Your home is the place that you spend most of your time – evenings, weekends and public holidays. The items that you have accumulated over the years all have a certain value to them – some more sentimental, but have financial value as well. How do you ensure that your house is covered during the times you are not there and what do you need to do to make this happen?
Step Number One – Ensure That You Have Enough Cover
The first question you need to ask yourself is do you have enough cover? The simple answer would be, how often do you update your insurance policies – if you have not done so in the last six months, then you are bound to be inadequately covered against theft or a natural disaster – fire or storm damage.
Step Number Two – How Do Your Estimate The Value Of Your Possessions
Calculating your insurance means knowing exactly what the house contains – this is not a thumb suck exercise, you need to evaluate your entire homes contents. How to do it? Go from room to room and take note of every item in the room.
Write down when you bought the item and the exact model/specifications of the product. A useful tip is to take a photo of the item – this way you will have a visual portfolio of your homes contents to refer back to ay a later stage.
Step Number Three – What Is The Insurance Value
Once you have a list of all the items in your house and their specifications, you need to then sit down and determine the value of each item – remember to use the replacement value and not the actual value W88. This value is the amount of money that you would spend on replacing the item. For instance, if you purchased a television for R2 300 and a similar model currently sells in the shops for R2 900, then you will insure it for the latter number. Remember to not over-insure your items, if the price is unrealistic the insurer will change it to the retail price and not the value it is insured for.
Step Number Four – Ensure You Are Not Under- Insured
The simple solution is to ensure that there is no shortfall and that you are required to pay in money when replacing the item. Your insurance needs to cover the replacement of the item.
In conclusion, remember to keep your list and photo gallery up-to-date. This will help you remember to add items to your home’s insurance policy and you will not be left needing to foot the bill on replacing the item.
