Home Insurance

The saying, “An Englishman’s home is his castle” is probably never more so true than when we come to consider the field of home insurance. Of course, the saying may well be a little out of date now, we are much more likely to have a bed sit in Barrow than we are a castle, but the sentiment remains the same. We are fiercely proud and incredibly protective of our homes.

All our lives are there, our treasured possessions, are expensive purchases and, of course, the things which really cannot have a monetary value imposed upon them; our families and our keepsakes. Home insurance is there to protect all this, all our possessions, but is there to also protect the physical bricks and mortar of our homes as well.


Compare Home Insurance

InsurerOnline DiscountBuildings CoverContents CoverAdditional BenefitsMore Info
Direct Line Home Insurance25%£1 Million£50,000
  • Flexible products including home insurance plus and standard home insurance with optional extras
  • Replace contents new for old (except clothing)
  • Alternative accommodation if your property is uninhabitable as result of insured event
  • Additional protection for Christmas and wedding presents
  • Cover for cash at home, home office equipment and while contents in transit
Direct Line Home Insurance
Churchill Home Insurance10%£500,000£50,000
  • 50% off if you haven't claimed in last 5 years
  • Flexible products including buildings and contents with optional extras
  • Replace contents new for old except for clothing, linen and pedal cycles
  • Optional extras including accidental damage, personal possessions, legal protection and home emergency cover
Churchill Home Insurance - more info
Hiscox Home Insurance20%£500,000£63,000
  • Comprehensive buildings and contents insurance
  • Replace contents new for old with no reduction for wear and tear
  • Accidental contents damage cover as standard
  • 24 hour home emergency cover with upto £500 for call-out, labour and parts
  • Cover for cash at home and home office equipment.
Hiscox Home Insurance

The as soon as we start to think about home insurance it is all too easy to jump to the conclusion of protecting oneself against theft and robbery but there are a whole host of other areas which can be covered with home insurance. It is simply a case of looking through the different policies which are available from the different providers and trying to find one which is going to suit you and suit your family’s needs.

The physical bricks and mortar of your house, as has already been pointed out, need to be insured as well as the contents of your house. Structural damage to houses can cost literally thousands of pounds to rectify and thus it is important that you have insurance there to fall back on should anything ever happen. Home insurance covers things such as flood damage, fire damage or damage to the actual structure of your building causes by inclimate weather conditions or other freak accidents such as a vehicle colliding with your house. You should check with your individual provider what will actually be covered and for how much you will actually be covered- some occurrences may fall under the umbrella of your insurance whereas others may not- you don’t want to realise that something isn’t covered only when it’s too late- read up on your policy before you sign anything.  

The area in which you live is, sadly, always going to affect the premiums you have to pay on your insurance as well. If you live in an area with a high crime rate then an insurance company will deduce that you are more likely to be burgled and thus your contents insurance is likely to be much higher. Similarly, if you live in one of the plethora of new houses which has been built on a flood plain or on land which floods easily then you may well be charged much more in your premiums as it is likely that your house will flood and thus contents and buildings insurance will have to be paid out on. Home insurance works in just the same way as any other type of insurance does- the more likely it is that the insurance company is going to have to make a pay-out, then the more likely it is that you are going to have to pay higher premiums. Of course, using price comparison websites means that  you can get your quotes down as much as possible and can shop around for the best deal with relative ease.

Contents insurance is the other side of the home insurance coin. Whilst buildings insurance covers structural points, contents insurance is in charge of the ‘stuff’ which is actually in your home. This is a phenomenally important thing as, clearly, all the things which we treasure most in the world are inside our homes and thus we want to keep them safe. As has already been touched on, where you live and how well secured your house is are two factors which will always impact upon how much you have to pay out for contents insurance.

Some policies will not pay out unless a proper lock is fitted to each door or if every attempt has been to make the home as secure as possible. You should read the fine print of any contents insurance which you sign- some things may not be covered whereas some may well be. Others will put a financial limit on your contents and thus it is a good idea to have a rough idea in your head of how much the stuff in your house is actually worth before signing a deal. Some policies will have perks such as free insurance, or discounted insurance, for children who move away to university, but you should check points such as this with your chosen provider.

Also, if you wanted to, it is possible to get contents and buildings insurance from different providers although, when bought together, you can often get very good discounts.