24.9m Britons at risk
Britons under-insure their home contents by more than £255 billion , leaving millions struggling to replace their belongings in the event of disaster – and at risk of invalidating their policy, a survey by AXA reports.
The average home’s contents are insured for just under £29,000, more than £9,000 less than the average value placed by consumers on their home contents at just under £38,000, leaving Britain’s 24.9million homeowners and tenants struggling to replace their belongings should the worst happen.
At a time when people are cutting costs where they can, it may seem wise to many people to go for the cheapest premium.
Not only could under-insuring mean you find yourself without enough funds to replace your belongings, it could even invalidate the policy.
Mike Keating, AXA’s managing director of personal lines intermediary said: “It may seem a good idea to many - particularly in today’s climate – to pick the cheapest option when it comes to home insurance and save a few pounds, but £20,000 or even £30,000 worth of insurance is unlikely to cover all the contents in the average consumer’s home. When taking out home contents insurance, it’s absolutely vital to ensure that customers have a clear idea of the cost of their possessions as under-insuring could lead to a policy being invalid.”
The findings revealed that while consumers insured their home contents for just under £29,000, they do not take everything into consideration when calculating that figure.
When asked to place a value on a detailed list of home contents that included items such as home accessories and garden furniture, the figure rose to almost £38,000.
