NI Home Index challenges homeowners to insure contents

Quarterly Home Index data from CompareNI.com showed the average value of home contents in Northern Ireland is an incredible £45,605 – yet 32% of households do not take-out accidental damage cover for their contents.

South East England was the highest region of the UK for contents value with an average of £50,189 while London was the lowest at £43,247.  London was also the highest proportion of homeowners without accidental damage and contents cover at 42%, nearly half.

Customer estimations show a huge range, with the lowest individual sum insured for £5,000 and the highest being £100,000.  Undervaluing contents can be an issue, if people guesstimate the total value instead of working the figures out as accurately as possible – they might not be able to fully replace the damaged or stolen items in question should they need to make a claim.

According to a report by the Association of British Insurers, £8.1 million a day was paid out by British insurance providers for domestic property claims – including building and contents policies*.

Contents cover is designed to insure everything people would take with them if they were moving to a new house.  The value should be calculated by totalling up the large and expensive items such as TVs and electrical equipment, beds and sofas, kitchen appliances, gardening equipment and outdoor furniture – online estimators are available to help total up correctly.

The data from CompareNI.com – which is based on a sample of over 10,000 standard home insurance policies – also showed that nearly one third (30.9%) of Northern Ireland homeowners have lived in the same house for more than 20 years, 15% of homeowners have lived in their homes for more than 30 years and 50% stick it out for a full decade – with an overall average in Northern Ireland of 14 years.

Responding to the new data, Greg Wilson, founder of CompareNI.com, Northern Ireland’s largest insurance comparison website, comments: “It is crucial that customers correctly total up the sum of their contents and take out the cover that suits them best – failure to do so may mean they won’t have enough compensation to replace the items in their home should they be stolen or damaged.

“Added security measures might be worth the investment such as CCTV cameras, a burglar alarm or motion sensor lighting.  If people don’t have additional budget right now there are still things that can be done to increase security such as putting lights on a timer, joining the local neighbourhood watch scheme and checking caller ID.

“In terms of keeping the policy cost down, some providers have been known to increase insurance premiums quite significantly on renewal, so it’s important to shop around if you’ve been in the same house for several years, put key dates in the diary and be sure to regularly check bills.  If moving to a different insurance provider proves to be your best option, comparison sites are an ideal way to help you gather information – they can give you an overview of what’s on offer across multiple providers instantly, with just one quote form.  This should help you find a more competitive price.”

Quarter 4 of the CompareNI.com home insurance index saw the overall UK average premium price drop by £8, but Northern Ireland bucked that trend with a £7 average increase, making it the new highest paying region on average, at £182. Average premiums in North East England remained the lowest at £112, a drop of £13.

CompareNI.com is Northern Ireland’s largest insurance comparison website, helping over 660,000 users compare products from over 80 insurers including niche products such as flat roof insurance, landlord insurance and listed building insurance.

UK Statistics – including NI