Downloads And Gadgets Fortune Not Insured

Brits spend a fortune on digital downloads such as music and videos and on gadgets but worryingly more that £300 million worth is not insured.

An average of £453 is spent by Brits on gadgets and downloads each year but according to swiftcover.com much of this isn’t insured and many don’t even know how much they are worth.

Despite spending more than £700 million on digital downloads including music, film, e-books and video games, some 35% of adults haven’t backed up their digital collection.

Furthermore, 43% of those polled had taken no security measures whatsoever to guard their expensive electronics from attack even though digital content is now a fundamental part of a traditional British home.

As James Barclay, home underwriting manager at swiftcover.com, said: “It’s staggering that we take downloading content for granted these days without a second thought for its monetary worth.

Clearly it’s important to recognise how much gadgets such as PCs, laptops and MP3s are worth however people should not ignore digital assets such as music, videos or even e-books, as they often  have a substantial  value.”

Anybody spending a lot of time and money on downloads needs to think carefully about what would happen if their collection were to get lost, damaged or stolen. Some download sites will allow you to re-download some content but not all will. Just think about the cost of replacing your entire collection.

Some policies, such as the new home insurance product from swiftcover.com, do include cover for digital assets such MP3s or films stored on a computer or digital media player.

It’s not just your digital assets, you may have other collections, such as wine or perhaps something like vintage ladybird books that you need to carefully consider for your home insurance – your collection could be junk but it could be worth a fortune.