Calculate the value of your contents for home insurance

How to work out the value of your contents

Here are some top tips to help you to estimate the value of the contents of your home:

• Go into every room in your property and make a list of all your possessions. Cover everything from furniture to decorations, including the curtains, carpets and soft furnishings. Don’t forget anything else that might be contained in an attic or an outbuilding like your shed and garage.
• Once you have prepared your list, make a rough estimate of the cash value of each item, being realistic as you go. If you’re struggling to come up with figures, a bit of online research for the value of a similar item can help.
• Remember to use up-to-date valuations for expensive single items. There can be a substantial increase in the value of items such as watches and jewellery in the years you’ve owned them. Conversely, some items may actually end up costing less to replace as new.
• You should base your value estimates on the basis of replacing items as new and not their value in their current state.
• Add up the full cost of your list across every room in your property, and you will have a ball-park for the level of cover that you need.
• It’s important to make sure that you don’t underestimate the value of your valuables and contents. If you do, any home insurance claim may only be settled up to the limit set out in your policy or you may only receive a proportionate settlement. For example, if the value of your contents in your policy only represents 70% of the full replacement cost, then insurers won’t pay more than 70% of your claim.