Are you sufficiently insured for your Building and Contents?

It’s alarming to think that 40% of homeowners and renters with insurance are underinsured for their home and contents. Equally as alarming is that 67% of renters don’t have contents insurance at all! *

When it comes to Building cover, you should be insuring for the cost to rebuild in the event that the building needs to be completely rebuilt from scratch. Obtaining an appraisal from a conveyencer is a great way to ensure you have a realistic rebuild cost.

Contents cover is a little different however. People often think of the big content items such as their couch, white goods, TV and other furniture, but neglect to consider the smaller items. Consider the cost of replacing every piece of cutlery and crockery, clothing and shoes, accessories, toys, books, tools etc.  You would be surprised how quickly these costs add up if you had to purchase everything in your home again, from everything in your sock draw, to the obvious big appliances.

Help calculating your Building and Contents

If you need help with calculating your home and/or contents sum insured, you can utilise the following online tools.

Home Calculator

https://sumsure.cordell.com.au/#/products/7/profiles/112

Contents Calculator

https://www.homecontents.com.au/index.php?c=web_intro&profile=suminsured_rwd

These calculators pull data from your address and will allow you to edit the criteria based on the quality of your construction, fixtures & fittings and contents etc. For example, if you predominantly have no name brand contents as opposed to premium brand contents or vice versa. You can also list any particular items that you know are of high value that wouldn’t be owned by the average person, for example music equipment or antiques.

Insurers will automatically index the building and general contents sums insured for you each year to allow for general inflation, but it’s worth remembering that you can update your sums insured at anytime and not just at renewal.

Whether your home is owner occupied, leased to a tenant or you are a tenant, household insurance is a product that should not be overlooked. It’s also much more than just insuring your building and contents too.  It includes Legal liability coverage plus policy specific additional benefits such as accommodation expenses, legal costs, taxation audit, illegal use of credit cards and many more, hence providing a coverage that can cover a plethora of events that can easily be quite costly and send you into debt or even bankruptcy if you don’t have adequate cover.

Not sure how to choose the right product?

A broker can help you understand the difference between the policies available on the market and help you choose one that suits your needs.

At Safeguard, we have a selection of home products that provide superior coverage and benefits to what are available through direct insurers thanks to a premium IBNA policy wording.

As brokers we are here to support you, which means that you don’t have to wait on hold with any call centres or speak to a different person every time you call. It’s a personalised and stress free way of managing your insurance, and an easier way of obtaining the right product for you.

*This article is for informational purposes only and does not take into account your financial situation. To ensure any products are right for you, refer to the Product Disclosure Statement or speak with your financial advisor.

*Reference http://fsi.gov.au/publications/final-report/