Contents insurance compensates the policy holder for goods and possessions that are not permanent fixtures of your home. But hold on, this is not always the case despite the common perception that contents insurance is the easiest form of insurance to calculate.

Let’s say that your bedroom erupts into flames and destroys the entire room. First off, you would pray that everyone is okay but after that you would begin to go over the total damage. Little did you know, the insurance broker would force you to fill out two different forms. You would fill out one for damages to permanent or built in appliances, and another for goods that could be moved. Chances are you have little to know permanent fixtures in your bedroom so it’s all defined as “moveable” goods. Is that even covered in your policy? You would be surprised to see how many do not include it.

Keep in mind that fires, floods, wind damage, and theft account for the majority of damages at any given home. You can protect your home sometimes from theft, but natural disasters like fires, floods, and wind are almost impossible to avoid. So make sure they are all covered under your policy.

Insurance companies will also consider “add-ons” which incorporate coverage of insuring goods stored outside the house, such as in a garage. Factors that commonly affect house contents insurance costs are the location of the property, its security systems, whether it is left un-attended for long periods, and history of previous claims among others.

Another area you want to guarantee is covered is the replacement value. This differs from the current market value in those extremely important valuables such as antiques and jewelry will be at least covered at replacement or emotional value if they are unable to be replaced. Expect higher premiums however if you wish to protect these coveted items.

However, current market value is when the insurance company assesses home possessions to current value and not what it was worth five to ten years ago. So if you have possessions which are quite old and you want to protect their worth, make sure you get replacement coverage.

It’s a simple formula. Pay a higher premium and your goods are covered much better than if you pay a low or very cheap premium. If you really want strong protection, you must pay a lot even if the chances of destruction or theft are very low.

Unless you have a lot of extremely valuable goods, stay with a fairly low premium. Chances of your home getting destroyed are low and the value of your property might not be that much to begin with. Keep in mind that an average family making over $200,000 pays on average 3% of that number back to insurance companies.

Graham McKenzie is the content Syndication Manager at insurance123.co.zaSouth Africa’s leading Household Insurance information portal

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 5:18 am and is filed under Real Estate.