To not have home insurance.

[PiperIsOrange]

I am renting, so any damage on the house is covered by HA.

I just don't see the point.

My parents have just moved and asked what my insurance is like, I said I didn't have it and they read me the riot act.

I think people really underestimate the value of their stuff.

I have perhaps 800 books on my bookshelves. That's £6k+ right there. And the CDs? And the vinyl? It adds up and up and up. A £50 plant, at least £200 of Ikea boxes, let alone what's in them, two globes £500, three money jars £800, games so many computer games, and Blu-rays and irreplaceable VHS. That's just three bookshelves.

Get it.

We don't have insurance either- tho I might think about it now after reading it if I can get it dirt cheap. The only thing worth nicking would be DP's five year old PS3 and monitor. We don't have a telly or tablets/laptops, and my stereo is so old is still has a tape deck.

We're also above ground level, which would remove the risk of flooding and make a break-in much, much less likely.

car insurance you need because, well, you have to have it

Yes I have to have third party fire and theft.

I don't have to have the all singing all dancing fully comp policy with key cover and windscreen cover etc.

We had a fire a couple of years ago. A relatively minor fire (assessor said 3/10) but the smoke damage is horrendous. Seriously, the contents added up to £15k. The buildings was £35k! We lost clothes, kitchen stuff, food (had been shopping the night before), nick nacks, toiletries. Get yourself covered Piper. It's not worth the risk.

Our carpets were covered by the buildings insurance as they're something you'd leave behind.

All I'd say is it adds up very quickly. We were basically handed a list of 10 pages of A4 of things we'd lost. A fiver here, £50 there. Even the contents of the fridge/freezer and cupboards was about £300 to replace.

We don't have insurance either- tho I might think about it now after reading it if I can get it dirt cheap. The only thing worth nicking would be DP's five year old PS3 and monitor. We don't have a telly or tablets/laptops, and my stereo is so old is still has a tape deck.

We're also above ground level, which would remove the risk of flooding and make a break-in much, much less likely.

see, it sounds to me that you don't need it. an old PS3? you might pay for that in a year in insurance.

the main risk sounds like fire. which is a real risk. you might want just fire.

whois - sometimes bizarrely fully comp is cheaper than third party insurance. I think there seems to be some kind of logic that people who insure fully comp are more careful than those who don;t. but its always worth checking. Particularly if you have a cheapish/older car which doesn;t costs them much to replace.

We had a fire in April thank god for contents insurance. We would have had no where to stay, no clothes and no belongings from kitchen utensils down to beds, TVs and DC's toys. It was absolutely invaluable and we never realised how much we had. It's worth it for what it costs and we had a few years without it. Best money ever spent!

It's to even £15 a month. I had £30k worth of cover for £4.56 a month

My sister lost every single item she owns in a flood. Her family had nowhere to sleep, no clothes, no computer, no pens, no paper, no sheets, no phone chargers, no bags, suitcases, toys, furniture, pots, pans, plates, nothing.

Luckily she had insurance...

can you replace everything in case of a fire or burglary?
if the answer is 'yes I have 10-30 grand set aside' you don't need contents insurance.

On balance, the insurance company exists because it makes more money than it pays out. What you're really insuring against is a catastrophic but extremely unlikely event. Most people like that security, but you do pay for it.

You could spend 65 quid on absolute essentials if your house was damaged by fire without trying. New toothbrush and toothpaste. Packs of cheap underwear including a new bra and socks. Shoes if you left barefoot or in slippers. Two sets of clothes for each person (one to wear one to wash). Bare minimum if you were staying with friends or family.

SaucyJack - it isn't just about what might get nicked! As others have said in this thread, if something catastrophic happened - a fire or a flood, for example, could you afford to replace EVERYTHING? All the furniture, crockery, cutlery, pots, pans, kitchen equipment, toys, carpets, bed linens, TV, books, DVDs, games, phones, clothes, shoes, ornaments, curtains - the list goes on and on.

I don't know what you have in your house, but it could easily be over £10,000 to refurnish a house from scratch - and that is just the bare minimum.

if the answer is 'yes I have 10-30 grand set aside' you don't need contents insurance

maybe not, but you wouldn't be able to afford a liability claim if you somehow accidentally injure someone. It may be unlikely, but if you're not insured then the injured person may be left in serious financial straits, and you might be bankrupted. Lives ruined for the sake of a relatively small premium.

But realistically you wouldn't replace anywhere near everything in event of a fire.

A hundred odd books you read once and then stuck on the shelf never to be touched again? CD's no one listens to cos it's all on the YouTubes? A load of party dresses that haven't fitted since 2004? Kitchen gadgets that have never been out the box?

I'd be quite happy to see the back of about 90% of our crap tbh.

I'd miss my pram tho. I love that pram.

If you shop around and use a price comparison website, you can get really good deals. Some policies cover thefts outside the house (I claimed once when I was mugged) and others come with legal cover, randomly, which at least two friends of mind have used when they had maternity-related employment problems. Well worth it.

Having had a flood I would get contents insurance. It's so cheap. And you can lose so much.

Oh and our house is high off the ground. The flood came from a burst pipe inside the house.

You must get contents insurance. Colleague had the house next door to her burn down. She had to pay a fortune for all her clothes and that of her children to be cleaned and nearly all the contents were a write off due to water damage, they moved out for several months.

I'd be quite happy to see the back of about 90% of our crap tbh.

i often feel the same way, but keep in mind you aren't going to want to deal with a big bill right after you dealt with the stress of a fire (or something) and lost your possessions. it sounds like fire is your main concern and that can literally leave you with only the clothes on your back. and the numbers people are throwing around are small. I remember checking as a renter (before comparison sites were around) and we were quoted 20/month. but if you can get it for 70/year, it sounds well worth it. if you want to minimize the cost you can lower your total insurables to say 10K or 20K.

A most interesting question written! Though im not sure fire and flood risk would be higher in london - i suppose burglary might be in some areas.

well, i know that car insurance jumps if you move to london (ours doubled the minute we told the insurance company we moved to london). I suppose that theft may be worse here, although that must be very postcode dependent. it could also be terraced vs non-terraced etc etc.

i did use a comparison site, so it's unlikely i am getting totally ripped off.

We woke up one morning to discover the pipe in the kitchen where the mains water comes in was bust and had flooded the downstairs to the depth of a couple of inches.
Clean water, no contamination, not deep, managed to shift most of belongings upstairs...pretty minor stuff.
But we needed to hire a pump to get rid of the water then big industrial dehumidifiers for several weeks, get all the carpets taken up and properly stored/dried, the floor-length curtains needed refinishing where the dye ran, the kickboards in the kitchen distorted and needed replacing, the skirting board needed replacing in places and it all needed repainting, the dining table and chairs legs to be repolished.
We didn't really lose any belongings, we managed to camp out upstairs and didn't need temporary rehousing but it still must have cost our insurers thousands to sort us out.