dirty rotten scoundrels

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Having home contents insurance can give you peace of mind that your stuff is fully protected for any eventuality. If something goes wrong or anything is damaged then you can claim on your insurance and replace it quite easily… or that’s what you would think anyway! A more in depth look at your home contents insurance policy’s exclusions would tell you otherwise!

There are 1001 exclusions on any insurance policy to prevent you from claiming as far as possible, even though your claim may be fully justified to the majority of us commoners! Well, maybe not 1001 but you get the picture! Insurers like to keep costs down and will contest any claim that they legally can, hence all of the small print in the policy! The 8 exclusions listed below are common in most home contents insurance policies so expect to feel slightly mad! Read ‘em and weep!

1 – One Drink Too Many

If you come home from a night out with your friends and knock your TV off it’s stand then you won’t be able to claim on your home contents insurance, even if you have accidental damage on it. Even one alcoholic drink will put a question mark over your responsibility so it’s a big no-no! This goes for most insurance policies as well so drinking and, well… doing anything… is out of the
home is burned down then you can claim for damaged clothing. If it’s stolen then you can claim for it. But if you damage it yourself then forget it! Accidental clothing damage is excluded, as is anything you do when cleaning your clothes. In fact, some home contents insurance policies exclude any damage sustained by anything in your home if you’re cleaning it at the time!

5 – Pairs And Sets

Pairs of shoes, pairs of earrings, bedroom furniture set… there are many sets of items in your home at any given time. Although the whole point of a pair or a set is that they work well together, insurers have a pair and set clause in their small print meaning that if one earring or one drawer is damaged, they only have to pay for the one item and not the pair! They don’t seem to get that you’d have to buy another set or pair anyway, which is a prime example of why adjustors possess very little common sense!

6 – Long Summer Holiday

Having a vacation every year is a nice luxury, but if you plan to be away for more than 30 days at a time you might want to organise a house sitter. If anyone breaks into your home while you’re away for a couple of months then you won’t get a penny back. You should check your home contents insurance policy though because some insurers reject claims if you’ve been away for 30 days per year in total.

7 – Locked Away

If your home is burgled, you’d think that your home contents insurance would cover it as long as the door was locked because you’d shown reasonable care, but if your locks don’t meet the grade then you’ll find yourself replacing your contents out of your own pocket. This is a common exclusion that most victims of burglary fall foul of so check the small print and check your locks.

8 – Man’s Best Friend

Finally, you may love your dog but your insurer won’t because pets cause most of the accidental damage done to property. As a result, insurers won’t replace items chewed, urinated on or generally damage by pets. This is a relatively new thing so an established home contents insurance policy may cover you for it, but newer policies won’t. Time to establish some house rules y’all!