Home Insurance Is Not Content Insurance - 10 Aug 2009 10:05
While most homeowners take out home insurance as a compulsory part of their bond agreement, this type of insurance does not cover the contents of the home. A separate home content insurance policy should be taken out to protect your movable goods, such as furniture, jewelry and appliances.
Everything in the home that can be moved - paintings, CDs, DVDs, televisions, clothing, documents, books - can be covered under a general content insurance policy to the value of the contents combined. Unusual or special and expensive items should be individually specified in your policy. This means instead of insuring one laptop in the contents of your home, you may want to specify that it’s a R15,000 MacBook Pro or R12,000, 50-inch flat-screen plasma in order to get reimbursed for the full value of the laptop. Specialist items though, may have higher premiums.
Some insurers place limits on how much they will compensate for specific items which might be less than the replacement value. Find out what the limit is and how much you value the item before signing on the dotted line.
Check whether your content insurance is covered for All Risks
Certain movable items that are often not left at home such as your Sony Cybershot camera, Nike VR Forged golf clubs or platinum TAG Heuer wristwatch can be covered under content insurance when these are not in the house. But find out if these are covered for All Risk before assuming you’re insured outside the home. Your insurer will stipulate the requirements for transporting these goods before they cover them, so make sure you know how to pack them. Most insurers will require that all insured valuable be locked in the boot when in transit and won’t cover these items for smash-and-grabs.
Whenever you sign-up for a new insurance policy, be completely honest with your insurance provider. If you don’t have an electric fence protecting your home and its contents, your premiums will be higher - but you have the peace of mind knowing that your insurer will cover you for the total value of the contents if someone breaks in.
While most homeowners take out home insurance as a compulsory part of their bond agreement, this type of insurance does not cover the contents of the home. A separate home content insurance policy should be taken out to protect your movable goods, such as furniture, jewelry and appliances.
Everything in the home that can be moved - paintings, CDs, DVDs, televisions, clothing, documents, books - can be covered under a general content insurance policy to the value of the contents combined. Unusual or special and expensive items should be individually specified in your policy. This means instead of insuring one laptop in the contents of your home, you may want to specify that it’s a R15,000 MacBook Pro or R12,000, 50-inch flat-screen plasma in order to get reimbursed for the full value of the laptop. Specialist items though, may have higher premiums.
Some insurers place limits on how much they will compensate for specific items which might be less than the replacement value. Find out what the limit is and how much you value the item before signing on the dotted line.
Check whether your content insurance is covered for All Risks
Certain movable items that are often not left at home such as your Sony Cybershot camera, Nike VR Forged golf clubs or platinum TAG Heuer wristwatch can be covered under content insurance when these are not in the house. But find out if these are covered for All Risk before assuming you’re insured outside the home. Your insurer will stipulate the requirements for transporting these goods before they cover them, so make sure you know how to pack them. Most insurers will require that all insured valuable be locked in the boot when in transit and won’t cover these items for smash-and-grabs.
Whenever you sign-up for a new insurance policy, be completely honest with your insurance provider. If you don’t have an electric fence protecting your home and its contents, your premiums will be higher - but you have the peace of mind knowing that your insurer will cover you for the total value of the contents if someone breaks in.