subject: What's the average worth of a household's possessions? [print this page] A good home contents insurance policy can give peace of mind to owners who are worried about their valuables falling victim to accidents, loss or theft. That's why it's important to assess the value of your household's possessions as accurately as possible, to avoid under-insuring your home contents.
As many as nine in ten UK households may be under-insured, many by at least 10,000. That means that, in total, Britain's homes are under-valuing their possessions by 250 billion, as thousands of homes put their livelihoods at risk in the event that they need to claim on their insurance policy.
The average worth of a household's possessions is between 30,000 and 40,000, which includes everything within the building, such as electronics and valuables exempting some high-value items such as art collections, antiques and jewellery, which may need to be covered separately. However, this does not necessarily mean that your home contents will fall within this value, which is why it's important to take steps to value your possessions accurately.
Tips for valuing home contents include everything from calculating the value yourself, simply by moving from room to room and adding up the figures, to heading online for a free quote for contents cover.
Arriving at an accurate price for your home contents hopefully means you won't run the risk of under-valuing your contents and being unable to recover the full value of your possessions, and also that you won't be paying more than you have to by taking out too much cover. As a general rule, items that you could take with you to a new property, which are not permanent attachments to the building, will need to be included in your contents insurance.
This means you need to check that your insurance covers your outbuildings, such as sheds or garages, as well as your main building. If you do not wish some items to be covered, however, such as freezer contents, you could find options to opt out of certain aspects when comparing insurance policies, though it's generally advisable to cover everything you own to ensure you have a better chance of recovering the total value in the event of accidents or break-ins.
What's the average worth of a household's possessions?
