10 home insurance tips

There can be few things in life more worthy of protection than your home so you'll want to make sure you end up with a home insurance policy that gives you peace of mind without meaning sky high premiums. To hopefully make the process a little easier, here's ten things to consider when insuring your home.

1. It's worth making sure that your house is fully protected with a pretty comprehensive range of security measures. A basic requirement is a mortice deadlock or rimlock that conforms to British standard 3621 but you should also seriously think about installing a NACOSS approved burglar alarm and joining a neighborhood watch scheme. The more secure your house the better chance you'll have of getting a 5-10% discount.

2. Don't let your home become one of the vast majority of houses in the UK that are underinsured. It's a good idea to ensure that your contents insurance is kept up to date.

3. Make sure you know what isn't covered by your home insurance policy. Have a good look at the exclusions in your policy, whilst outbuildings like sheds and garages are likely to be covered they might not be.

4. Lengthy periods away from your home might not be covered. If you plan on being away from your property for an extended period find out the maximum number of days it's covered for in your absence.

5. Find out if your home is at risk of flooding and make sure your home insurance policy offers adequate cover if you are. Updated flood maps of England and Wales indicate an additional 300,000 homes could be at risk of flood damage – find out if there's any threat to your house.

6. The ‘reasonable care' clause means just that so do take care to look after your possessions by locking doors and windows and trying not to advertising your valuables.

7. Take note of your maximum single-item cover. This is the largest amount your insurer will pay out for one item. You'll need to insure anything worth much more than this individually.

8. Look out for combined building and contents policies. This will both save you time but could mean a discount. Don't just plump for a combined deal for convenience sake though; a good policy for contents could be teamed up with a less impressive deal for the building or vice-versa.

9. If you're after a quick money saving tip, think twice about paying for your home insurance with a direct debit, it's entirely possible you'll be charged up to 30% interest. A good alternative is to pay using a 0% purchases credit card. 10. Don't over-insure yourself; the sum should be the cost to rebuild rather than what the property is worth. In certain cases the insurer will only pay out the cost to rebuild anyway. A rebuild cost estimate should be pretty cheap and easy to come by so make sure you get it right.

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