Contents Insurance

MartinandSally

We have a few items acquired over the years that are valuable and have been added to our contents insurance.

However, when I try to get comparative quotes for contents insurance I am told I need to get new valuation certificates for these items. To do this requires a new valuation and the cost of those valuations, which are based upon a percentage of the value of the item, probably far outweighs any possible savings on the annual premium made by changing insurer.

Any suggestions how to break out of this vicious circle?

rs65

It depends on the single article amounts. Some insurers cover up to £10k before being specified.

Having up to date valuations is always wise anyway - to make sure you are adequately insured and to assist in the event of a claim.

InsideInsurance

Some valuers charge a fix per item fee and not a percentage. Depending on how valuable your items are it may be better to go one route or the other.

Generally it is considered best practice to get a valuation done about every 3-5 years and this is more to do with your claims than lowering premiums - for jewellery or watches, which I assume is what we are talking about, prices tend to go up not down which means a higher premium not lower. That said, it does mean you are correctly insured and thus get what your owed and avoid Averaging if you lose the items and find they were under valued