Contents insurance - how much ?!

[MindfulBear]

Evening!
Out of interest - how much do you insure the contents of your house for?

We are renting a 4 bed property and the contents sum insured is £150k.... does that sound right?!

Help! DH is complaining about our premium for last year (£600 pa in SW London) so has suggested we review it again but I can't see why it would have gone down in the last 3 years and we did quite a detailed review a few years back!

So - how much do you insure your contents for?!

That sounds like an awful lot, but obviously depends on the value of your contents - lots of expensive furniture, clothing, jewellry, hobby items etc could add up to that amount. And you have to specify high risk high value items like bikes and jewellry.

Some insurers offer unlimited contents, but you still have to specify high risk items. Have you done a full price comparison? Have you shopped around? Staying with the same insurer year after year, usually costs more.

The premium is far more determined by your location and claims history which is why many insurers now have unlimited cover whilst asking you to specify anything worth more than a few thou.

How much do you insure your contents for?

Not being funny but surely everyone's answer depends on what they own. That isn't going to change what your contents are worth or what your postcode is which determines your premium.

I assume you've compared the market or been on confused, if you've got the cheapest premium what are you looking to do?

I'm just interested to know how much other people with a 4 bed home insure their contents for. Ie are we right to value absolutely everything and insure it - ie at c£150k OR do other people insure for less because they have less stuff OR insure for less because they don't cover everything ...

I use comparison websites to change my house & contents insurance every year. I don't have a 4 bed, but I pay approx £100 per year
Suggest look on money saving expert website

We have unlimited contents but specify a figure for personal items and items over a certain value.

I find policies that do that much easier as you only have to total up items such as jewellery, laptops etc.

OK, but contents insurance it's personal to you, it doesn't matter how much anyone else's contents are worth, you have to make an estimate of your own.

So a minimalist 4 bed house will have contents worth a fraction of a house stuffed with electrical gadgets, expensive furniture, fancy jewellery etc. I might have a £10000 TV, you might not have one at all, you might have 4 children with all their stuff, I might be on my own in a 4 bed house, you get my drift.

When you took your policy out did you use the same contents value on all the comparison sites? Assuming you did then you'll already have the best value.

Thanks. We have been using a broker so I'm hoping we are getting the best price they can find.

However DH is suggesting we are over insured when I don't think we are.

How accurate are other people in calculating the sum they need insured?

It is better to be over insured than under. Under can have a significant impact on a future claim, even if the claim is only worth £100.

I own a five bedroom house and if I had to buy everything new it would come to about £60k. Add another £20k for art. I’d then probably round it up to £100k as I’m probably thinking what I paid not what replacement cost would be. Just look around and add it up in your head. £150k sounds a lot unless you have some serious kit. I pay £2500 a year for building and contents on this house, a two bed house, contents and landlord insurance on three flats (one in London) plus a storage unit and that also includes travel insurance for whole family. Just as a comparison.

Our contest insurance was £45.00 with 25 cash back. 70k for contents. 4 bed barn conversion.

I am insured for less because we have less/cheaper stuff. For example we have Ikea furniture and fixtures like floors are B&Q. Our most expensive individual items are electronics and beds.

I think that you should come up with a rough list and see. I was shocked when I totted up our family total.

Parents insure their building and contents insurance for a 4 bed home for roughly £120 a year

I amended my insurance because if I calculated what everything was worth in the flat, it was nothing like the basic thing they had, it was much less

I think they are setting policies assuming people have posh clothes and furniture and jewellery and so on.

so if there was a fire here and I had to replace everything, none of it would be posh or expensive.