A necessary evil.

Tweet

A pleasant autumn is spoiled for me each year because October is when I need to renew my house insurance. I receive a new quote for the coming year from my current insurer about 2 weeks ahead of the due date, and if I’m happy with it I just let it run - I’m never happy with it. I scout around on line to find a better deal, but with my procrastinatory predisposition and more interesting things to do I invariably leave doing anything about it as long as possible and the date passes and I’m locked in for another year. Not so this year. I still left it till the last minute but sent a rocket up myself and powered through, managing to get a deal £220 better than original quote. Well done me. One of the things that irks me is that insurance companies want me to insure my possessions (apart from house) for at least £50,000. If I’ve were to losr every possession that is currently ours we would have great difficulty in being able to spend that amount on replacement furniture, clothes etc. we just don’t do “things” but are expected to insure these “things” we don’t rate very highly. Our TV is a cheap and old thing that does what we need it to do, and no thief would waste their time stealing it. I couldn’t abide the living room being dominated by a giant TV. I’d feel that it had become the most important thing in the room and that it owned me. The one expensive item we do possess is my wife’s piano. It had been her father’s and he would not have tolerated a cheap piano in the house so we know it’s quite valuable. However if it were stolen, which is most unlikely given the weight and dimensions of a piano, we would not be replacing it because its value to my wife is sentimental, not monetary, so I’m not taking out special insurance for it. With my wife’s agreement of course. In spite of the insurance industry’s advice, there’s no virtue in being over-insured, and this year I’ve saved an extra £220 to put in the holiday account. Are you over-insured? That’s what your insurers are hoping for.