Homeowners 'need to regularly update contents insurance'
Published On 20 September 2007
Homeowners need to regularly review the value of their possessions to ensure that their contents insurance is up-to-date, an industry expert has said.Graeme Trudgill, a technical services manager at the British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba), explained that factors like getting married or coming into an inheritance could significantly impact insurance premiums.
"Every year at renewal you will get your offer, and that's when your insurance broker should look around the market and make sure that they've got the most appropriate, suitable insurance policy for you," Mr Trudgill added.
"You must review [contents insurance] continually. Quite often, if it's gone up a couple of thousand pounds it won't really affect your premium anyway."
In addition, Mr Trudgill said that that there was sometimes a cap on the value of items like jewellery, money, furs and paintings that a particular policy covered. He added: "You do need to think: 'What do all my valuables add up to?', because if they're over the amount that can be returned on the policy then you need to get that changed."
Finally, he added that having top-of-the-range locks and good alarms could reduce premiums, as long as they were "professionally installed".
