[trishalishous]

After reading the insurance thread, I started thinking about replacement value for our things.
2 Years ago I furnished our granny flat and it was $25k (Bed and mattress, (has BIR) 2x sofa beds, table and chairs, 4x towels, 4x crockery/cutlery, 2 tea towels, 3 sets of linen (doona, doonacover and fitted sheet, plus pilow cases) kettle, toaster, bathmats x4 (I use one at the Kitchen sink too) tablecloth, knife and chopping board, fridge and 5 pairs of curtains)
We put our old washing machine and TV in there, and our old TV stand.
Our house contents is only insured for 50k. theres NO way that would replace our possessions!
Anyone else under insured?

[bakesgirls]

I was under insured until reading the other thread today. I rang and increased our contents insurance by another 40K (and it turned out it will only cost me an extra $4.90 per month), but after speaking with DH, I think I may have to call back and increase it again. He pointed out stuff I hadn't even thought of.

Today I also specifically insured my wedding and engagement rings which weren't insured previously. Hopefully I'll never have to claim.

EFS

This post has been edited by bakesgirls: 30/01/2013, 07:26 PM

[CallMeProtart]

I believe so, yes.

Could anybody who was on the other thread post some of the tips for making sure you are adequately insured? I caught some re: videoing and taking pictures of all your stuff - we haven't done that. But there's probably more in there and I don't want to have to wade through all the moral judgement on insurance to find them - maybe we could put them in this thread so that we can remedy the underinsurance!

[frizzle]

Shouldn't be now. A few years ago we went through room by room. Including clothing and shoes, our work suits etc. we put everything in and allowed for completely being wiped out ie fire.

Someone made the comment along the lines of do you have your husband insured in another thread today and we do. His dad died young and left a small family so we sought advice on life and trauma insurance for him.

[Sassy Dingo]

I'm overinsured for the actual house (as I put in the purchase price rather than the house price into the online application) but might be under for contents. When I ring the insurer next week to reduce the overinsurance, I'll add $50k to contents just to be safe.

I never thought there would be a problem with overinsurance (I know they only pay out the replacement value but liked having a very large buffer in case I had underestimated), but a person in the other thread pointed out how suss that looks if I were to make a claim. I never considered that.

[Sunnycat]

Yes. We don't have contents insurance just building insurance. Like I said in the other thread, everything we own is crap and we don't have anything worth insuring. If something happens and we lost everything then we would replace it ourselves with more crap from 2nd hand stores and gumtree.

Don't worry EB, we won't be going on ACA or TT demanding handouts.

[Sassy Dingo]

I believe so, yes.

Could anybody who was on the other thread post some of the tips for making sure you are adequately insured? I caught some re: videoing and taking pictures of all your stuff - we haven't done that. But there's probably more in there and I don't want to have to wade through all the moral judgement on insurance to find them - maybe we could put them in this thread so that we can remedy the underinsurance!

For estimating building costs you can get some sort of idea by your rates apparently - if you look at the 'unimproved value' on your rates and subtract that from your estimate of market value. Apparently you should also include demolition/house removal in the building costs too (in case of complete destruction and need a complete rebuild).

There are apparently also online estimators for contents on insurer websites.

[whitelights]

For the building no, but the contents I'd say we are somewhat under insured.

But like I just posted on another thread, in a worst case scenario and our home burned to the ground (more likely for me than a flood) as long as I had enough to replace the floor coverings, furnishings, white goods, adequate supply of clothing, I'd be fine and I think my contents sum insured is sufficient to cover that. It just wouldn't replace EVERYTHING.

I have enough contents cover that I could replace the necessities to get back on our feet but not some of the 'fun' things that accumulate over the years like surfboards and pool tables and tons of DVDs and if I've just lost my home, I'm not going to be worried about the pool table anyway. I'll just be grateful to have clothes on my back, somewhere to wash those clothes, a bed with blankets to sleep on and a roof over my head.

This post has been edited by whitelights: 30/01/2013, 07:39 PM

[JRA]

Our building insurance is with AAMI, so it is not insured to a value, but replacement cost. Funnily enough when we renovated, our insurance costs went down, we now have window locks and no asbestos.


As for contents, we are underinsured, but we know that and accept that. Picking up the difference if we lost everything would not be the end of the world.

I'm overinsured for the actual house (as I put in the purchase price rather than the house price into the online application) but might be under for contents. When I ring the insurer next week to reduce the overinsurance, I'll add $50k to contents just to be safe.

I never thought there would be a problem with overinsurance (I know they only pay out the replacement value but liked having a very large buffer in case I had underestimated), but a person in the other thread pointed out how suss that looks if I were to make a claim. I never considered that.

Yes, surely over insuring not only is wasting massive money, but highly highly questionable.

[Nanns]

No, our insurer sends out an assessor who lists everything off and tells you how much you should be insured for. If you don't insure for that amount, they can choose not to insure you. If something happens, they have to rebuild/ replace to exact standard.