First time getting contents insurance, help?

*cake*

Hi everyone,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice. I'm living in rented accommodation, and I need to get contents insurance. This is something I've procrastinated for quite a while now. I find it all too confusing about where to go, what companies are good, what prices are good etc..

What kind of items does contents insurance cover, does it cover everything (all bric-a-brac)? I have quite a lot of stuff, but nothing "bigger" (really valuable, apart from the computer I guess), but just lots of smaller items.. lots of books, comics, dvds, clothes, craft supplies etc.. many a little makes a mickle..

I was wondering if all this bric-a-brac is normally included in contents insurance? Even if it's just smaller things, it is a lot of stuff, and replacing it in case it got damaged/stolen would probably cost quite a bit.. So it's important to me that all of these things would be covered.

What companies do people recommend for this? Also, how much would it approx cost? I know it varies.. but I know so little about insurance prices that I don't know if a price is good or rip-off.

Do you have sign up to insurance policies one year at a time, or are there other alternatives? I'm not sure if I'll still be in this flat in a year. So I'd rather not sign up for a policy that I'll have to keep for a whole year..?

What companies are good in general? I don't want to get ripped off, but it doesn't have to be the cheapest possible either (if they're no good), I just want some trustworthy insurance that suits my needs.

Are there any particular things to keep in mind when looking for insurance companies/policies? Like I said, I'm so new to all of this, I find it very confusing!

Any advice appreciated!

Many thanks

forgotmyname

How longs a piece of string. You get cover for what you pay for.

Pay little to cover little pay a lot to cover accidental damage etc. Policy excess??
No point having an excess of £500 if your items only value £300.

Dont under insure though. Make sure all the facts are correct dont just assume your covered, Check for mistakes.

How much? Depends on cover and POSTCODE... the big decider.

InsideInsurance

Contents insurance covers everything inside of your property that you own (possibly excluding anything that is exclusively for business use). It is very important that you do include the value of everything and as new as otherwise you risk being accused of underinsurance if you have a claim and you'll get a big deduction in your settlement (the same percent as you were underinsured by)

Most are surprised when they add up all their clothes, dvds, bottles of wine/ whiskey, books etc what it comes up to.

You also need to decide if you want insurance for anything outside of the house (Personal Possessions cover) such as mobile, laptop, camera, handbag, wallet etc

As to how much it will cost, it can range from under £100 to over £10,000 depending on what contents values you have, how much of that is valuables, how much cover outside the home, if you have AD cover or not, if you have cover for matching items or not etc etc.

To check if your prices are "ok" then look on the aggregators like confused.com and you'll see the range of prices for where you live and what you want.

You can use Which? and Defaqto to review the customer service and product quality (respectively)