Do You need contents insurance for your holiday home

If you’re a homeowner, you probably didn’t even think twice about taking out home contents insurance when you moved in. After all, while the building may be the house, it’s the special, personal things that make it a home. From artwork to photographs, bespoke furniture or even outdoor items like lawnmowers and tools, replacing your possessions if they’re damaged or stolen could cost a fortune.

So if you insure your home, it may make sense to consider taking out the same level of protection for your holiday home too, especially if you let it out regularly. With a holiday home, the contents may also include high-ticket items like a hot tub or swimming pool. If these are damaged, the repair or replacement bill could run into thousands.

So content insurance for holiday homes could prove essential. But are you under or over-insured? Do you go for New-for-Old cover? And should you add accidental damage to your policy?

What is contents insurance?

Consumer experts Which? Magazine defines content insurance as cover that will pay for the cost of replacing your belongings if they are damaged, stolen or destroyed. [1] This normally includes any possession you would take with you if you moved to a new property. However, for holiday homes the contents category can cover larger items too, such as those high-ticket items we mentioned earlier.

To make sure you have adequate cover, you need to determine the level of insurance you need. It can be very easy to underestimate the value of your contents, especially if your property is overseas where the market value of your possessions may be different to the value here in the UK. So the first rule of taking out holiday home contents insurance is don’t undervalue your possessions.

Try to make sure that your policy is sufficient to cover the cost of repairing or replacing everything from the fridge-freezer to the cushions on your sun loungers. Also check to make sure that your insurance policy doesn’t include caveats that exclude expensive items such as jewellery, laptops, or games consoles, for example.

So more insurance is better, right?

Not really! Don’t be persuaded into buying policies that you don’t need. Over-insuring simply means that could be paying much higher premiums but with no actual guarantee that your policy will pay out any more in the event of a claim than a cheaper deal. Look for a policy that suits your requirements. If the value of your possessions goes up later on (for example, if you upgrade your flatscreen TV to a more expensive model), then you could always increase the level of cover as and when you need it mid-term.

 Valuable items

For those really valuable items, it may be preferable to look for a policy that allows you to insure them separately. At Intasure, up to 20% of your content insurance can be set aside for valuables so that you can have peace of mind that the most expensive items can be covered.

New-for-Old

New-for-Old insurance pays to replace an item that’s been damaged or stolen with a new item of the same value. So if your old TV is damaged by a guest then New-for-Old would pay for you to replace the TV with one of the same value. To help avoid issues with your insurance claim, it’s important to make sure you are as accurate as you can be when you’re putting a valuation on your contents.

Accidental Damage

This is usually an optional extra on home contents insurance policies, but if you’re letting out your holiday home to guests then it may be worth considering including it on your policy. Accidents do happen, but unless you have accidental damage cover, your policy may not pay out if one of the guests’ An Intasure holiday home contents insurance policy can include accidental damage as part of your policy to give you a little extra reassurance.

Theft by tenants

Sadly, not every guest or tenant you have in your holiday home may be as honest as you are, and theft from holiday homes by tenants can be an issue. Depending on insurers some standard home insurance will not cover you for this eventuality. So if you’re letting a property it’s important to consider choosing contents insurance that includes a clause to cover theft by tenants.

Intasure – looking after you and your property

At Intasure, we’ve developed insurance policies that help protect your property and your possessions. We can even cover the costs for cleaning and repairing damaged property when things go wrong. If your property is uninhabitable, we can provide accommodation costs too, so that you’re not left out in the cold. And if you’re away when that downpour or fire happens, our insurance will pay up to £300 of the cost of a return flight for up to two people if you need to fly out to resolve the issue.

For more information on Intasure’s holiday home contents insurance cover, contact us today.

Policy limits and exclusions may apply, please see policy wording for full terms and conditions.

The opinions and views expressed in the above articles are those of the author only and are for guidance purposes only. The authors disclaim any liability for reliance upon those opinions and would encourage readers to rely upon more than one source before making a decision based on the information.

[1] which.co.uk/home-insurance-explained/contents-insurance-explained