How Much Do You Think Your ENTIRE Home Contents Should Be Insured For?

[Bathsheba]

Thanks again girls... regarding the calculators... yep, i've seen them online. What I plan to do is just keep doing the room-by-room thing and when i think i'm done double check with a calculator. I found that we have alot of strange items that might not be on a calculator...eg my vertical tapestry loom and all my art supplies and DH's guitar sound effects pedals etc. If anyone wants to post a particular calculator that they think is comprehensive then that would be great

[Roryrory]

Plus we see it as a means to set you up and get you back on your feet again, not to put you in the exact same position you were in before.

Correct me if I am wrong, Curly, but I am 99% sure that if you are under-insured then your policy usually doesn't fully cover you. For example, your contents is worth $100,000 but you only insure for $80,000. You are 20% under-insured. So when you come to claim on your policy, the company will discount your payout by 20%. So instead of getting $80,000 you will only get $74,000 (ie: 20% less).

So you need to be very careful when setting your insured value.

Bath, to your OP, we have a debate every time we renew our policy - I favour more, DH favours less. But I fill in the forms and arrange payment so I win

[Pandora]

I know someone who was cleaned out Nd had to claim on their contents INS. When it came to clothes, the insurer went by the number of coathangers in the wardrobe and valued each at 100. Which given most of her clothes were suits and high end was substantially less than her clothes were worth. So now my wir are full of spare hangers

[briggsy's girl]

i think Rory is right - if you are under insured, you actual pay out is less by the amount you're underinsured. i have been working with my insurance company to update our insurance (it's a constant thing over the past 18 months or so as i list more of the collections and things)

also take into account things that you may have paid minimal for but are worth a lot more. sales are great for getting linen and books and stuff like that, but to actually replace them it would cost a small fortune. as many have seen, i have quite a collection of Christmas stuff and candle holders and things. most of these are now irreplacable (limited edition stuff) - but i have them insured. my insurance company suggested i keep a list and photographic evidence somewhere that isn't the house. at the moment, that evidence is in mum and dad's fire proof safe as well as our own. we have a copy of their stuff for them as well

[Jennifer13]

Correct me if I am wrong, Curly, but I am 99% sure that if you are under-insured then your policy usually doesn't fully cover you. For example, your contents is worth $100,000 but you only insure for $80,000. You are 20% under-insured. So when you come to claim on your policy, the company will discount your payout by 20%. So instead of getting $80,000 you will only get $74,000 (ie: 20% less).

So you need to be very careful when setting your insured value.

This is true.

So while you don't think you will replace items, you still may need to include them in your contents insurance, so you don't run the risk of being under-insured (in the eyes of your insurer, remember, not you!). It's not that you'll be getting extra $$ for them anyway, since even if you include what you believe is everything there's very little chance you'll be over-calculating. Insurance companies estimate that as few as 18% of people who have contents insurance are adequately covered.

Remember you only need to list individual items that are of value, so specific pieces of jewellery (with receipts/valuation certificates), or other significant items. We have our DVDs specified as simply 'DVD collection' with the value that they are worth (so higher than the maximum allowed on the policy if you don't specify, if that makes sense). Take photos of these things too, for your records.

It's actually more likely that you won't be claiming for all of your contents, but to replace some things lost/stolen/damaged (fire, flood, etc).

If you're unsure, can I recommend you check out NRMA Insurance's info on their website. There's a section called 'Understanding Insurance' that includes some downloadable brochures on Insurance Basics and What You Need To Know About Insurance (bottom of this page). These might help to answer some of your questions. (You don't have to be an NRMA customer and these are not about their products, just insurance in general).

[Jaycee]

We have a list just like the one you're in the process of doing Bath. It's an excel spreadsheet that lists all contents by room and value. I was also careful to over-estimate the value of things just a little and also didn't take into account whether or not I bought it on sale, I listed it at the cost I would pay without it being on sale. We are currently insured for $80,000 and I feel this is adequete for us at the moment, as we too live in quite a humble home, no flat screen tv's etc.

P.S Thanks for reminding me I need to update my list too

[briggsy's girl]

ok, question (this thread has inspired me to go through and make an actual list rather than guessing!)

do you include heating and airconditioning in home or contents?
and if you have landscaped gardens, where does that go?

[Jaycee]

Hmm, that's a good question BG.

I've never had to think about that as I've always been a renter, but we're building a house at the moment so those questions will be relevant to me in a few months time.

My first thought would be that both would be part of the cost of the home, not the contents. Things like carpet, curtains etc are usually part of your home insurance so I'm guessing a/c and landscaping would be the same. Don't quote me on it though

[briggsy's girl]

carpet and curtains - i thought they were contents now house...

hmmm time to go investigating

you'd think i'd know this given my rellos were insurance agents - but they made it too easy for me - just asked a few questions and did it all for me!

[~Gee_Whizzy~]

ok, question (this thread has inspired me to go through and make an actual list rather than guessing!)

do you include heating and airconditioning in home or contents?
and if you have landscaped gardens, where does that go?

not sure about landscaping, but you can put aircon units and heaters under "motor burnout" insurance which is an add on to the contents insurance. the catch is that they have to be under 10 years old to be covered.....only reason i know this is we've just changed over to a different ins company and have opted for that cover

[briggsy's girl]

ok, i just ran an estimator and i don't know if our house is seriously underinsured on the building side of things now!

we have a large-ish house, i won't like - but the NRMA/RACV estimate said upwards of half a million (almost 600k) to rebuild! and thats basically JUST the house and floor coverings - everything else comes into contents!