Possible to insure a house ONLY for fire and theft?

hazyjo

As mentioned above, it's not just 'flood damage', it's 'water damage' she'd want covered. Would the water damage caused by putting out a fire be covered? It is absolutely pointless not covering that IMO.

Has she tried the comparison sites? Seems like a high quote to me. That would definitely be her first option - compare!

Jx

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Has your friend followed MSE guidance?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/home-insurance
Worth reading the stickies and running an advanced search on the Insurance board
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21
http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13082-flood-insurance.pdf

Secondly I know you mean well but IMO your friend should be posting for herself. Seems to me a very dangerous path to be advising someone to drop their level of insurance cover, if she does end up flooded and doesn't have enough savings you will feel terribly guilty and your friend might blame you.

paulmapp8306

Building and contents insurance are seperate things as well. You can have them both on the same policy (and it often works out cheaper)but you dont have to.

Skimping on contents insurance is OK i guess (insuring for a sum 1/2 the valve of your actual contents value for instance), because most things arnt itemised - and its unlikely you'd loose everything. Even if you did - you generally wouldnt replce everything anyway.

As for buildings insurance - dont skimp.

Use a comparrison site or an independant advisor to find the best deal at preset (whether you want seperate or combined insurance).

rpc

paulmapp8306 wrote: »

Skimping on contents insurance is OK i guess (insuring for a sum 1/2 the valve of your actual contents value for instance), because most things arnt itemised - and its unlikely you'd loose everything. Even if you did - you generally wouldnt replce everything anyway.

I'm pretty sure that if you lose enough for the insurer to realise that you are only 50% insured, then the insurer will only pay out 50% of the loss. In theory it holds for any claim, but the insurer needs to twig that you are underinsured.

For a single item, you would probably get away with it. For anything that involves a loss adjuster, they would take one look at your house and decide that no way have you only got £10k worth in there (or similar).

You don't take contents insurance to cover a loss of up to £x, you take the insurance to cover all contents with a total value of £x.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condition_of_average

pinkteapot

See below for information on contents insurance "underinsurance":

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/news/home-insurance/homeowners-warned-over-contents-underinsurance100311/

And how insurers will treat claims if you are underinsured...