The World Business

Critical money issues- Keeping track of your home insurance cover

June 3rd, 2011 |

Author: Admin

There are a few basic problems for policyholders regarding home insurance cover. Some policies are much better than others. Some are just cheap policies and their cover is equally cheap. Some policies are OK as far as they go, but they don’t reflect real values of property or contents very well. Some are even less impressive, very basic No Frills insurance that doesn’t actually even claim to cover much, or do it well. The fact is that most policyholders run their policies on autopilot, often for years or even decades, without a thought. Many don’t know how to adjust their cover, and some don’t even know how to read their policies, expensive as some of them are. The theory is that just having insurance, any insurance, is all they need to know about the subject. That theory couldn’t be more wrong, or more expensive, if things go wrong:

The low-grade/ lousy insurance policies are hopelessly inferior to others on the market.
The only way to find out if you’ve got a good policy is to compare it with others on the market.
If someone doesn’t understand their policy, do they have a problem if they need to make a claim? You bet they do.
If your policy is ten years old, do you need to upgrade? You do.
Have you, like most normal human beings, bought a lot of stuff that wasn’t in the house when you first took out cover? More than likely.
Does your policy reflect the true value of your new contents? In a lot of cases, it doesn’t, because the policy hasn’t been upgraded to cover the value of the new things you have in the house.

Ignorance is not likely to be bliss, in these cases. Insurance policies can’t run themselves. Most people are under-insured in at least some ways. Keeping track of your home insurance Home insurance is simple enough, provided you watch your policy and make sure it’s meeting your needs properly. The simplest possible approach to tracking your insurance cover comes in two forms: 1. Compare policies

Read your policy. Calculate the value of your cover.
Compare your policy options online. The new online insurers can give you a home and contents insurance quote very quickly, to compare prices.

2. Check the dollar value of your cover.

Is the cover up to date?
Does it compare well to other policies?
Does it reflect your needs?

If you’re not happy with your cover The next stage, if you’ve found that your cover is inadequate is straightforward:

Upgrade your existing policy.
Get a better policy.

Be systematic in your approach to these options. Check each area of cover for value. Contents insurance is often a good, quick way of comparing policy values in terms of the actual cover they provide. You can upgrade specific areas of your policy or you can simply get a better policy by checking out the better options. One thing for sure- You will get yourself a better policy and better cover, however you approach these issues.