Home insurance

vhanley1

First post- so hope this is in the right place.

Basically I'm 19 and live with my parents. We've had a fair few burglaries recently in the area and my mum refuses to take out contents insurance even though I'm adamant we need it to protect ourselves and its only a fiver or so a month and I'm happy enough to pay for it. We live in rented accommodation and my parents are on the tenancy agreement and I am not.

My question- would I be able to take it out without being on the tenancy agreement in my name and successfully make a claim?

Quentin

You don't need to be on the tenancy agreement to take out a policy!


If you want to cover your Mum's possessions as well as your own then make sure she is also named on the policy

vhanley1

Thanks for the reply, I'm a bit confused then.
I thought contents insurance covered everything in the house?
As I have insurance on my valuables such as phone, it would be more covering the house in case the worst happened.

Tia

spadoosh

Whilst contents insurance is normally a good idea, sometimes it isnt always worth it. It depends on your view on risk.

The cheapest insurance will normally have higher excess charges (the amount you have to pay to make a claim). Whilst higher premiums normally draw in lower excesses.

Essentially you need to work out if the value of items in the house are worth insuring.

I own my house and for the most part i dont think its worth insuring (however do have insurance).

The most expensive thing i have in my house is my bicycle costing £500. It will never be valued at that for insurance purposes and now is 2 years old. Id be surprised if they offered me £150 for it. My excess is £100. So id get £50. For that privelege i have to pay £10 a month.

Ok if i had a flood/fire i would be happy i have contents insurance but the likelihood of those happening is very remote (hence why you can insure your house so cheaply, it doesnt happen very often). Theft its unlikely your house will be emptied.

And as youve mentioned you might already be covered for the more expensive items.

Have you or they got anything of value. Things like modern furniture, tv's, white goods, dont hold their value that well, as an example take the model number of their washing machine and see how much it will sell for now in a second hand state, thats all an insurer will pay out unless you take out whats likely a more expensive policy.

Another example, whilst at uni a friend took out insurance on everything they had. I never did. They paid ~£8 a month. When they had their laptop stolen they where told to pay a £250 excess and total value of claim was £283. So their insurance would pay out £33. They had paid 14 months of £8 (£112). They said they bought piece of mind. The process looked like a headache. And costly to boot.

paddyandstumpy

spadoosh wrote: »

Whilst contents insurance is normally a good idea, sometimes it isnt always worth it. It depends on your view on risk.

The cheapest insurance will normally have higher excess charges (the amount you have to pay to make a claim). Whilst higher premiums normally draw in lower excesses.

Essentially you need to work out if the value of items in the house are worth insuring.

I own my house and for the most part i dont think its worth insuring (however do have insurance).

The most expensive thing i have in my house is my bicycle costing £500. It will never be valued at that for insurance purposes and now is 2 years old. Id be surprised if they offered me £150 for it. My excess is £100. So id get £50. For that privelege i have to pay £10 a month.

Ok if i had a flood/fire i would be happy i have contents insurance but the likelihood of those happening is very remote (hence why you can insure your house so cheaply, it doesnt happen very often). Theft its unlikely your house will be emptied.

And as youve mentioned you might already be covered for the more expensive items.

Have you or they got anything of value. Things like modern furniture, tv's, white goods, dont hold their value that well, as an example take the model number of their washing machine and see how much it will sell for now in a second hand state, thats all an insurer will pay out unless you take out whats likely a more expensive policy.

Another example, whilst at uni a friend took out insurance on everything they had. I never did. They paid ~£8 a month. When they had their laptop stolen they where told to pay a £250 excess and total value of claim was £283. So their insurance would pay out £33. They had paid 14 months of £8 (£112). They said they bought piece of mind. The process looked like a headache. And costly to boot.

As a dear friend often says you've given 'dangerous' advice.

Home contents insurance is 99% of the time sold on a new for old basis. There can be exceptions for clothing and linen, and very occasionally cycles; but apart from that you'll get new items from insurers.

They wouldn't buy you a 2nd hand washing machine, they'd buy you a new one.

I pay £5 per month for contents insurance with a £100 excess (and I got £35 cash back for taking the policy out) so it's definitely affordable.

OP to answer your question, yes you can take out insurance.

vhanley1

Thank you for your replies.

I just didnt want to end up paying money out and then coming to claim and they tell me its void because of my name not being on the tenancy.