all your belongings,
especially valuable pieces as mentioned.
Your landlord is required to keep insurance on his or her building
only, which means he or she has no responsibility for your personal
belongings at all. You will discover several different policies
from which to choose and of course, we can help you with free quotes!
The standard policy created for renters is designed to cover 14
perils that include:
• Explosion
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Fire or lightning
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Windstorm or hail
•
Riot or civil commotion
•
Aircraft
•
Vehicles
•
Smoke
•
Vandalism or malicious mischief
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Damage by glass or safety-glazing material (part of the building)
•
Theft
•
Volcanic eruption
•
Water-related damage from home utilities
•
Falling objects such as snow, sleet, ice, or trees or other objects
from the weight of snow, sleet, or ice
•
Electrical surge
If you happen to live in an area know to have earthquakes or floods,
you will need to purchase a separate policy, which again, is inexpensive
and well worth the investment. The other decision you will need
to make relates to Actual Cost Value (ACV) versus Replacement Cost
Coverage (RCC). With ACV, you will receive only the funds for what
your belongings were worth at the time they were damaged or stolen.
However, with RCC, you will receive the current value of replacement,
regardless of when you purchased the item. Obviously, the best
route to go is with the Replacement Cost Coverage.
Another important thing to keep in mind for renters insurance
is that if you have a roommate, the coverage would need to be two
(or the number of roommates) separate policies since this type
of policy is for an individual or family only. Therefore, additional
non-related people living under the same roof would need to purchase
their own individual renter’s insurance policy.
Student Possessions
Do you have a child heading off to college or a university? If
so, he or she will be taking some possessions to make the room
or apartment feel like home. Many parents and students are not
even aware that property insurance is available for this type of
situation, but it is.
Although most students do not bring their most prized possessions
to school, regardless, because of living around many other people
and having strangers coming in and out of the dorm room or apartment,
purchasing property insurance coverage is important. Something
this simple and inexpensive will provide your child peace of mind.
Unfortunately, statistics show that student dorms and apartments
are burglarized about every four minutes. Although statistics like
this are frightening, you can prepare your child about living away
from home within a safe environment. Typically, the break-ins are
done when students are in class, meaning the belongings are the
only thing damaged or stolen. Many parents think that the student’s
possessions are automatically covered under their homeowner or
renter’s insurance.
Some insurance companies will continue the coverage even though
the belongings are now at school. You will just need to notify
your insurance company of the change and they will handle the rest.
However, this is not always the case. Therefore, do not assume
that the coverage continues, but check with the insurance company
to determine if a separate policy will need to be purchased.
Landlords
A landlord is someone that is a property owner and as the property
owner, he or she has the liability of keeping adequate insurance
on the structure or structures where the renters live. If you are
a landlord, you will have the option of a number of different coverage
types, some of which would include the following:
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Building Insurance – This would
cover the rebuilding of the property should there be damage
or loss due to fire, malicious persons (including tenants),
aircraft, accidental damage to bathroom fittings and fixtures,
and glass, explosion, lightning, falling trees, earthquake,
collision or impact, subsidence, theft, riot or civil
commotion, flood, storm, water or oil leakage resulting
in loss of rent to include re-let costs.
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Limited Contents Cover – This
type of coverage would include property that is partially
furnished, where limited contents coverage is available.
Items that would be covered include carpeting, curtains,
window blinds, light fixtures, and bathroom and/or kitchen
fittings.
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Contents Insurance – This would
cover content damage caused by aircraft, fire, malicious
persons (including tenants), lightning, explosion, subsidence,
impact, theft, riot or civil commotion, flood, storm,
water or oil leakage, breakage of glass in furniture or
mirrors, replacement cost for locks should the keys be
stolen, and loss of rent that would also include re-let
costs.
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Emergency Assistance – This insurance
would cover the cost for a contractor’s call along
with labor, parts, and materials, up to an amount determined
by the insurance company.
-
Legal Expenses – Should the renters
need to be evicted from the premises, you might incur
legal expenses, which can be covered under a number of
policies.
-
Rent Guarantee – Should the tenant
fail to pay rent, this insurance policy will pay the rent
for 12 months (not including the first month’s lost
rent) as well as 50% of rent up to three months once the
apartment or flat is vacant.
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Other Great Sites:
Home
Insurance UK from home-insurance-uk.gb.com
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