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HOME INSURANCE
www.homemoverspack.info
Record collections
There are a few steps you can take right
now to minimise stress during the aftermath
of such an event. Making an inventory of
all your worldly goods may take hours,
and hopefully you’ll never need it. But if
you do, you’ll certainly appreciate having
made the effort. List room by room what
you own, and make sure any collections
are fully described. Take photos of jewellery
or valuable ornaments so they can be
identified easily, should they be recovered.
And tempting as it is to store all this
information on computer, that’s not much
good if it’s been taken, too. For peace of
mind, print and date your inventory and
clearly labelled photos. Store them in a
small, fireproof safe – they don’t cost more
than a few pounds – which you should
hide and secure. Use an invisible security
pen to write your house number and post
code on valuable items, and make sure you
keep your inventory updated by checking
it once a year or so. As a failsafe, it’s worth
hanging on to receipts, instruction booklets
and warranties so you can see at once how
much something cost, or at least estimate
its value accurately.
A river runs through it
And what if there’s a fire, or the water’s
rising fast outside the door? Your insurance
company doesn’t expect you to be on
the phone asking for a claim form when
you should be getting rescued. Call the
emergency services if they’re required, and
deal with keeping everybody safe.
If a mysterious crack has appeared in the
wall overnight, you should go ahead with
a temporary repair if it will minimise further
damage. You don’t need to discuss it with
the insurer first – just go ahead and do it.
Your insurance documents will specify what
claim you can make for such fixes, and will
contain an emergency number if you don’t
know what to do. Another one for the safe,
perhaps.
A dogged disaster
Let’s say, however, that you’re running
a bath in your new house when the dog
somehow manages to get out of the front
door and run outside. You charge after
it, knocking into the hall table and your
camera falls to the floor. While you’re
flapping round after the dog and trying to
protect your modesty, the bath runs over
and ruins the carpet. Canine scolded and
definitely indoors, floor mopped and sanity
resumed, you lift the bathroom carpet only
to find that the floorboards are rotten. Not
quite the relaxing evening you’d planned.
But what’s covered by insurance? Which is
buildings, and which is contents?
As you can take the camera out of the
building, it falls under contents. The same
goes for the hall table. The carpet, however,
forms part of the fixtures of the house, so
a claim should be made to the buildings
insurer. Those floorboards are a different
matter. As they were already rotten when
you moved into the house, they were in that
state before your insurance started, so may
not be covered at all.
Having worked out what’s covered by
whom, call the insurance companies and
explain in detail what happened. It’s a
good idea to have written down events as
soon as possible after they took place so
you don’t have to rely on your memory.
A claim form will be posted to you, and
you’ll be expected to provide estimates for
replacement or repair costs. In the event
of several households being affected at
once – for example, a hurricane ripping
into the roofs of an entire street – you may
have to hang on and wait your turn to get
estimates, as roofers in this case will be
rather busy. Simply let your insurer know
that there may be a wait.
As well as being able to lay your hands
on an inventory or proofs of purchase,
keep a hold of any damaged possessions
so there can be no doubt that your claim
is genuine. If all goes well, your insurance
company should send you a cheque after
having processed your claim. On the other
hand, the insurer won’t want to pay out
more than they have to, and might send
in a loss adjuster. This person works for
the insurance company to prevent overreimbursement.
If you’re told that one’s
coming your way, call on the services of
a loss assessor. Being wise to the ways
of insurance companies, they’ll work on
your behalf to make sure you get what you
should. Hopefully it’ll never come to that,
though, and all you’ll have to do is pay
the premium – and sleep sound, knowing
you’re fully covered.