how much "trace and access" cover do you need on home insurance?

eastmidsaver

hi there,  i just renewed my home insurance recently so it's a bit late to ask.   but i ended up renewing with Churchill as they offer £10k trace and access, whereas others like AXA only offered £5k.  because Churchill offered more cover is the reason i went for them.
but the question is,  in the unfortunate event that you need to activate this cover,   would £5k generally be enough?   
whilst the renewal is already done,  i'm just asking so i am better informed for next time to make a decision when doing comparisons.
thanks.

TELLIT01

I have to admit I'd never heard the term before, but Uncle Google explained it to me.  In most instances I would expect £5k to be enough but more cover is generally better when costs are not easy to define.  As long as the extra cover wasn't at extortionate cost I would stick with higher cover.

eastmidsaver

many thanks for your response.
Churchill renewal price was higher, so i rang them to bring it down and they did this slightly, but it was still higher than what i could find on price comparison.
i always discard the very cheaper ones, like policy expert etc,   but AXA was the cheapest from a reputable brand.  however it only worked out to be around £25 cheaper,  but i thought the limits Churchill provide are much higher,  so just went with them again.
but you are probably right, most insurers offer £5k for trace and access, so i imagine it would be enough.
now you know what it is,  make sure you check it's included next time you buy,  it is such an important feature in the unfortunate event it is needed.

Sandtree

At £5k you would imagine that 90% plus of claims will fall within the limit but there will always be the outliers. Limits are there predominately for the insurance companies protection that they don't end up having to pick up an exceptionally rare event with a massive bill. Things however can also become a marketing message... whilst Churchill has a £10,000 limit, M&S (underwritten by Aviva) has a £1,000,000 limit on their standard policy and "unlimited" on their Premier. 

The number of T&A claims that exceed £1m are going to be in the 1 in 250 year event category but it gives the Marketing department something useful to use.