This new and exiting offer is valid from right now up to 15th September 2010 – the offer is available for new customers in their first year who take out buildings and contents insurance together which if we are honest most people do in any case.

Find more details on tesco contents insurance here

There are also additional discounts to be had and special offers for clubcard customers so why not pop over to the Tesco website to get an online quote to see if their prices are lower than your current insurer ?

More about tesco home insurance products

Tesco have 3 levels of cover from finest which has a defacto rating of 5 out of 5 showing the comprehensive nature of this premium product without the premium pricing. There is also their standard product which has a defacto rating of 3 and their value cover which has a defacto rating of 1.

All products get you access to a 24 hour a day emergency hotline telephone helpline which is managed in the UK. Additionally any repairs that you may need are undertaken by approved builders and the costs are paid directly to them by Tesco so you never need to pay anything upfront and to top this all work undertaken is guaranteed for a full 12 months.

You also get covered for burst pipes from freezing, a range of alternative accommodation cover if you have to leave your home and a range of other services for example accidental cover which is included in the finet and standard products.

The tesco website is really easy to use and filling out the quote form takes just 30 seconds. You will then be presented with the range of products on offer which can be paid in full or by monthly direct debit. You also have the option to add in additional items on the form and then buy directly online and get cover straight away if you need it.

tesco home insurance more information here

When shopping for buildings and contents insurance why not give Tesco a try especially with this new offer of 50% discount from contents cover.

Over the past 15 years the average value of possessions in the home has more than doubled to a now average £50,000 and with the start of summer more thefts from gardens means it may be time to check what your policy will cover.

Other research shows that some parts of the country have been well under insured for many years. Kwik Fit insurance found that homes in Liverpool saw the average insured contents drop sharply by 22.3% to just £22,621 with that value now increased back up to a more healthy £31,947 over the past year but it still might not be enough.

It’s the value of technology that has increased and with most homes now investing or having invested in flat screen televisions, ipods and many desktop and laptop computers versus 15 or so years ago means that many homes may be under insured. Previously people did not have to worry so much about this as most insurance companies provided a minimum insurance cover value and generally this was more than sufficient cover for most homeowners but now it might not be enough.

With the weather warming up break ins and thefts from gardens increase by around 50% according to the Halifax who also estimate that the average cost of a household item is just under £500. Their own contents insurance offers up to £500 for plants and shrubs, a further £500 to cover furniture and barbecues and contents insurance for outbuildings, sheds and garages but many policies do not so this would be another area worth investigating when renewing or just checking your current policy.

Many people have also put off renewing contents and sometimes buildings insurance cover due to the recession as they simply can not afford the premiums, but as with other recessionary pressures crime also increases so cutting this type of cost from a household budget might be seen as a false economy.

When you come to renew your home insurance policies most companies have online calculators where you can enter the possessions in your home and garden and calculate their total worth and value. You should follow their own instructions because if you have an old for new policy then the values may need to be increased to cover the increased value in today’s prices. Although you can not over estimate what you own you should think about everything that you have and those items that you take out of the home apart from cash and credit cards to include jewellery, rings and even your glasses.

Home Insurance Policies Cancelled

Normally you would expect during a recession that some people would see a contents insurance policy as a luxury and when renewal time comes they simply do not renew to save those precious hundreds of pounds each year that they simply can not afford.

And this time around is no exception with recent data from the Association of British Insurers showing that a massive 22% of people in the UK have stopped their home contents insurance policies altogether and more worrying is that 17% of people have cancelled their buildings insurance.

The latter is the startling statistic because this covers peoples’ most expensive asset, ie: their home. If you have a fire or suffer flood damage either from the rain or a burst pipe and have to have your home rebuilt then this cost could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. The premiums for buildings insurance can cost a couple of hundreds of pounds per year if you use a price comparison service to find the best deals so it should not be something that should be left to chance.

On the other hand where contents insurance cover is cancelled this covers the ever increasing burglaries in the country and as electronic equipment is more ever present in the home and the cost increases so does the loss people may suffer.

We would always recommend home owners take out both sets of insurance even during recessions and for those who believe it will never happen to you or believe their possessions aren’t worth covering then they should think again. Most of the insurance companies allow you to calculate the value of your home possessions and the costs quickly mount up once you include televisions, MP3 players, kitchen equipment, carpets, painting and decorating and jewellery. These costs could literally run into thousands of pounds so it’s best to rethink if you are thinking of not renewing your policy this year.

High cost of Claims due to winter weather

Due to the cold weather this winter and the onset of heavy snow there have been over 335,000 claims for damage to homes, cars and businesses with the average claim being £1,805 according the the ABI. Actual home insurance claims were double what they normally would be this time of year at 60,200 claims costing the industry £194 million. People in Cumbria seemed to have suffered the worst with over £200 million having been paid out for flood related damage.

With the cold weather continuing to bite and unemployment continuing to rise we only see these figures increasing over the short to medium term.

Many years ago the cost of mobile phone insurance was completely free and included in the price of either your handset or your monthly contract but of course life moves on and you’ll be charged a premium for mobile phone insurance which can come at a high cost. But do you need it ?

Your mobile phone may already be covered by other insurance policies

Almost everyone will have a house contents insurance policy and these will cover all things in your home if you have a burglary or water damage and that is likely to include your mobile phone. Certainly it is likely to be covered against:

• loss due to a fire in the home
• loss due to burglary in the home
• loss to to water damage

However for most general terms it won’t be covered outside of the home although most insurance policies offer you optional cover for this. It’s also not likely covered for accidental damage in or outside of the home (such as dropping it on a pavement, a mugging or by simply spilling a cup of tea or coffee over it). But you may be covered for these if you have taken out optional cover for electrical goods so it’s wise to check your insurance policy documents that your insurance company would have sent you, or download them online from your insurer’s website or simply give them a call to see if your mobile phone is already covered.

You may also have insurance from a bank or credit card company if you are a subscriber to some of the premium services that are offered in the way of “clubs” where a ton of extras are thrown in for “free” which often includes travel insurance but can sometimes include insurance for mobile phones. So think about all the clubs and schemes you are in and check those documents as well as you may already have insurance for your telephone.

If you don’t have a policy what should you do ?

Firstly if you are offered a policy whilst you are buying your phone in a shop then it’s always best to both:

• negotiate with the sales person as you can almost always get the price down there and then
• check the terms for the excess you’ll have to pay and exactly what’s covered (sometimes you’ll have to send your mobile phone away to get it repaired which really is not worth having as this can take weeks to solve – and some excess payments actually make the insurance not worth having in the first place)
• check for accidental damage cover as generally these result in most claims and this cover may cost an additional premium

If you lose your phone and on a monthly contract you’ll still need to keep paying until you get to the end and although you can buy a sim free phone to replace the one you lost it might not be the one you want. Really the insurance is only worthwhile if you have an expensive phone like an iphone or blackberry but you should make your own decision on what is right for your circumstances.

A recent survey by Halifax Insurance found an incredible 30% of people living in rural areas left their front doors on the latch and this was still at 10% in towns and cities.

This practices goes back some 50 years or so when it really was safe to leave your door unlocked so friends and family could easily come into your home and people were more trusting. But with more to steal as presents mount up it’s time to be wary and have some security awareness around you.

Believe it or not burglaries rises massively over the festive periods – by almost 30% and especially in a recession these are only set to increase further.  Most people don’t have the luxury of having a burglar alarm fitted (although when most go off they are just left to reset and the police are not so interested) but at least it’s a deterrent to burglars who are just looking for easy pickings perhaps for a drug habit.

The cost of home insurance claims also increases at Christmas by an additional £500 on average due to presents being around in the home. The average cost of a claim for burglary in the UK is estimated to be around £2,680 during the holiday season.

So our advice is to be security aware at all times not only when you have additional valuables in your home. Make sure all windows and doors are properly locked at all times and if you are going away and want your neighbours to check on your home whilst you are not there then provide them with a key so they can check and then make your house secure when they leave.

Most burglaries are not planned per se and are opportunist by people who want quick money. They will know if a home has people within it and they will check through the windows to see if there is anything worth stealing. If they see a Christmas tree with presents underneath it then it will be a quick win for them if your front or back doors are unlocked as they can be in and out of a home within a matter of minutes and carry out with them what they believe will be easy to sell on the open market.

So don’t make it easy for burglars during this year’s holiday season and ensure your home is secure at all times. And of course ensure that you have adequate cover because not all insurance companies cover the additional costs of having presents in your home (as they have just covered the basics that you have mentioned when you took out the policy in the first place). Not everyone has home contents insurance so why not get an online quote today and see just how inexpensive it can be to ensure you will get money back if you lose or have your valuables stolen.

Experts are warning that flooding in certain parts of England and Scotland will become common place as global temperatures continue to rise and the weather patterns change. A report from the ABI – Association of British Insurers recently estimates that global temperatures are set to rise by about 4 degrees over the next 50 years which means the annual flood bills are also set to follow.

This only means one thing in terms of financial certainty that people living in areas prone to flooding will set their premiums increase for buildings and contents insurance. Additionally of course if homes are on flood prone land the value of that property is likely to reduce.

As insurance costs rise it may be more difficult to actually get insurance if floods continue each year some insurance companies may actually refuse insurance as they know they will have to pay out because floods are almost guaranteed each year.

Advice in the market is if you are staying at the same address and have made a flood claim on the property in recent years is to stick with the same insurance company as they have your history. By all means go and get quotes from other companies perhaps using the price comparison websites but you may have to provide a lot more detail and it will take a lot longer to complete all the form filling.

But nevertheless any person who lives in a flood prone area should not only seek out cheaper insurance but ensure the quality of the policy purchased actually covers what they think it will. Reading the small print is essential especially if you are worried about flood damage and the speed of response.

Once you have been affected you not only want everything to be repaired but for the insurance company to help you through what is a difficult period. For example will they replace new for old? Will they put you up in alternative accommodation if you can not live in your home because of all of the damage to the property? How fast will they react?

Many people put their trust in insurance companies but some people from the floods of a few years ago are just now completing the building work and being paid for the damages caused.

This new research by RBS owned Direct Line (soon to be sold off in the wake of the credit crunch bail out) said that only 34% of self employed people who work in their own home had office contents insurance in additional to their existing home contents policy.

The research conducted by asking 900 self employed people who called them up for quotes and who worked at home what their insurance situation was and the main result was that nearly 30% did not have any additional cover at all whilst undertaking their work including professional indemnity insurance, public liability insurance or cover for their potential expensive computer equipment.

Whilst 82% said they already had private home contents insurannce (a startling statistic in itself that 18% did not have this cover) only a third had additional cover for their business requirements. A third polled also had public liability insurance but with this shows that when it comes to insurance products during a recession it’s one of the first items to be seen as a luxury especially if no claims have been made in previous years.

More research made by one of the big comparison websites suggests that only 4% of people who trust a bank run by one of the big supermarkets rather than a traditional high street bank despite all the issues surrounding the bank bailouts by the UK government and the credit crunch crisis. The issue appears to be around big financial products such as mortgages because whilst just 5% would take out a mortgage from a supermarket 23% would take out insurance and 24% would take a credit card – these latter items are easy decisions to make and although currently all supermarket banks are subsidiaries of the major banks in any case they are not branded as such. Previous research has suggested that the rates on offer by the supermarket banks are not competitive in any case.

Even more research now from another comparison website says that 65% of UK homes now don’t have heating breakdown cover. Previously it would be British Gas who offered this at incredibly high rates but because of increased competition it can be had for as low as £10 per month. Another piece of insurance that people are reluctant to purchase in times of hardship but could be worth it because faulty boilers can kills (although you can purchase detectors to help with this matter).

We all kind of knew these figures before they were published but the latest home office statistics are showing that 50% of the lowest income households and 33% of people in social housing have no home contents insurance at all. Unfortunately there are 3 million people in social housing so that’s at least 1 million families without adequate cover.

The problems continue of course because these people are more likely to be burgled as well and the same survey finds that these people are twice as likely to be burgled – for them they have a 1 in 25 chance whereas the general population have a 1 in 50 chance of being burgled. These families are also 30 (that’s thirty) more times likely to suffer from an arson attack than people in more affulant areas and eight times more likely to be living on a flood plain so clearly from these statistics you would have thought someone would have laid down the facts that having home insurance is an essential purchase each year because they are more likely to claim because of their circumstances ?

Previously insurers have almost shunned these type of people and made the cost of insurance far out of their reach purely because they know the claimant count is going to be so high but new policies especially tenant policies have been developed so the cost is not so high as it was and still offers adequate cover.

In a tough economic economy it’s all too easy to overlook or discard the need for home insurance because often there are other essentials that have to be paid first but with the price comparison sites comparing the “whole of market” (in that they can get instant quotes from all the insurance companies in the UK) people can quickly find the right policy at the right price. And so long as it covers the essentials (such as if you are living in a high risk burglary area or are at risk of arson) then it’s going to be something that not only provides peace of mind but will cover you when things go wrong.

Certainly if the worst happens and you have a fire then you want cover to pay out and help you sort things out. Thieves really don’t care about hurting people as all they want are items they can quickly sell on and they will target any home that has easy access to the type of items they want. They will be in and out very quickly and if you have expensive electrical goods the cost of replacing them is going to be 10 times or even 20 times the cost of the insurance policy.

Time and again homeowners are researched and found that they are under insured when it comes to the possessions inside their home but many of course also forget the vast amounts of money spend on garden equipment, power tools and sundries that are either left outside in their shed or garages and these may not be insured.

You may be quite surprised to hear that most people spend upwards of £20,000 on their gardens in a lifetime and about £5,000 is spend on electrical items such as lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, leaf suckers and other tools that are used in the house. Additionally people will likely have a shed that is full of paint tins and other tools such as screwdrivers and a big tool box that if stolen may not be covered.

Many insurers have a base line they will cover you for but if you have expensive items and have not mentioned them on your policy then the insurance company may not pay out. So what can you do? Well for one go and have a look in your shed and garage and make a note of what is in there and then go and check your policy to see if they are covered. If not make a quick call to your insurer and get the main items mentioned in your policy.

Thieves love garden sheds because more often than not they are not secure. Many people don’t even put a simple padlock to make it a little harder for wannabe thieves to enter and especially during the winter months when you might not look into your shed for a few months you may find that come spring time some of your prized gardening items are missing and you won’t know when the theft has occurred. So if you don’t have a lock go and get one. They are very cheap and it’s easy to fit.

So when you are coming to renew your home contents insurance policy don’t forget to note everything that is outside of your home on the patio, in the garden itself or in the shed or garage and ensure that any new policy you are taking out provides adequate cover if these are stolen.

Students generally have 3 options to follow when looking to get cover under a home contents insurance policy.

1. See if their landlord’s insurance (either privately or via the university) will cover them – mostly unlikely
2. Get parents to add them as a named contact on their own insurance policy
3. Get seperate contents insurance policy for the student themselves

In general students contents insurance is not that expensive because they don’t generally have many valuable possessions but if you are not covered then items such as bicycles, hi-fi, ipods, x box and televisions won’t be insured. Additionally most contents insurance policies also cover you for money and clothing whilst you are away from your main home and it’s only when there is an incident you realise you haven’t got the right policy in force.

Sainsbury Bank has recently carried out research into student possessions and they have found that the average value is £3,500 with the most expensive being £5,122 for students studying in the South West of England.

Most disturbing was the fact that a third of students said their property and possessions were not insured and 10% said they weren’t sure if they had insurance or not.

It was in London where nearly 50% of students said their possessions were not insured. Student property is always rich pickings for burglars because there are generally 3 or 4 students living at the same address and would mostly have expensive electrical goods which are easy to sell on in the second hand market or at car boot sales.

Sainbury’s student contents insurance offers cover for up to £5,000 which should be ample for most students and even a 30% no claims discount and offer accidental cover so this may be time to check if you have adequate cover and the premium you are paying each year. It’s worth it because student policies don’t actually cost that much.