CONTENTS INSURANCE

WHY EVERYONE SHOULD CARRY CONTENTS INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR PROTECTION

When you live in a home, one of the best ways to insure your belongings is with a home owners policy that would cover the home, contents and liability in a package that really is all encompassing. However, if you’re renting or leasing your home, you actually have no legal right to cover the building with insurance, that responsibility belongs to the landlord. But, the landlord can’t cover your belongings or possessions for the same reason, they’re not his. So, what the insurance industry offers is renters insurance or contents coverage insurance for those that are leasing or renting. There are some other points to consider, let’s take a look.

A TENANTS INSURANCE POLICY IS VERY SIMILAR TO HOME OWNERS INSURANCE

Basically when you buy tenants insurance you’re getting everything covered just as if you were the home owner, except it’s not covering the building. You’re still getting liability, medical payments, and contents coverage with the ability to add on riders.

The contents will be covered for fire, storm, theft, vandalism, and many other types of losses that will protect the policy owner from being devastated in the event of a break-in or storm. It usually won’t cover a flood caused by a river, lake or stream, but would cover a flood caused by a wind storm tearing off the roof, or a suddenly broken pipe.

The liability coverage isn’t used very often, but it could come into play if your dog gets loose and bites a neighbor, and then they sue. Another example would be if you neglected to clear your sidewalks in a snow storm, which then caused some one to slip and fall, but they would have to sue you in court and win, in order to get damages.

The medical payments part of your tenants insurance is for those that may have been injured, possibly due to the negligence of the home owner. This coverage would pay to give first aid and possible an emergency room visit, in the event of a dog bite, or slip on the ice incident. The home owner doesn’t need to be sued, or negligence proven to collect on this, it’s more to help prevent a lawsuit.

WHEN GETTING CONTENTS INSURANCE, IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE LIMITS

Having your possessions covered in the event of theft, storm damage and other events is important, however, it’s also a good idea to read the exact limitations involved. Every company will have different limits on things such as jewelry, business equipment, stereo equipment, liability coverage, and many others. Jewelry might be limited to £5,000 for theft, and if you want to increase it, you’ll add on a rider to cover your £10,000 worth of rings and necklaces. If you run a business from home, you’ll want to specifically ask your agent to explain what is covered, for how much, and in what kinds of losses to make sure.

Getting your contents insurance coverage against losses is one of the smartest things you can do. The small monthly payments are nothing compared to starting over from scratch after a big storm. Plus, since most policies also come with liability insurance, that is a consideration because a simple dog bite could cost £50,000 after attorneys fees, court costs, medical bills and punitive damages, so keep that in mind as well.