Security for Your Valuables
Everyone knows that the price of property has soared in the past five years, but fewer people are aware that the value of the contents of our homes has risen by a similar amount. Increasing numbers of people have high value items at home, including antique furniture, wedding presents, fine art and jewellery. In addition, many of us are unaware that the items we live with every day could be worth thousands, such as musical instruments left in a will, even rare books.
Many mainstream household insurance policies will require you to list items that are worth more than £1,500. Some won’t accept a list longer than ten items. Specifying individual valuable items might also increase your premium. Insurers may also demand onerous conditions such as covering jewels only while being worn or kept in a safe.
It often pays to get your old items valued, so you know how much to insure them for. The valuation of antiques, art, musical instruments and jewellery can cost up to about £30, depending on where it is done. Bonhams, http://www.bonhams.com (020 7447 7447), Sotheby's, http://www.sothebys.co.uk (020 7293 5000) and Christie's, http://www.christies.co.uk (020 7839 9060) are good places to start.
To increase the security of your valuable items, send a copy of your valuation to your insurer and also take photographs of the item as a backup. Keep the photograph at another location in case of fire.
If you have a lot of valuable items it might be worth getting specialist insurance. These policies tend to have higher – or even no – limits for single items such as jewellery and electrical goods. They are also more likely to offer full cover for these items out of the home and around the world. The plans may give 'new for old' cover even on designer clothes, while many mainstream policies will pay out their original value minus a sum for wear and tear.
High net worth insurance policies are often sold through insurance brokers, who rarely charge customers a fee for their services. The big companies whose policies they recommend include Chubb, Hiscox, Royal & Sun-Alliance and Zurich. These plans are aimed at the wealthy. Chubb, for example, looks for a minimum sum assured for buildings cover of £300,000 and for contents of £100,000. Hiscox requires £250,000 buildings cover and £75,000 contents.
To find a local broker contact the British Insurance Brokers Association, http://www.biba.org.uk.
The high net worth insurance companies are also keener to help customers avoid making claims in the first place. They tend to give more advice on security and fire safety, sometimes sending staff on home visits to give advice to policyholders.
