Social Networking and Home Cover

Link Between Posting Parties on Facebook and Subsequent Gatecrashers

Advertising a party on Facebook could lead to great damage to property, with half of parties posted in the social networking site affected by gatecrashers, according to Sainsbury’s Home Insurance.

So unless people want to see their home insurance cover becoming invalidated, they might be best to find another way of getting word out there. Home insurance providers encourage home owners to take extra care in protecting their property so if damage or theft occurs as the result of the home owner’s actions, they might not be covered.

The rise of social networking sites on the internet has provided people with easier access to their friends, so it is no wonder that more and more invitations are going out via such sites. As such, this could be of great concern to parents as Sainsbury’s research highlights that 38% of children’s parties held inside their home leads to damage being caused. If 50% of parties suffer gatecrashers when posted on Facebook, this figure could even rise.

“The growth of social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and more recently Twitter, has dramatically changed the way people invite their ‘friends’ to parties” said Ben Tyte, Sainsbury’s Home Insurance Manager.

The news regularly features parties that have gotten out of hand, with an innocent invitation on the internet leading to huge numbers of people descending on houses. In some cases this can lead to more than double the intended number of people and Sainsbury’s Home Insurance reports on cases where police officers have had to be called out to deal with fights.

“There have been a number of well publicised cases of homeowners facing thousands of pounds of damage after their children have posted invitations on Facebook, and Halloween parties, with many guests wearing masks and fancy dress, can leave homeowners particularly vulnerable to gatecrashers.”

Tyte also adds that whilst such websites could be a great way of spreading word to friends about parties, if details are published on the internet, anyone could potentially find out where to go to gatecrash a venue.

So the advice from Sainsbury’s Home Insurance is clear – if you do not want to see your home insurance becoming invalidated, be careful of how you advertise your parties.

Source: Sainsbury’s Press Release

According To Figures Obtained by Sainsbury’s Home Insurance Claims Index

People regularly fear for their belongings and if we are to believe the news, there are crimes going on regularly in the UK, with the contents in our homes under threat.

However, according the Sainsbury’s Finance, there has in fact been a drop in the amount of claims on people’s home insurance in 2009, whilst the average size of each claim also fell.

Sainsbury’s Home Insurance recently launched their Home Insurance Claims Index, which is designed the monitor the amount of claims made during intervals of six months, whilst also looking at their individual size.

In the first half of 2008 there was a worrying statistic made aware to the leading insurance provider that showed 527,000 claims were made in the first half of the year. However, by the time the same period finished in 2009, this had dropped to 373,000, with the average volume that made up each claim showing a drop from £918 to £735.

The figures represented the number of claims issued to Sainsbury’s Home Insurance and clearly do not account for the amount of claims made to other leading insurance providers. However, any form of drop in the amount of home insurance claims is something to be happy about, though home owners should still be vigilant.

During both 2008 and 2009 the most popular form of claim was water escaping, followed by storm damage, accounting for around 18% and 16% in 2008 respectively. This changed to 19% and 18% respectively in 2009. The top 5 claims during both periods also included accidental damage to the building, theft from the property and accidental damage to possessions such as TV’s, Videos and Computers.

“Our index shows the huge impact adverse weather conditions can have on the number and value of home insurance claims made,” said Lucy Hunter of Sainsbury’s Home Insurance.

“The first quarter of 2008 brought particularly severe conditions, and storm damage in that quarter accounted for 21.8% of all claims made.

“For the six months overall, storm damage was still the second most prevalent claim in 2008, accounting for 15.9% of claims made. In the first half of 2009 it only accounted for 8.5% of claims.”

Large Number of Students without Home Insurance

Being a student is about liberation; leaving home and finding new-found freedom living in your own flat or house. It is often cited as the best years of people’s lives, with flat parties, plenty of free time and of course studying. However, there is large concern over the amounts of students that do not have home insurance when living in a student property. The consequences of such actions could take the bite out of some people’s student years.

According to research from Sainsbury’s Home Insurance, around 34% of students to do have any form of cover for their possessions, which is worrying considering the average value of student belongings (£3,500).

The study of 1,000 students across 134 institutions of Higher Education also found that in addition to those that say they do not have insurance, 10% of those asked were not sure if they had any cover.

Student housing can therefore be under great risk from burglaries, with the total amount of student belongings in the UK that are uninsured amounting to £573 million. This figure was reached by Sainsbury’s Finance based on the average worth of student belongings and the average number of people in a house (four). Some student properties can include an even higher amount of bedrooms, meaning that the amounts of uninsured items inside a property could be worryingly high.

Sainsbury’s Finance therefore urges students to make sure they have cover, whilst also taking the usual preventative measures to keep their property secure (such as locking doors and windows and marking possessions with ultra-violet pen).

 “With an estimated one in three students falling victim to some sort of crime each year [based on Home Office figures], it’s worrying that so many students go off to university without any insurance cover in place for their possessions” said Ben Tyte of Sainsbury’s Home Insurance. 

“However, before splashing out on insurance, students should certainly check to see if their parents’ household contents insurance policy might provide cover whilst they’re studying away from the family home, and also to check that this cover will be adequate should they need to make a claim.”

It is common for young people leaving home for the first time to think they are covered by their parents’ contents insurance; however this is not always the case. It is similar to the case with television licences, where students also fall foul to laws requiring them to purchase a licence.

Source: Sainsbury’s Home Insurance Press Release Sept 2009