Is accidental damage insurance for either bundling or contents worth having?

[PareyMortas]

I've spent a couple of hours looking into building/contents insurance as we are hopefully exchanging contracts soon. I've had a huge range of quotes from as low as £280 to £790. I've eliminated the very cheap quotes as the companies all have terrible reviews online.

At the moment I've included accidental damage cover, but I've never made a claim and can't help feeling that I'm convincing myself to get covered for every eventuality and I not sure if its really necessary. Even if I did get accidental cover don't they just put up your premiums if you claim anyway?

Our accidental damage cover paid off when one of our cats decided it would be a good idea to use one of DP's immensely expensive floor-standing stereo speakers as a launch pad to the curtain rail, knocking the speaker over and cracking it in the process.

Our insurers (Lark) paid out with absolutely no quibbles once we'd sent them photos, receipt and evidence that repair was unfeasible, and cat escaped being made into a fur hat. We only got accidental damage cover because Lark advised it would only add £50 to our home and contents bundle, we'd never bothered before either. They did put our whole premium up this year, but only by £32, which wasn't unreasonable considering the size of the payout (£4,500).

I would only claim under buildings or contents insurance for a loss amounting to a few thousand or more. Anything less and you will just find that your premium goes up at renewal and any company you want to switch to will charge more as you've had a claim, so it's cheaper to claim only for big losses. So I think I'd only pay for Accidental Damage if there's a chance of a very expensive loss involving Accidental Damage. I suppose something like replacing a bath if something is dropped on it and cracks it might be an expensive claim.

Iirc (i worked in household claims years ago) accidental damage to baths/sinks & fixed glass is covered as standard ( you don't need additional cover for these) under buildings, and a/d to home computer equipment and televisions again is covered as standard ( check policy to be sure) under contents without the need for additional accidental damage cover.