Category Archives: Home Insurance Calculator

Homeowner’s Insurance Policy: Why Having One is Really Very Important

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As a proud owner of a brand new house, among the many things that you will have to decide on is whether you should buy a homeowners insurance policy for your property or not. Some homeowners delay acquiring one because of already having shelled out a sizable amount of cash in buying the house. However, even though getting such policy may seem a pointless expense at the beginning, purchasing one is very important for your protection as well as peace of mind. By having a homeowners insurance plan, you get to obtain three key benefits namely financial protection; added funds for everyday expenses in case of a disaster that the plan covers; as well as liability protection.

Financial protection essentially refers to the capacity to recover financially when disasters like earthquakes, storms, flood and fire damages your home. With the right insurance, having the funds to perform the urgently needed repairs is not going to be a problem. In several cases, monetary protection go further than simply covering your property. Some plans also cover the items within the house ( home and contents insurance) like furniture, appliances, electronic equipment, jewelry as well as other valuables, so they would be easily replaced in the event that they get lost or damaged.

The next benefit that you can receive from this particular type of insurance plan from an insurance company is the money given for everyday expenses in case you need to move out of your house if it happens to become uninhabitable. Such include restaurant bills, hotel expenses and other everyday living expenses sustained from moving out of the home while such is being rebuilt or repaired.

Finally, liability protection basically refers to the protection from claims or lawsuits which arise from bodily injuries which occur to visitors while inside your home. For instance, if your pet dog accidentally bites your guest or your guest falls and gets injured while inside your property, your insurance can handle all of the hospital expenses and/or legal costs in case that person chooses to file charges.

To make things clear, the law does not require you to carry a home owner’s insurance. However, many mortgage lenders necessitate it as a requirement for securing a house loan from them. Getting a homeowner’s insurance plan may be a heavy monetary burden at the start; however the benefits in which it provides when unexpected disasters occur offsets the cost. In order to acquire the best plan, it is highly suggested that you compare several insurance providers first.

Check out house insurance Victoria BC for coverage for your next home.

One Of The Best Ways To Protect Your Home Is Home Cover, Home & Building Insurance, Perhaps The Best Insurance Of Them All.

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“Why home insurance?” I hear you ask “do I need it? Do I need to pay for year after year into a home cover scheme that I will never claim on?” Well my friend you will be one very lucky person if you never have need to claim on your home policy. Your home, together with all your possessions within it are probably the biggest financial commitment that you make so you need to protect your investment, for real peace of mind and protection how can you not have the best home & buildings insurance that you can afford?

One of the joyous moments in life is that after some calamity or catastrophe you find that your insurance policy will resolve your current problem and you can carry on with your everyday life without any more stress. Trust me you only need this feeling once in your life to understand the true value of home insurance deals.

So what do you need to know about home & buildings insurance before you buy it? Firstly as it sounds it is two separate insurance policies, one that covers the buildings and one that covers the contents and possessions. These can be purchased separately from different companies if you wish as well as together from one company in the form of one combined single policy.

Home Cover Buildings Insurance

As it sounds this insurance covers the building, the actual structure of your home, and all the fixed elements within it, the roof, walls, doors, windows, floors, in fact anything that is a permanent part of your home, a good rule of thumb is if you sold the property today would it have to stay there as part of the sale, for example you wouldn’t take your bath with you would you? So it is covered under the building policy. Actual details of what individual policies cover need to be verified before you purchase the insurance. Always check the policy with regards to outbuildings, garages, greenhouses, fences, perimeter walls, gates etc it may be that they need to be listed on the policy or added as an extension to the policy to ensure their cover.

The actual sum insured on this policy does not usually relate to the actual house value but the cost of clearing the land and rebuilding the house if needed, this is normally less than the actual value of the house.

One further point on building insurance is simply that you do need to own the building to insure it if you are renting the property it is the owner’s responsibility to insure to insure it; they may pass on a share of the premium for you to pay but they should be purchasing the building insurance.

Home Cover Contents insurance

Again for clarity, as the name implies this policy covers the contents of your home, your possessions. This usually is all of the items, which you would take with you, if and when you sold the house. Your furniture, clothing, books, tools, utensils, children’s toys, DVD’s etc; everything not fixed to the house.

Often some cheap contents home insurance policies are sold with a fixed maximum value such as ten or twenty thousand pounds or similar, the only real way to be sure if you have enough cover is to actually list the value all of your contents before you buy the insurance.
Other thing to be aware of is to be sure you are insured for the replacement value of your contents, most modern policies are in this form, older types of contents insurance made adjustments for ‘wear and tear’ of the insured items; so instead of getting new replacement items after a claim, you would receive a payment that took into account the age of the item concerned, thereby your remuneration from the policy may not quite replace the item at today’s prices!

Other points to check on your home insurance policy document and be clear before you buy. Are you are covered for accidental damage to items as well as fire and flood etc; so that if someone accidently drops something heavy onto your glass table you can make a claim on the home insurance policy. Are the contents of your freezer covered by the policy? The same applies to computers and laptops etc. Often these are extensions to the policy or have to be listed on the policy always check before you buy.

All Risk Cover

One more addition to the home insurance policy is often what is called an all risk section this can be watches, cameras, bicycles, jewellery and some expensive clothing items. These can be items that you want insuring within your home policy but when you actually use them, they can be taken outside the home, for example the camera, you will use it inside your home but often it’s taken with you on day’s out, holidays or family functions this can still be insured on your home insurance policy under it’s all risk section. High value items will need to be listed within your policy for your own peace of mind so there is no doubt that they are insured.

The Best Insurance

The best insurance policy for you (this includes the best UK home insurance) is the one that you actually have, not the one that you are going to buy tomorrow. My home insurance advice is to have it in place now, today!

Who knows what is going to happen in the next few moments? We obviously don’t but I do know if you have your home and building insurance in place that is one of the best ways to protect your home from whatever may happen.

Don’t be the person that will get round to buying insurance one day, be the person that can lift the phone and ask for a claim form in the event of something happening; not be the person realising “I want insurance” at precisely the wrong time.

What Is A Home Insurance Calculator?

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Home insurance together with a home insurance calculator like all forms of insurance is a pain. I say again home insurance is a pain, but at the same time very, very necessary. If we are really unfortunate we could be burgled, burnt out, flooded, or maybe a truck or bus crash through the front door or a plane land on the roof, in the next heart beat we can either lose everything we ever had, or reach for the insurance claim form; I know which I would rather do and I am also sure I know which you would rather do as well.

So what is home insurance, which do we need, and do we need a home insurance calculator?

Firstly there are usually two main types of home insurance, buildings insurance and contents insurance, as the names imply one covers the buildings and the other covers the contents. They can be purchased both together in one policy from one company or separately, two policies two companies the choice is yours.

Buildings insurance protects the building element of your property, the bricks, mortar, roof tiles, and doors windows etc, also permanent fixtures within the property such as bathrooms and fitted kitchens, outbuildings like garages, sheds etc are included but usually not boundary fences and walls and gates. Having said that before you sign any insurance document it is advisable to read all the small print, make sure that you understand exactly what is, and what is not covered, if any excess need to be paid by yourself when making a claim also how many claims can be made over a period of time. It’s too late to question the exact cover at the point of claiming. Most mortgage lenders insist that you have buildings insurance in place before they offer any loan.

Home Insurance Calculator

Buildings insurance cover (usually called the sum insured) is based on the cost of actually rebuilding your home as opposed to the market value of your home, if you are using the market value for this purpose you may be over-insured as well as paying too much money. To get a true reliable value for this a building survey needs to be commissioned this can be expensive, you may be having one made anyway if you are just buying the property, if not certain comparison websites have different types of home owners insurance calculator available to use although obviously they may not be as accurate as the survey option.

Contents insurance protects your possessions you do not need to have this insurance- it is not compulsory but very advisable. Possessions this is anything from clothes, furniture, jewellery, electronic equipment, sports equipment, tools, freezer food even garden plants or as I like to call it ‘the good stuff!’

Just like the building insurance, contents insurance will cover you for fire, theft and third party damage, again you need to read the small print as to whether the policy covers flooding, frozen or burst pipe damage, storm damage, and accidental damage like say spilling a can of paint on the carpet when redecorating etc.

Within the policy you can have different types of cover this is also a point for you to understand and make sure that you have the cover that you require before you sign any agreement. The basic cover is called indemnity insurance this covers the cost of your possessions but takes into account depreciation in value of each item, that means if your carpet is five years old when the claim is made the insurance company will deduct an amount of money from the claim for depreciation in value of the carpet.

The next cover is called ‘new for old’ this is slightly more expensive insurance but it means that your possessions are replaced with new ones without any deduction for depreciation at all.
You can add to this for certain items an ‘all risk’ cover this will cover particular possessions against loss or damage outside the home like jewellery, mobile phones or bicycles.

Home and Contents Insurance Calculator.

How do you calculate the sums to insure for your contents? Do you need to use a contents insurance calculator? What is this home insurance calculator? I’m afraid the best one to use is a piece of paper and a pen then simply write down a list of your possessions and add up the values. To be logical and not miss any important items start in one room, list everything in that room then move on to the next until all the rooms contents are on the list.

This truly sounds a pain to do but it really is the only sure way of quantifying your possessions together with their value, then if the worst happens you have a place to start with your claim.
I should also point out whenever you deal with an insurance company, always tell the truth if you decide to underinsure to save money, say the value is £10,000 instead of the actual value of say £20,000 perhaps halving your premiums you may find that if you have to make a claim the payout that you receive is only half the value. Tell the truth! If you have made a claim before, tell them, if the area is liable to flooding, tell them, the alternative is if you are unfortunate enough that you need to claim even for something totally different, they may decide that your policy is invalid and refuse the claim, always tell the truth.