| Britons have "seriously underestimated the value of their home contents"
A new survey undertaken by Legal &
General, the leading investment company, has revealed
that people in Britain are "seriously underestimating
the value of their home contents". The survey,
taken in October 2006, discloses that the average home
owner estimates his or her household possessions to
be worth around £14,300 in value - but the real
estimate is, in fact, in excess of £38,000.
Legal & General's survey did a breakdown
of a typical household's value, which showed that the
contents of a living room tend to be the most valuable,
at £10,500 on average. The statistics also showed
that Britons in the south-east and East Anglia were
more likely than those in other parts of the country
to value their home possessions accurately; however,
home-owners in Yorkshire and the north-west of England
were statistically judged to be the worst at guessing
the value of their household possessions.
The Operations Director at Legal &
General's general insurance business, Andy Dawson, said:
"From the survey findings it would
appear that insurance to cover loss of property for
the home could be over £20,000 below the level
it should be. We would suggest that everyone take the
research findings as a prompt to review their home contents
and check the insurance cover they have in place."
|
These findings come hot on the heels of Legal &
General's Safety Uncovered Index in September 2006,
which showed that, from a poll of 5,000 people, only
a minority claimed to be afraid of home burglary - despite
the fact that Britain is officially the most burgled
country in Europe. In fact, a quarter of those polled
stated that yob culture was their main safety concern.
According to a survey taken earlier
this year by Abbey, almost 8.5 million households do
not possess home contents insurance, or are uninsured.
The survey found that 3 million British households do
not possess home insurance, while a further 3.4 million
are uncertain as to whether their policy insures the
entire value of their household items. Lloyd Wilson,
head of protection marketing at Abbey, advised:
"Home insurance documents might
not make for the most interesting reading but people
really do need to check they have sufficient cover in
place as being underinsured can cost people lots of
money."
Many British banks and building societies
now offer competitive home insurance policies; make
sure you purchase home insurance for the right value
of your household contents, and you'll certainly rest
easier at night. |
