Considering stopping the contents insurance.

[joanofarchitrave]

Not the buildings insurance, just the contents.

The risk is of course if the whole house is fire damaged. But I wonder if we could manage.

Funny thing is, I never questioned it when we were pretty skint, because we didn't have any spare cash and couldn't have replaced as much as a dishcloth. But now, when we finally have some savings, it seems like money we could just add to the pot. We don't have lots of savings though. How much would you have to have stashed away to feel comfortable getting rid of the contents insurance? Or have you already done so? Or would you never stop it?

I got an insurance quote for contents the other day, it was under £80/year. £80 a year savings doesn't sound worth it.

If you add up EVERYTHING in your house it would come to a lot, tens of thousands of pounds. We have easily 1000 books, that alone would be 5000 if we could replace them at £5 a books and actually many of them would be more. Even just the big main things like sofa, beds etc soon add up.

I would never stop my contents insurance. I have new-for-old insurance for the contents of a 4 bed house; it costs me £104 a year.

A friend had a burst water tank when she was away 2 Christmasses ago. It caused so much damage in her house she had to move out for 6 months whilst the house dried out and was redecorated, and most of her contents had to be replaced. The insurance company estimated £64,000 worth of damage (some of which was buildings damage but a huge amount was contents).

Is there not a clause in your mortgage that you must be fully insured for everything? I say mortgage because if you were renting you would only need contents so I am assuming you have a mortgage.

Personally I wouldn't take the risk, you never know what's around the corner and I could never afford to replace everything in my house should something ever happen.

Not worth the risk I think when in the scheme of things it doesn't cost that much.

I think maybe check what contents covers. I have a feeling it covered the kitchen cupboards and flooring when we had a pipe go in our kitchen. Three rooms needed new flooring and decorating, new skirting boards. I remember we had to pay the excess of both contents and buillding insurance. But I can't remember which items came under which category. Possibly the hall and landing carpet was under contents? I was very glad we'd paid the £20 a month as it was nearing 10k in damages. The drying out is also a lengthy expensive process - maybe check which it comes under.

I know several people who've had a burst pipe. It's fairly common here with our 1950's water pipes. Personally I wouldn't stop paying it after our experience.

Please don't do it. It seriously isn't worth the risk.

Well, that's a consensus Thank you all, I'll stay with it.

get a better quote and then keep it going

My house insurance costs me about £300/year. I rarely claim on it but Sod's Law says the minute I cancel it the ceiling would cave in. :) (The ceiling actually did once cave in and that was a very expensive thing to fix) There are plenty of other frivolous things in the budget I'd get rid of before the house insurance.

Whoever you use for insurance go through Topcashback or Quidco, you might find you can get a nice little cashback sum.

don't do it. The Martin Lewis idea that contents is just what moves if you turn the house upside down is wrong - it is also carpets and curtains. A flood, a small fire, a pipe burst bringing down a ceiling...or a burglary and you have no cover.

I actually did the sums at this renewal. For a 3 bed house furnished mostly from second-hand and ebay the replacement for the contents is still about £50k, as all policies do new for old.