Home Insurance: What Is All Risk Insurance?

Having home insurance to cover the cost of rebuilding your home is a requirement from most mortgage providers but knowing how much coverage you may need can be tricky. There is a lot of terminology around home insurance that can be confusing if it is the first time you have insured your home.

What is All-Risks Cover?

An extended warranty is also known as all-risks cover and is an optional extra to standard home insurance. It covers damage or loss of valuables even when they are outside of your home and sometimes when they are taken abroad. All risks cover usually fills in any gaps that may exist in your contents insurance.

The Benefits of All-Risk Cover are:

✔ It is the most comprehensive form of contents insurance offered by most insurers

✔ Don’t have to list every item to be insured

✔ Covers the cumulative value of items

✔ Can list very valuable items separately

✔ Items may be insured while you are on holiday at home or abroad

What do you need to watch out for?

✘ All-risk cover will increase the cost of the overall premium

✘ Single item limits; there may be a maximum limit that can be claimed for a single item e.g. €1,000 so make sure you name items that might be worth more than this limit

What does standard Home Insurance cover?

This very much varies by provider so it is really important to read policy documentation carefully. Generally speaking home insurance can be divided into:

• Buildings insurance: this is insurance on the structure of your home, an easy way to remember is it covers anything you can’t take with you if you chose to move. It is worth checking that damage or theft of items like satellite dishes and door lock replacements are covered as part of your home insurance. As it is the rebuild cost, buildings insurance may not be for the market value of your home. Discuss this with your provider.

• Contents insurance: this is cover for the items that are in your home in the event of fire, theft or flood. Thinking about the furniture, electronics and kitchen appliances that are in our homes today, it doesn’t take long for the costs to mount up. Usually you need to provide a list of items that you would like covered in your content insurance and it is important to accurately value them.

Life is unpredictable and the last thing you need at a difficult time is unexpected financial costs. If you have more questions about protecting your home contact us we would be happy to answer them.