Protect Your Personal Property With Home Contents Insurance

It would surprise you to know how many homes have all the latest in technological gadgetry, yet have failed to insure the contents of their home against the event of either a burglary or damage. If you want to protect your personal property, you need to be insuring your personal property with a home contents insurance.

What To Insure

You can arrange to insure any (or all) of the contents of your home under a home contents insurance policy. Nevertheless, if you have any personal belongings in your home over a certain £ value, then you should be discussing these with your home contents insurance provider - as in most cases property over a certain value needs to be declared independently (and, in certain cases, such as with expensive diamond engagement rings, they may need to be insured independently).

Itemise Your Possessions

Once you have decided that you want to purchase home contents insurance you need to take an inventory of your home, itemising all of the possessions in the home. A really good tip here is not to move all of your possession into one room and then itemise them, but to go from room to room doing this. This way, your inventory will be broken-down into rooms, should damage or theft occur only to a part of the home. Better yet, you should try to walk through your home with a video camera videoing all of the possessions in that room. You can then keep a copy of the video with the inventory. However, if you do not have a video camera, still-camera photographs of your possessions is better than taking no photographic evidence at all.

How To Value Your Possessions

It is vital that you remember that home contents insurance is insurance against the replacement value of the item that was lost, stolen or damaged. It does not take into consideration any nostalgic value. Therefore, if you have expensive personal property in your home, you should arrange to have these independently valued - preferably by an insurance approved valuer - and a copy of the valuation receipt should be kept with the insurance policy. The value of the other items in your home can either be assessed by the price it cost you to purchase them; or, better, by taking a trip down to the local shops and seeing how much each of the items would cost you to buy - as this is the amount you'll be paid if the item is lost/damaged.

How To Arrange The Home Contents Insurance

Once you have valued and itemised the possessions you want to insure you can then log onto the internet and get some online home contents insurance quotes based on the value and possessions you want to have insured under the insurance policy.

What Will The Insurance Premium Cover

Ordinarily the insurance policy will cover you in the event that the possession insured is lost, stolen or damaged. Damage in this case can be the cause of a natural event, such as a bad storm or flooding, or a because of a boiler bursting. You should also read your policy carefully, as some home contents insurance policies cover items which are lost outside of the home - for example, if you are transporting them in the car.

Personal Liability Insurance Important Considerations

The basic coverage for personal liability in standard homeowners, rental, and auto insurance policies often will not cover high losses of court awarded damages. Additional personal liability insurance will add a higher level of protection. This additional policy forms an umbrella because it covers protection above and beyond standard homeowners and auto policies.

Additional costs will vary with insurance companies, but usually average from $200 to $300 a year for additional protection of 1 million dollars. This coverage may insure automobiles, boats, homeowners, and renters insurance. Most insurance companies require basic insurance of $100,000.

The insured should ask the following questions:

1. How much do I have to lose?

2. What is the monetary total of my assets?

3. How much would legal fees cost me?

4. Are umbrella personal liability policies which cover one million dollars or more worth the extra premiums? Most insurance advisors recommend that they are.

Rate yourself and your family:

Are you careless?

Do you own a pool or an active recreation room?

Do other people work in your home?

Have accidents occurred in your home?

Add to this list of possible personal hazards.

If you answered yes to any question, you need additional protection of the umbrella liability insurance policy. Don't forget to buy additional auto insurance.

Study liability insurance on the internet or consult your insurance needs with a reliable agent. The internet has many clear, illustrated paragraphs of available types of policies. Individuals may study thousands of agents and companies, have questions answered, and purchase all types of insurance policies online from the leading insurance companies of the world.

Do not risk future financial disaster because you failed to act by saying, "It can't happen to me. I don't need extra coverage." The coffee table in your living room that you gingerly step around could cause a house guest to topple over. Another friend on an overnight stay slips on the staircase as she is on the way to the kitchen to get a cup of warm milk. These people might not be injured, but it is possible.

If anyone has an accident in your home or on your grounds, they could be severely injured. That is when you are in dire need of a personal umbrella policy. The insured needs to evaluate all possible situations that could lead to a major loss.

Remember personal liability insurance does not cover any business whether it is operated in the home or at an independent location. They are separate entities. The insured needs business insurance to cover any losses. Umbrella policies are available to cover the insured's business.