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To help you to make the right choices for your home insurance, here is a selection of questions we are often asked by our customers.

 1. How much should I insure my home and contents for?

This is a very difficult question to answer as each person’s home is very different.

We have made it easy for you to buy your buildings insurance from us as homeprotect offers buildings cover up to £500,000 under that section of the policy. Don’t forget, £500,000 applies to the amount it would take to re-build your property, not its market value – the market value is irrelevant to most insurers as it varies so wildly from one part of the country to the other.

Contents insurance is more complicated as personal taste determines what the total value of your contents might be, and neighbours living in identical houses could quite possibly have very different amounts of contents in their homes to insure. The only thing to do to get an accurate value to insure is to go round the property room-by-room and add everything up – remember too, it’s the value as if you were buying everything as new that you need to bear in mind, not what it might be worth second hand. We have a handy calculator to help you keep a running total here.

 2. Are my personal possessions covered outside the home or if I go on holiday?

They can be. First you must buy at least your contents insurance from us. Then you need to opt to buy some valuables and personal possessions cover from us otherwise the cover stops at your front door. So make sure you have some cover for all the things you carry with you every day such as purses, wallets, handbags, clothing, jewellery, cameras etc.

3.  What does accidental damage cover mean?

Buildings and contents insurance policies do not generally offer accidental damage cover as standard i.e. you have to pay an additional amount for accidental damage cover. That is because, in addition to the standard cover, which protects your property against damage by theft, flood, fire and subsidence, for example, accidental damage covers you for those everyday spillages and incidents that happen in and around the home – especially if you have children!!!! So say, for example, you knock a cup of coffee over your nice pale sofa in the living room, unless you bought accidental damage cover, you would not be able to claim the cost of repair or replacement.

homeprotect does however include some accidental damage cover for free within both the buildings and the contents section of the cover. Things like televisions and other hi-fi equipment are automatically covered against accidental damage, even if you haven’t bought accidental damage cover in addition, so check the Summary of Cover to see what else is covered.

4. What if my circumstances change during the time I’m insured with you?

Like all insurance premiums, your homeprotect premium is based on the information you provide when you initially buy the policy, or at renewal. If, during the course of the year, your circumstances change e.g. you go away on holiday for a month, or you let your home out to tenants, or you have redecoration or building work done and perhaps you have tradesmen in to do the work, you must let us know as soon as possible on 0845 371 1122. This is because it can affect the way underwriters assess the risk, and that means that the premium, or the terms and conditions of the policy, might have to change. If you don’t tell us, the policy can be declared null and void just when you need it most – when you need to make a claim. To make sure you avoid that happening, giving us a quick telephone call to update us with current information is all you need to do. 

5. What do I have to pay if I make a claim?

The amount you have to pay if you make a claim is called the policy excess. There is a standard policy excess of £50, but to help reduce your premium by up to 15%, you can choose to add to this by selecting a voluntary excess. The two levels of voluntary excess you can choose are £50 and £150 which means that the total amount you would pay if you made a claim would increase to £100 and £200 respectively.

There is also a separate excess for subsidence, landslip and heave claims which, as these claims tend to be more than £10,000-£15,000 and are very rare is set at £1,000.

6. What if I want to change the type or amount of cover after I have bought my policy?

If you would like to change any of the amounts you have insured, or would like to add or delete anything from your policy, you will need to call our Customer Services team on 0845 371 1122. They can handle all your questions over the telephone and you’ll usually be able to change the policy to your requirements immediately.

7. Can I insure my bicycle with you?

Yes you can. However, because they can be valuable, and they tend to be left outside the home a lot, you need to make sure that you use the special section of cover called ‘Pedal Cycles’ to insure any bicycles you have. If you don’t choose that section of cover, it will only be covered when it is inside the home.

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