Contents insurance calculator

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Unsure how much contents insurance you need? Fear not, our calculator will help you decide.

Contents insurance covers the contents of your home in the event of a crime, fire, flood or other natural disaster. If that happens, then all those things that make a house a home are at risk, but with contents insurance, you can make a claim for any damages.

It’s different from building insurance, which covers the structure of your home. If you’re a tenant, it’s your landlord’s responsibility to have this, not yours. If you’re a homeowner, you can compare home insurance deals for both building and contents cover under a combined policy, which could save you money.

What is a contents insurance calculator?

Laptops, beds, treasured jewellery – we have a lot of stuff in our homes, so how on earth do you estimate what it’s all worth? Enter the contents insurance calculator; a helpful tool that tots up what your possessions amount to and how much cover you should get. This is known as the ‘sum insured’.

Using a calculator means you don’t leave yourself under-insured if you have to make a claim. It also means you don’t overestimate your sum insured and resultantly pay more than is necessary for your premium.

To sum up, using a calculator means you’re much more informed when you come to compare contents insurance deals.

How to use our home contents insurance calculator

You ought to be as accurate as you can in calculating what your contents are worth. We’re not going to lie, it’s a bit of a task, but to guarantee you don’t leave yourself under-insured it’s well worth your time. Simply put, you need to work out how much your contents would cost to buy brand new.

Our tool lists rooms in the house, within which are various categories such as furniture, tech, ornaments and even food. You should go through your house, room by room, adding up the total cost of your possessions in each category. When you really focus on each item, you’ll surprise yourself by how much value is in your property.

Contents insurance should also cover items in your garage, loft or garden, so be sure to include these in your estimation too.

How much does home contents insurance cost?

The cost of contents insurance is primarily determined by the value of your possessions – the higher the sum insured, the higher your premium. As such, there isn’t a set price for home contents insurance, though for reference the average premium price in London is between £90 and £110, but it can be half of that in more rural areas.

Many policies require you to separately list any single high-value items, but exactly what value this is varies considerably with insurers. Therefore, it’s best to check to ensure you’re covered. Furthermore, if, for instance, you have a lot of high-value tech equipment, you could consider taking out a separate gadget insurance policy instead to keep your contents insurance quote down.

Yet your premium isn’t based on your sum insured alone. Other factors influence the price you pay, so let’s take a further look.

How are contents insurance premiums calculated?

Alongside your sum insured, there are other factors that determine what your premium will be, for example:

• Your street address, i.e. is there a high crime rate in your neighbourhood?
• What floor you live on, i.e. is your home easily accessible to thieves or susceptible to fire or flood damage?
• Whether you have communal spaces in your building
• What level of security you have, such as window locks or double door locks
• If you have gas or electric hobs and what risk these pose

Insurance companies look at the risk profile of your property and the amount of contents cover you need. From this, they work out a quote, but naturally this won’t be the same for all insurers; therefore, you should always run a home insurance comparison to see what deals are on the market and to get the best price.

How much are my contents worth?

What your contents are worth really depends on what you have in your property. Most of us don’t have priceless heirlooms or artefacts lying around the home, which makes things a little easier. But tech, fashion items and odd bits and pieces do quickly add up and the trend shows people generally underestimate the value of their contents, leaving them in the lurch when they make a claim.

If you can, use receipts to check the cost of your possessions. Of course, not everyone will keep their receipts, but the more accurate you can be, the better. Don’t forget to adjust any prices for inflation either. Alternatively, the internet is a fantastic tool to help you check an item’s value.

For higher value items such as art or jewellery, it’s strongly recommended you get them valued by an expert to be sure you estimate correctly and get the level of cover you need.