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.

The moveable stuff you look at - clothes and books - and think "yeah, I can afford to buy new or not replace" but there are hidden things.
Your bed. Your sheets, duvets, towels.
Your hairdryer.
The sofa, the cushions and comfy rug you snuggle under.
The kids lego - imagine one big melted heap.
Get insurance - imagine the pleasure you'd have in the re-stock!!

yes good point wrt liability.

but if you are renting you are not part of the building insurance that the landlord has taken out.

We rent and pay £12 a month contents insurance. It includes legal fees, contents away from home cover, freezer cover, accidental cover etc
We have claimed twice, once when I dropped the iPad and smashed the screen and once when ds pushed the TV onto te floor.

My BIL doesn't believe in insurance either. He is rich though and could easily replace everything if necessary.

I got contents insurance 2days before a kitchen fire. 9 weeks in temporary accommodation and losing EVERYTHING due to smoke damage. Having to work out what needed replacing and how much it would cost. Questions from the insurers because it was only 2 days. It was caused by an ancient toaster.

I am glad I had the insurance because its hard to replace stuff when you have no money

For me, it's not about how much I care about the stuff, or if I'd bother to replace it, it's about recouping the money I spent on it. Insurance doesn't only replace what you need, it compensates you for value.

Take a wedding dress as the ultimate example of something that, after the event, is pretty useless (the same logic applies to a book though). If a fire takes either dress or book, you may not want it back or to be replaced. But the money you spent on it will be nice, no?

You actually don't pay that much more for paying for the full value - I always over insure massively and it only costs about an extra £15 per year. Well worth it for peace of mind!

If you are an honest person with low income then on average you will lose out by paying insurance premiums.

In your premium you have to pay for the multi-million pound salary of the CEO, the dividends, posh HQ etc and you need to pay for all the people that are cheating the system, which is a lot of people! This leaves very little money for honest claimants

So in terms of an investment it is pretty poor. You would be much better off saving an amount each month, but you need to make sure you do it!

But saying that, it depends on your state of mind. We have fully comp car insurance because we have a fairly expensive car and it gives us peace of mind for only £150 extra per year (compared to third party)

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)

It's nothing to do with 'london' and everything to do with postcode.

Mine actually came down by £300 when I moved to london.

We were flooded last year by Thames water. Totally their fault and they accepted liability. Our contents claim is being settled (still!!) on an indemnity basis where as our neighbours who have insurance got new for old (and their claims are settled and paid) so were left arguing that £100 for our sofa isn't much use because it was £1000 10 years ago but still great condition.

Our new for old claim would of been around 25k because we managed to save a lot. We'll be lucky if we get back 8k and were lucky that we have someone to attempt to claim from!!

Get the insurance!!

When we relocated abroad we had to itemise and value all of our possessions and discovered we had completely underestimated the replacement cost. mrscog is right that it is not expensive to up the overall level of cover (presumably because accidents which result in all possessions being damaged are quite rare). In our case it didn't make sense to have a low excess or to cover low-ish value individual items because we can afford to replace these items ourselves and it is rarely cost effective to make small claims anyway as they affect future premiums dramatically for five years.

Yanbu as stuff is so cheap to replace these days. I haven't had it for 15 years and think its evened out now. One thing that does worry me is a water leek as water meter is soooo expensive. Could cost thousands for a tap that runs for a week while I'm away.

Most HA run a contents insurance scheme and you just pay weekly with your rent.

Like other have said imagine if you had to replace every knife,every fork,all your pots pans,plates,mugs, glasses,cooking utensils,cleaning stuff and random objects the we all keep under the sink , even the food in your kitchen cupboards,think can you afford to replace the fridge,freezer,washer,microwave,toaster,kettle,iron,ironing board ?

That's just one room !!!

Just do it..................

You at least needs contents insurance.

Ladygingina, by not having insurance for 15 years, you've saved £3,000 (and I'm being generous), have you got this money set aside? Could you really replace all your items for £3,000?

Beds, bedding, curtains, clothes, shoes, underwear, towels, toys, phones, computers, TVs, mobile devices, cameras, wardrobes, drawers, kitchen equipment, crockery, cutlery, microwave, toaster, food and toiletries (full shop), tables, chairs, sofa, lamps, lights, rugs, cleaning equipment - hoover, iron, ironing board, fridge, freezer etc. for 3k?

Yanbu as stuff is so cheap to replace these days. I haven't had it for 15 years and think its evened out now. One thing that does worry me is a water leek as water meter is soooo expensive. Could cost thousands for a tap that runs for a week while I'm away.

Dependent on post code you could easily get contents insurance for £150 per year.Can you really say that for a total of £2200 (the amount you've 'saved' over the 15 years) you could replace absolutely everything you own in the event of loosing everything in a fire ?

Our garage caught fire in June. The smoke damaged the whole house. Everything has to be replaced. Everything. The clothes alone have come to well over 20k. The whole settlement looks to be about 60K...just for contents alone. No fixtures or fittings included in that. Dd's cuddlies and toys came to well over 3K...and she didn't have much in particular. Make-up alone came to £500

. We are just ordinary people with an ordinary house, but everyone accumulates so much crap. It's only when you actually itemise it you see how much it all comes to.

I would put good contents insurance at the top of my list not the bottom. When I was small, my childhood home caught fire. There was no contents insurance. We were left with practically nothing...l

YY - I'm a massive scrimper, but contents insurance is the one thing I won't scrimp on or take risks with. Partly because I'm such a scrimper and 2nd hand bargainer so I have a house full of things which I've never paid full price for or practical things I've asked for as presents (a wheelbarrow is on my Christmas list this year!), so it would cripple me to have to replace things new.

^If you are an honest person with low income then on average you will lose out by paying insurance premiums.

In your premium you have to pay for the multi-million pound salary of the CEO, the dividends, posh HQ etc and you need to pay for all the people that are cheating the system, which is a lot of people! This leaves very little money for honest claimants

So in terms of an investment it is pretty poor. You would be much better off saving an amount each month, but you need to make sure you do it!^

You're describing a business mijas99 - I don't think many people are under the illusion that insurance is literally a pot that everyone pays into and then recoups some money in the event of a claim.

Neither is insurance 'an investment'. You would not be better off putting the same amount aside each month (unless you're putting aside a hell of a lot) as in the event of a catastrophe you'd be, for want of a better word, screwed.

What insurance is is a grudge purchase...no-one wants to buy it but you sure don't want to be without it if the worst happens.

It's not just about replacing stuff it's all the other stuff that insurance companies do in a bad situation. So if you find yourselves out in the street with all your stuff up in smoke they arrange accommodation, give you cash advance to see you through etc. if you have dc you are being v u not to have it. If you were suddenly homeless what would you do?

yabu
I am in HA and have contents insurance, who wouldn't you,
how odd

I cant understand not having it if you can afford it. I know that 'its wont happen to us, its really unlikely' but it does happen. A few years ago my parents house caught fire (oil boiler went wrong). The damage to the structure of the house (buildings) was minimal - only the kitchen and utility were severely damaged. However every room in the house suffered smoke damage. The entire house had to be re-decorated top to bottom as it was black and the entire content had to be taken away and professionally cleaned or disposed of to get rid of the smoke. It was a huge contents claim. While it was being fixed we were put up in another house for 3 months, because it takes a long while to settle a claim and because until the smoke damaged content and wall, floor coverings etc. were cleaned or replaced it was considered unsafe. I'd never go without.