Home Contents Insurance: Protect Yourself From Financial Losses

Posted by Anil Kumar G on February 23rd, 2021

Contents insurance, popularly known as personal property insurance, is a safety net for your belongings against damages or theft. 

Whether you are a homeowner or staying in a rented property, home content insurance is a boon against unfortunate incidents. 

Your personal belongings in your house can be worth several thousand dollars. And in case of robbery or when a fire breaks out, the damage expense can be massive. 

This is where contents insurance comes to your rescue. It saves you from massive financial losses from events that can lead to destruction or damage of your property, including fire and theft. 

The insurance policies of homeowners and renters typically cover the average personal property but with limits. Hence it is essential that you know everything about contents insurance before you purchase one. 

Who Needs Home Content Insurance?

From homeowners to renters, content insurance benefits all. Your personal property, from couch to furniture, are valuable. A home content insurance helps you recover the costs in case of common events like theft, fire and so on.

Many Americans who live on rented properties often have the misconception that in case of such events, the landlord will cover the cost of the damages or destruction. But that’s where they go wrong. Homeowners’ insurance is different from renters

insurance. 

Benefits of Content Insurance

With the help of insurance, you can recover the cost of your personal belongings at the time of a fire or robbery. Insurance lets you breathe and sleep without any worry about the cost of replacement. However, note that the content insurance policy only cost equivalent to your policy limit. 

Start making an inventory of your household items or take stock of your belongings if you have to make a claim after a loss. 

While home and content insurance and home contents insurance are often used interchangeably, they both have different purposes. A home and contents insurance usually covers and protects the home along with the personal valuables in it. At the same time, home contents insurance includes only the personal property in the house, often known as the renter's insurance. 

Items Not Included In Your House Contents Insurance

Many high-value items may not directly be a part of your personal property insurance policy. These include

• Jewellery, diamonds, watches, etc

• Pets

• Expensive art pieces

• Vintage wine

• Musical instruments

Items Included in Your Personal Property Insurance

Many items are covered under personal property insurance. Check the list below:

• Furniture

• Household appliances

• Clothing

• Computers

• Televisions

• Dishes

• Rugs and other decorative items

How Much Coverage Should One Get?

Doesn’t matter if all this is too much information to take into. Your personal belongings are more valuable than you may expect them to be. We don’t purchase all items at once. But if you calculate the cost of each item added over the years, the total expense is worth getting insurance. 

You may end up taking additional time in researching and making an estimate of your coverage needs. 

You can browse through your home or rental property and make a list or an inventory of all of your things. Do a rough tally of the worth of the products to review to see if they come under the scope of personal property coverage of your homeowners or renters insurance. If your property amount exceeds the requirements of your policy and you have items not automatically protected, such as watches, weapons or other collectables, you can go for a personal property floater to include all your belongings. 

Additionally, you may take a shot or video of your possessions and keep a copy in a safe location. If you need to make a claim in the near future, it will be easy for you to make an estimate. 

Top Insurance for First Time Buyers

Now that you know the important details, it's time to make an informed choice. Here are a few of the best content insurance providers for people who are buying insurance for their home belongings for the first time. 

Lemonade, PolicyGenius and Allstate are the top 3 providers for home and renters insurance policy. 

Tips for Home Contents insurance

If you rent a house and still have car insurance, you will be able to get insurance for home contents for just a few bucks a year. Many insurance providers offer several premium premiums, and the remaining charges would be peanuts compared to financial security when adding this discount to a renter's policy.

If you want the coverage to pay for the real contents of your house or a fixed dollar sum is one of the main insurance choices you'll need to make. You will need to supply the insurance provider with an inventory of the things you want to be covered if you have high-value properties.