jackiew
6th September 2004, 03:27 PM
with my contents insurance up for renewal I just had a happy weekend reading through product disclosure booklets and having discussions with sales staff. There are differences between the cover from different insurers.
If you haven't read the small print of your contents insurance brochure lately it might be worth your while doing so.
Assorted restrictions that I found-
some new for old policies exclude items over 15 years old unless specified - so if you've got lots of second hand furniture you could be paying insurance for nothing.
some policies exclude items which they decide you didn't really want. Those items stored up in the loft for instance or the clothes which you are going to diet back into one day.
some policies only insure up to $2000 of CDs/DVDs etc - anything over that and you have to declare them as specified items otherwise you will only get $2000. e.g. more than 66 music CDs and you'll only get $2000 if someone lifts your entire collection. The insurance company's idea of a collection and yours may not agree - your family's 2000+ books may be counted as a collection :-(
If you have DIY type tools over $2000 dollars in value and you've ever earned your living from doing DIY type stuff your tools may not insured. Similarly for any other items which you own which they discover have previously been used to earn you money.
total specified items must be less than 25% of total insured. So if you live a sad life in a furnished bedsit with just a gerbil and 6000 CDs for company you could have a fun time finding insurance ( and some contents policies won't cover you if your gerbil eats your CDs ... although you might be covered if someone else's rabbit does but not if their budgie does :confused: ).
some policies assume a single item of furniture costs less than $1000 - more than that you have to specify it.
If the assessor decides you are underinsured they won't pay out the full amount of insurance ( even if you don't care about half of your belongings anyway and wouldn't replace them ) ... HOWEVER you could try insuring some items as specified items ( discuss with your insurer) e.g. you specify (say) books as having a value of $10000 when to replace all of them would cost $77000 ( hmm ... I think I might have a book buying problem ) then they won't include the uninsured $67000 when they are deciding if you are underinsured ( found one that did this - might not apply to all of them).
if the river at the bottom of the garden overflows and floods your house you are not insured. If the storm drains flood your house you are.
some policies appear to require you to tell the insurer if you are having "renovation" work done with a value of over $20000 or $50000 or you are not insured. Their definition of renovation work and yours may not agree. Talk to them.
when a certain insurance company advertises that if you ring them you will speak to a real person what they mean is that instead of selecting 5 for home insurance when you dial you get to ask for home insurance and they then transfer you to a queue.
recommendation - take photos of the stuff in each room of your house and store the photos at work. You may have difficulty persuading the insurance company that you really had that hi-fi system if your house burnt down or you threw the receipt away years ago. Note that this might backfire if it helps them to prove you were underinsured.
just thought I'd brighten up your Monday afternoon.
Jackie
If you haven't read the small print of your contents insurance brochure lately it might be worth your while doing so.
Assorted restrictions that I found-
some new for old policies exclude items over 15 years old unless specified - so if you've got lots of second hand furniture you could be paying insurance for nothing.
some policies exclude items which they decide you didn't really want. Those items stored up in the loft for instance or the clothes which you are going to diet back into one day.
some policies only insure up to $2000 of CDs/DVDs etc - anything over that and you have to declare them as specified items otherwise you will only get $2000. e.g. more than 66 music CDs and you'll only get $2000 if someone lifts your entire collection. The insurance company's idea of a collection and yours may not agree - your family's 2000+ books may be counted as a collection :-(
If you have DIY type tools over $2000 dollars in value and you've ever earned your living from doing DIY type stuff your tools may not insured. Similarly for any other items which you own which they discover have previously been used to earn you money.
total specified items must be less than 25% of total insured. So if you live a sad life in a furnished bedsit with just a gerbil and 6000 CDs for company you could have a fun time finding insurance ( and some contents policies won't cover you if your gerbil eats your CDs ... although you might be covered if someone else's rabbit does but not if their budgie does :confused: ).
some policies assume a single item of furniture costs less than $1000 - more than that you have to specify it.
If the assessor decides you are underinsured they won't pay out the full amount of insurance ( even if you don't care about half of your belongings anyway and wouldn't replace them ) ... HOWEVER you could try insuring some items as specified items ( discuss with your insurer) e.g. you specify (say) books as having a value of $10000 when to replace all of them would cost $77000 ( hmm ... I think I might have a book buying problem ) then they won't include the uninsured $67000 when they are deciding if you are underinsured ( found one that did this - might not apply to all of them).
if the river at the bottom of the garden overflows and floods your house you are not insured. If the storm drains flood your house you are.
some policies appear to require you to tell the insurer if you are having "renovation" work done with a value of over $20000 or $50000 or you are not insured. Their definition of renovation work and yours may not agree. Talk to them.
when a certain insurance company advertises that if you ring them you will speak to a real person what they mean is that instead of selecting 5 for home insurance when you dial you get to ask for home insurance and they then transfer you to a queue.
recommendation - take photos of the stuff in each room of your house and store the photos at work. You may have difficulty persuading the insurance company that you really had that hi-fi system if your house burnt down or you threw the receipt away years ago. Note that this might backfire if it helps them to prove you were underinsured.
just thought I'd brighten up your Monday afternoon.
Jackie