We attach so much personal importance to our home these days, everyone wants to live in a property that not only suits their needs but comes to represent almost an extension of their personality. The devastation of something serious happening to our home or its contents can be a difficult blow to take. This all means that making certain you get the best home insurance deal should be a significant concern for the modern home owner

Making sure you end up with the right policy to fit your needs and that you feel is cost-effective can be a complicated process though, it would be nice to think you could take the easy route and default on a standard policy but, really, there's no such thing. You'll need to check though any prospective insurer's levels of cover and various exclusions. But let's start by breaking the subject into the two principal types of cover ? Building Insurance and Home Insurance.

Building Insurance

Building insurance should cover more than simply the main building and include any outbuildings such as garages as well as gates, patios, sheds and fences. It's important to give any exclusions or clauses, and there will almost certainly be quite a few, a thorough examination. Make sure you know what's covered and what isn't. Don't over-insure yourself; the sum should be the cost to rebuild rather than what the property is worth. In certain cases the insurer will only pay out the cost to rebuild anyway. A rebuild cost should be pretty cheap and easy to come by so make sure you get it right. Also take into account the likelihood of rebuilding costs increasing over time especially if you make any modifications. A worthwhile piece of advice for cutting costs is not to pay with a direct debit, it could mean being charged as much as 30% interest. Think about paying with a 0% on purchases credit card.

Contents Insurance

Once again it is important to be certain that you are insured for the right amount. Try compiling a full check list of everything, it may seem long-winded but is definitely worthwhile. It's quite possible that your insurer will put a limit on individual items, if this is the case and a single item is worth more than an imposed home contents limit try to negotiate an increase or, failing this, you'll have to insure it separately. Check precisely what your contents are insured against ? theft and fire should be standard but you should also look to include cover for additional threats like storm and flooding damage. A decent money saving idea is to look at the possibility of a combined deal that covers both contents and building, this might be offered at a reduced rate and should obviously speed up the process. Don't just plump for a combined deal for convenience sake though; a good policy for contents could be teamed up with a less impressive deal for the building or vice-versa.

Copyright (c) 2007 Jay Smith