Couple of quick questions about home insurance

[Beccarollover]

Im looking for quotes and they need to know approx rebuild cost of home - I have no idea and dont know what to guess at

Its a 3 bed, 1960s end terrace house - any ideas?? just a guess will be fine!!

Also, how much voluntary excess should I go for

How much contents do most people have!?

Sorry, Im very dim!

[Tinker]

I think when I bought my house, I used 150% of teh purchase price, think that night be the formula. Mind you depends what type of house. Terraced v detached, original features. Actually, when I changed my insurance, I had to do it by square footage. I'd ask your insurance co, they should have a formula for it.

Re: contents. Just think about what you've actually got and what it would cost to replace knew. Don't be tempted to cover for 50k's worth of contents if you've only got 2k's. It will cost more, insurance co may try to talk you into it. Excess is only for buildings, not contents - think mine is £50

hth

[foxinsocks]

Our rebuild cost is less than half what we paid for it. It's generally a lot less than what you could sell it for as it doesn't cost 'that' much to rebuild. If you've got your old insurance policy, it should say what it is on there.

[LIZS]

Have you got the survey back yet ? I think either that or the mortgage offer states the rebuild cost figure. With contents you really do need to do it quite thoroughly. Most people are significantly underinsured as we discovered when having to value everything we were moving abroad and putting into storage - don't forget it includes carpets and fixtures and fittings too. Most insurance companies will offer value bands at different premiums, so you don't have to be precise.

[foxinsocks]

Can't remember what the excess is...but in contents, think refurnishing whole house - including kitchen & bathroom units, decorating, TVs, computers, carpets...etc. They will normally give you a figure based on average 3 bed and then you can add specific stuff to it. I think we were given a figure of around £30 - 40k contents as the 'average' insured amount for a small 3 bed. But that was a while ago.

[foxinsocks]

oh sorry, didn't realise it was a house you hadn't moved to yet

[LadyMuck]

BR - Rebuild guess would be £125k (until recently we owned a share in similar property in Surrey). I tend to go towards a maximum excess on buildings insurance as IME it has been rare that I've been able to claim, so I'm really protecting myself against "disasters" rather than say the odd broken window. Also the difference in premiums can be significant, so say going for a £250 voluntary excess pays for itself within 2 -3 years.

Contents - I think £30k is viewed as the minimum for a 3 bed, and most folk will have £30-60k, but you need to think of anything special that may push you over. I was totally shocked when I calculated how much it would cost to replace the contents of our wardrobes (and I'm no fashion victim). We have a piano that would cost about £5k to replace so that upped ours from the norm.