To consider getting rid of my contents insurance

[ZeroMinusZero]

It's my choice of course, so it doesn't really matter whether it's unreasonable or not, but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who can think of a reason why I should have it. I have a fairly normal flat with fairly normal stuff in it (TV, computer etc) but nothing worth above about £300. My insurance has an excess of £100 so I would only ever claim if the TV or computer broke - which they might not. I live in a very low crime area and can't see a burglar ever targeting this flat as it's right on a main road and hard to get into.

Am I missing something?

House fire. Everything gone. You'd be surprised how much things cost when you have everything to buy.

What if the flat burnt down/ flooded etc? You would face having to replace absolutely everything yourself.

I suppose individually the claims seem pointless, what about replacing everything after a fire? There'd be enough to worry about without the financial impact.

I have contents insurance, although like you I have no single item of value. However, I'm always paranoid about fires! If everything was lost in a fire, and you had to replace every item of furniture, clothing and stuff, well that would cost a fortune. So I stump up the £50 or whatever

YAB naive if you think that the only time you might need to claim is if your computer broke.

Even with a small fire, everything might not be burned up but the flat would need fully redecorating and everything soft (sofa, clothes, bed) could be smoke damaged and need replacing.

I did think of fires but I figured they were pretty rare (we don't smoke, don't use candles, all the electrics are brand new). Hmmm.

Yes, you are missing the possibility that your flat may be destroyed by fire or flood, leaving you with absolutely nothing at all - clothes, shoes,gadgets, DVDs, furniture, bedding, tv, laptop, kitchenware, White goods.

If that happened and you had to move into a new place and start from scratch, how would you manage?

Mega x post!

Yes it's the possibility of total loss that you need to think about - you move to a new flat after the fire/flood and have absolutely nothing but what you stand up in. Which is probably your nighty... How do you cope? If you have savings, and/or people who would set you up again, then maybe it would be ok. But the total value of the stuff you'd need could be a hell of a lot to find in one go.

Someone I used to work with lost absolutely everything in a house fire.

They had buildings insurance but not contents.

Not much use when they were left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing and a few bits and pieces which were in their cars.

If you live in a flat then it's not just you that could start a fire, is it?

My friend narrowly missed her flat being destroyed by fire during the London riots. My house was badly flood damaged when our water tank broke while we were away on hols for a week.

I have a friend who didn't have contents insurance, they had a house fire (well flat) and walked out with the clothes on their back and the Carseat baby was in. 4 years on they still haven't managed to replace everything.
Another friend thought the same as you, not worth it as it costs a lot upfront and they don't have that much and have never had to claim before. She lives in a reasonably safe area and was broken into had the new 3d tv, xbox, PlayStation, Wii, all remotes, speak system, games and laptops all pinch while they were on holiday. Needless to say they now have insurance.

Insurance (when it's not mandatory) is like gambling, except you hope that you don't ever "win".

If you live in a flat then it's not just you that could start a fire, is it?

That's very true. And unless you can prove negligence against the culprit, and they have insurance, you'll get nothing from them.

For the sake of what £20?, £30? a month, is it really worth the risk?

Electrical fault? Pan fire? Neighbour smoking?

Good point trills and other good points too. You're probably right. It just really annoys me how much I've spent on unclaimed insurance over the years.

More like £10 a month.

(just sorted out contents insurance for our 2-bed house, under £100 for the year when you take cashback into account)

Here - moneysavingexpert - they'll sort you out

I wouldn't cancel. A shelf fell off my kitchen wall a few years ago. You'd think that this wouldn't cause a great deal of damage, right? Wrong! Plates (Royal Daulton), glasses, oil jars were broken, the cooker was damaged and the broken crockery ripped a hole in the floor. The insurance company replaced it all. You're better off with it; as others have said, a flood or a fire would destroy more than one item. Even a break in, they wouldn't take just one thing. An old pal had to pay for her entire wardrobe to be dry cleaned as the sods had urinated over her clothes.

For a flat, unless you are in a bad area I really don't think it would even be £20-30 a month. I live in a 4 bed house and my buildings & contents combined is only £22 a month. From memory I think knocking off contents would lower it by about £12 a month.

What I would do is go around each room of the house and write down the replacement cost of absolutely everything you see. Then decide if that's worth the few quid a month it would cost to replace if there was a fire/explosion/riot/burglary/earthquake/whatever.

Personally I don't think it's worth cancelling.