Staying in is the new going out but is your home insurance ready?

With the recession may people consider staying in is the new going out, but is your home insurance ready to cope with the resulting culinary mishaps?

According to AA insurance, nearly half of Brits are now selecting to stay at home with a takeaway or try some celebrity TV chef inspired home cooking, rather than head off out to a restaurant.

Supermarkets are cashing in on this stay at home culture, offering food and wine at a fraction of restaurant prices.

For example there’s Sainsbury’s Meal deal for £5, and Tescos Wine festival saving up to 50% on selected cases of wine.

However, staying in can cost more than you might imagine – 90% of homeowners admit they have suffered culinary mishaps as a result of eating at home!

Top accidents include

• China/glass breakages
• Food stains
• Red wine spills

As the recession continues to bite and people find they have less disposable income, more and more are likely to opt for eating in.

Inevitably accidents are increasingly likely.

Many of these are small and do not justify making a claim on your home insurance policy, but many do justify a claim.

However worryingly, as Simon Douglas, director off AA insurance, said ‘less than half of home contents policyholders have an Accidental Damage extension to their contents policy’ and ‘an estimated third of homes have no contents cover at all.’

This coupled with a number of home insurance policies not being renewed to save money, could actually cost home owners a lot of money in the long term.

Douglas advised ‘now is a good time to check that you have an accidental damage extension to your home insurance policy at the number of insurable mishaps is clearly increasing.’

The AA is a leading car and home insurance broker with a panel of more than 20 insurance companies.

The AA offers discounts for AA members, existing AA Insurance customers and those who buy insurance online.