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Don’t make this home insurance mistake

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
10/10/2019

Households across the country could be undervaluing their contents insurance by £115bn

Homeowners and renters may be underestimating the value of the contents of their home by billions of pounds, according to Admiral Home Insurance.

That’s despite the fact that many admit their possessions could be at risk.

The insurance firm asked 1,000 adults in the UK to estimate the value of all the contents in their home.

The average figure came out at £18,333, a massive £16,667 less than the actual average contents value of £35,000. Across the UK that works out at a total of £115bn worth of contents that could be undervalued.

This large disparity between the perceived contents value and actual value becomes even more alarming as more than a third (36%) revealed their contents were at risk in some way, whether from burglary or flooding.

Increase your insurance level

Two-thirds of respondents (67%) typically update their contents insurance on an annual basis, but just under a quarter (23%) of them didn’t think it was necessary to increase their insurance level regularly, for example when they have bought a high-value item such as jewellery or home technology.

According to the survey, people living in a rented, shared flats are the least likely to have insurance, with more than half (58%) of flat renters having no contents cover. They also undervalued their contents by the most at just £7,717 – almost £30,000 under the national average – despite more than half feeling that their contents are at risk of theft or damage.

Noel Summerfield, head of household at Admiral, said: “It’s important homeowners or renters provide an accurate estimate for their contents, otherwise they could end up without enough cover if they need to make a claim.

“While some people update their cover annually, some forget to amend their policy when they buy or receive high value items (worth over £1,000) – think Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries.”