Losing the treasured contents of your home is a stressful experience, whether it is due to fire, flood or theft. This means it is important that families ensure they have some form of protection in place so that they can claim a payout to cover the cost of what they have lost due to an unfortunate event. While cash can’t replace items of sentimental value, it can help people to arrange replacements for some of the everyday electrical items and furniture, and can at least provide somebody with an equal economic recompense if they have lost something of more meaningful value. Cheap contents insurance is available which is also effective, meaning your peace of mind need not be an expensive prospect.When it comes to arranging insurance for your home, it is important that you get the right kind of policy for starters. There are two main types of insurance which we need to be concerned with, contents insurance and buildings insurance. Tenants living in rented property will not normally need buildings insurance, only contents insurance, as the former is usually the responsibility of whoever owns your building, i.e. your landlord.Normally tenants in rented accommodation will not have their personal possessions covered by the landlord’s insurance, so do not assume you are OK – check with your landlord or letting agent.When looking for cheap contents insurance it is also worth bearing in mind that the value of what is in your home may be far higher than you think. Although many people immediately think about things like CD players and televisions, furniture, clothing, bedding and books are also at risk in the event of a burglary or disaster like fire or flood.An insurance company will often ask you to specify a limit up to which the contents of your home will be covered so ensure that you assess this properly. Plucking a figure out of the air may mean you are either inadequately covered or are paying too much for your contents insurance.When it comes to what is covered, contents insurers typically provides protection for anything which is a general everyday belonging, and a good way of judging it is by thinking about what you would take with you if you had to move house. When getting a policy, it’s perhaps also worth thinking about getting cover for things you take outside the home, like laptops, bicycles, and the contents of your wallet or handbag – enquire about whether or not this will be thrown in with your policy or if you have to pay more.You can also get cheap contents insurance by raising your excess, which is a value you have to pay towards the cost of a claim before the insurance company starts to payout. In some cases it can be cheaper to replace some items yourself instead of claiming on a policy. Some insurers will also offer extensions to protect items which would not normally be covered. This may come at an additional cost and can protect things like antiques, a particularly large collection of CDs or specialist electronics equipment so try to find a deal which covers some of this as standard as part of a price which may be cheaper.
