Home inventory

Norfolk_Jim

If my house was to burn down, I'd have a real struggle to remember what things I own, all of it, not just the TV, sofa etc, and much of it has been aquired second hand.
I've sometimes thought it would be a good idea to make an inventory of what I own (though I dont have the receipts) and store it somewhere else - work maybe -
But if the worst did happen and I pulled this out and said heres a list of all the property I've lost - Wouldn't that look awful suspicious? Like I expected it to happen?
How would the insurers treat me?
Actually I own little of value, its all pretty bog standard stuff, but it does add up

InsideInsurance

It is a sensible precaution and certainly some smartphone apps etc exist to help you to do it storing the information off in the Cloud so whatever happens as long as you have net access somewhere you can retrieve it (or at least thats the theory).

There are people that makes lists for all sorts of reasons and as a precaution against a total loss is one I guess. I have never seen a Counter Fraud Scorecard that explicitly lists having inventories as an explicit fraud indicator and struggle to see how it would be perceived as an indirect one. Obviously the behaviour around how its presented, in using it with cognitive questioning etc all could be viewed suspiciously but not simply the fact you have a list.

Worth adding to that for any high value items you dont have the receipts for it is always good to ensure you have photos of them, ideally with some showing model numbers/ serial numbers etc if applicable, along with them being "in situ" (to help show you are taking photos of your things and not your friends/ family/ neighbours/ items in the Harrods sale etc)

lisyloo

Wouldn't that look awful suspicious? Like I expected it to happen?

No, not at all.
It's what everyone should be doing to work out the value to insure, otherwsise how else would you do it - wave a finger in the air?

How would the insurers treat me?

My insurer would expect me to have some form of inventory, in fact they asked me about this.
All claims will be subject to some form of scrunity anyway to avoid fraud.

Norfolk_Jim

I'm probably overinsured on contents in any case but I'd never stopped to think how I'd prove it

InsideInsurance

There ultimately are a lot of assumptions made as even if you are the most retentive person you are unlikely to keep receipts for every item of clothing you have, every CD, every gift etc. The more you deviate from "the norm" the more they will look into it, if you have a standard one bed flat and claim you had 6 antique sofas in the living room they'll want a higher level of proof than if you say you had a pair of sofas from DFS that were a couple of years old.

Having an inventory avoids the stress of having to pull one together after your house as burnt down and when you have the benefit of being able to see your goods rather than just having black ash to look at

SailorSam

Merseyside police advice using something like this.
immobilise - the home of the National Property Register and Recovery Service

FlameCloud

Norfolk_Jim wrote: »

But if the worst did happen and I pulled this out and said heres a list of all the property I've lost - Wouldn't that look awful suspicious? Like I expected it to happen?
How would the insurers treat me?
Actually I own little of value, its all pretty bog standard stuff, but it does add up

If you did it with me I'd be very happy as its just saved 3-4 hours work.

I think its a good idea, I've got my parents to make an inventory on excell and then update it each month and email a copy to their email so its safe. Helps you with the correct sum insured as well.

rs65

Norfolk_Jim wrote: »

Wouldn't that look awful suspicious? Like I expected it to happen?

It may look suspicious if you did it today and claimed tomorrow.

Its a very good idea. Also useful to have receipts but original boxes and instruction manuals can help. Bank or credit card statements can help to evidence the more expensive items.

Photos are good too. Detailed photos of small or expensive items but even a general view of a room can be good.

Norfolk_Jim

Yes I was thinking of taking a load of photos of all around the house - I dont see how else you would remember everything or show that you owned anything after something so traumatic as a fire

Just_Some_Guy

I have a list with all the expensive stuff itemised (computers, musical instruments, camera stuff etc) and a bunch of estimates for things that are quite small individually but add up (clothes, CDs etc). It came to some frightening number!

dacouch

Norfolk_Jim wrote: »

I'm probably overinsured on contents in any case but I'd never stopped to think how I'd prove it

If your Insurer ever tried to establish whether your were under insured, funnily enough they would ask you to perform a very rough inventory so they could calculate your total contents sum insured. Thus your inventory would prove you were adequately insured assuming you had the correct sum insured AND ensured you updated the inventory (Including allowing for inflation)