Sometimes the statistics speak for themselves – it seems there is a massive under-insurance gap in the UK, to the tune of a cool £100 billion.
Amazingly that underinsured risk doesn’t relate to some new type of policy – say cyber, or terrorism – that many haven’t got on-board with yet. Instead it relates to a type of insurance that nearly everyone has – contents insurance.
Brokers are being urged to talk to their clients about the value of accurately assessing their belongings after new research from Admiral Home Insurance, which surveyed 1,000 people across the UK, asked homeowners and renters to estimate the value of their contents. Amazingly, the average figure came in at just £22,267 – some £20,000 less than the real average contents value of £43,629.
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The under valuing of contents comes despite the fact that 67% claim to update their contents insurance on an annual basis. This large disparity between the perceived contents value and actual value becomes even more alarming as a third (33%) of people do actually believe that their contents are at risk in some way, whether from burglary or flooding.
As such, brokers are being urged to stress to their clients that they should make regular content valuations – especially after buying big ticket items like new laptops, TVs, furniture and so on.
“It’s important that homeowners or renters provide a correct estimate for their contents, otherwise they could end up without enough cover should they have to make a claim,” said Noel Summerfield, head of household at Admiral.
“The value of most items can be searched on the internet, but antiques or jewellery should be valued by a professional before being added to a policy.”
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