ARE YOU COVERED?

Insurance can be pricey, but so is replacing damaged or stolen property

Nearly one in five homes does not bother with contents insurance – cover that protects your belongings if they are stolen or you suffer fire or flood. And that, according to Co-op Insurance, adds up to £175bn worth of goods without cover.

Whether you rent or are buying your property, contents insurance can be an essential protection for your valuables. Contents insurance is often inexpensive – basic cover for a small home may cost under £150 a year.

People living in the North-East are almost twice as likely to go without contents cover than those living in East Anglia.

Typically, homes have contents costing about £35,000 to replace if all were lost to fire or flood. This figure includes furniture, bedding, electronic gadgets, kitchen appliances (including pots and pans) and clothing.

If you have valuables such as jewellery then the total will probably be greater.

So why do households go without cover?

Some – mistakenly – believe that their contents are insured by their landlord or through the buildings policy mortgage companies insist upon.

Many young people think they are covered by their parents’ home insurance. This can be true – for instance if they live some of the year in student accommodation. Always check policies first, however.

But a significant number reckon their contents are not worth enough to insure. This makes sense if they feel they are happy to lose items and can afford to replace them, often with new or updated versions.

Others take one look at premiums and decide the expense and hassle are not worth it. Proportionally to what they own, those living in bedsits and shared homes pay substantially more than people living in mansions.

Overall, one in six has little or no idea of what contents insurance is about. But nine out of 10 believe insurers could do more to make policies user friendly.

In particular, three out of four said there was too much jargon that only insurers understood – many think cover companies use small print to get out of paying claims.

One in three think policies would be easier to understand if insurance companies used real life examples to show what’s covered and what isn’t.