With only two pay days to go until the big day, you might be starting to panic about getting everything ready for Christmas. With events like Black Friday and countless sale events at many high street and online stores coming up, your home will start to accumulate expensive gifts before you know it. Does your home insurance offer enough contents cover?
Like it or not, Christmas is a very expensive time of year, even if you try to keep the spending down you will spend more than you anticipated. Children, grandchildren, partners, neighbours, friends and even pets are on ‘who to buy for’ list, with the average household spending £809.97*. Although, this is only an average cost, for some households this is much higher, especially if friends and family come together on Christmas day with gifts in tow - potentially tripling the value of contents now in the property.
It is important to take relevant steps to ensure you are covered if the worse should happen. Unfortunately, burglary is very high in December and if your contents aren’t covered, your festivities will be ruined. If you are going away on holiday for Christmas, ensure that you have taken proper precautions before you leave.
Protect your home from unwanted attention
Christmas Eve/Christmas day: Thieves will be very aware that valuable gifts may be under the tree, and that people are also likely to be away from home at parties, visiting relatives or last-minute shopping. Make sure that your home looks occupied and that everything of value is hidden away from prying eyes. Check that your home is secure and consider buying automatic timers for your lights and use the automatic switch on function on your TV.
Boxing day: Store all empty packaging inside the house and only put in the bin the day before the next refuse collection day. Don’t advertise that someone got a new TV, XBOX or an iPhone.
First working day: Contact your insurers and list items if you think they need extra cover - jewellery, bicycles, TV’s and tablets could all require individual listing on your home insurance policy.
If you get hundreds of pounds from family, it would be sensible to get to the bank as soon as possible and pay it into your account.
Make sure you are covered
Many insurance providers increase their home insurance contents cover over the festive period but there are a number that do not apply this automatically to your policy. It is important to find out whether you are covered. If you aren’t then you will need to discuss this with them, but you may find that it increases the premium. When you look at renewing your policy or taking out a new one, check first to see if this extra cover is provided.
Most home insurance policies come with voluntary and compulsory excess. If you decide to choose a policy with a higher excess, then you will lower the cost of your cover. But you will need to consider if you are able to afford the excess should you need to make a claim. Remember to consider whether it’s worth making a claim, especially if you don’t want it to affect your no claims discount. It may be best to foot the bill yourself, rather than making a claim, providing you are able to afford it.
By visiting PayingTooMuch.com, you can find the cover which is best suited for you and your home. If you have any questions you can contact our home insurance specialists on 01243 219 333.
*Christmas spend per household 2016
