CompareTheMarket.com Warns Policy Holders to Ensure Their Garden is Covered

There have been many stories in the news recently that directly tie in to home insurance and the consequences of not being covered. Whilst the recession has inevitably left some people cutting back on their home cover, the recent floods across the United Kingdom have highlighted the importance of home insurance once more. 

But whilst it is easy to dwell on our homes within the walls of the house, how many people are covered in case of damage to the garden?

According to research carried out by comparethemarket.com, Britons that fail to find adequate insurance for their gardens may incur significant financial hardship, with the total cost for people in this country amounting to £10 billion.

So home owners are urged to make sure that items within the garden are covered by their household insurance policies. It could make the difference in claiming back on damage to items such as barbeques, plants and event furniture.

However, it is not just flooding that can cause damage to gardens with comparethemarket.com warning home owners to be vigilant against vandals as well. This amounts to over 600,000 garden owners that might have been targeted, with a further 1.2 million affected by robberies.

“It’s important to remember that home insurance policies can cover garden plants and furniture as well,” says Jeremy Moll of comprethemarket.com, “Although the value attached to vandalism and theft is high, we know UK weather conditions can also wreak havoc on our homes. There are steps people can take to save themselves money.”

The recessions is often cited as the reason many people are not covered in the modern day and the comparison website addresses this as well,

“Even with money tight, it’s not worth taking any risks and not having your home totally covered.”

So whilst ensuring that people take particular steps to protect their garden (such as securing or storing vulnerable items, taking apart large objects, covering immovable plants, fitting locks on gates and fitting lights, and making sure fence ownership is known), people should take extra steps to make sure their garden is properly protected.

Source: Compare The Market 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.”