I was alarmed, but not wholly surprised to read a some research commissioned by the Co-op, it revealed that almost 1 in 5 UK adults have no home insurance.
Now as a responsible risk averse individual I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that my bricks and mortar, or my belongings are not covered. Whilst I can count on 2 fingers how many home insurance claims I have made in 30 years I couldn’t live without home insurance it and even if I were facing the hardest of times financially something less important would have to be sacrificed.
Why is it that 1 in 5 don’t insure? Most will blame finances and the current economic climate, but it’s also an education issue and to be honest the insurance industry will put their hands up and admit that it has never been good at educating the public as to the true benefits of cover and the pitfalls of not having it.
I recognise there are people out there who will always self-insure, either because they think have the financial resources to cover the cost of any incident, or it could be down their poor experience of insurance in the past either with a claim reduced, or declined. There are also every day people out there who don’t insure because they don’t understand the implications of not having cover until it is far too late.
I would urge anyone reading this blog who has allowed their home insurance to lapse, or has never considered it before to urgently think again.
Bricks & Mortar
Whilst there are typically fewer buildings insurance claims compared to contents, building claims are larger and far more costly, and whilst you may stand guard at the property to protect it every day you cannot guard against unforeseen events like fire, storm or flood which can have a devastating effect on the property and the family and decimate your finances if you don’t have adequate cover in place.
Contents
Every home I can recall visiting of late has a state of the art TV, a good sound system, IT (laptops/iPads), kids with games consoles and sports equipment. I think this is fairly common across the UK. People in the most humble of properties spend a high percentage of their income on home entertainment. If someone were to break into the property and steal these very portable items, they would be very expensive perhaps even unaffordable to replace and for the sake of perhaps £3 – £4 pounds per week these items would be replaced brand new.
The most alarming statistic published is that 50% of the population go on holiday overseas, so there are people out there leaving their home unoccupied without cover in place, they can afford the holiday but not the premium – madness!
If you decide you now need home insurance please visit The Property Insurer and click on the home insurance button, your quote should take 5 minutes to complete and your can buy online from our panel of leading insurance brokers.
Doug Phelan
The Property Insurer
