| |
 |
|
Your home is your
pride and joy. Your
belongings may
have been built up
over a number of
years, some being
of high financial
cost and other
being irreplaceable
because of
sentimental value.
INSURANCE COVER SUITED
TO YOUR LIFESTYLE
Take a moment to consider what
the consequences would be if the
unthinkable happened and you
were unfortunate enough to be
the victim of crime or suffered a
loss due to flood or fire.
The latter is exactly what happened
to a client of Towergate Risk
Solutions Cardiff between Christmas
and New Year. The family were
enjoying lunch with friends in the
kitchen of their 18th century stone
farmhouse near Bridgend when they
noticed smoke seeping under the
door from the family room.
The television in the far corner of the
room had been left on standby,
self
ignited and set the Christmas tree
alight that was standing close by.
Because of quick thinking the family
managed to control the fire before it
spread and the flames had caused too
much damage, however the same
cannot be said about the smoke.
A visit had been made to the house
some months prior to carry out a
complete insurance review in respect
of the amount of cover for buildings
and contents. The meeting involved
completing a contents checklist
which is a room by room inventory
of all the contents within the house.
As a result and following further
consultation with a professional
Fine Arts and Antiques valuer
Towergate Risk Solutions
recommended a transfer from a
standard policy to a high net worth
policy with higher sums insured and
a much wider cover that reflected the
clients lifestyle.
This proved to be a very prudent
transfer. As a result of the extensive
smoke damage at the house the client
was faced with a substantial claim in
excess of £100,000. If the clients
insurance had not been revised, the
claim would not have been met in
full by the clients previous policy.
Claire Humphries explained, “As soon as we were advised of the
claim,
I arranged to visit the client to
discuss how we could help. Whilst it
was distressing to see such a beautiful
home badly damaged, it was
rewarding to know that from an
insurance point of view everything
from the cleaning and redecoration to
the restoration of family heirlooms
would be taken care of.” We can all take a positive lesson from
this unfortunate situation in that a
short amount of time taken in
reviewing the adequacy of your sums
insured and the appropriate nature of
your insurance cover can save a lot of
heartache and financial loss.
Standard household packages do not,
as a rule, assess the cost of rebuilding
your home or the value of your
contents. You may find yourself
penalised in the event of a loss,
should your sums insured not be
sufficient. High net worth policies
will often offer this service at no
extra cost, guaranteeing full cover.
Remember due to rise in the housing
market and increase in disposable
income many individuals in the UK
do not realise they are underinsured.
|
|
|
