If you own a house, car, bike or even a device such as laptop, you’ll have a good idea of what kinds of general insurance options are out there. But what do these insurance types actually cover? And how much is cover is too much cover?
In this blog, you can read about the options available in terms of general insurance and assess what you need to cover your hard earned assets (for more detail on life and illness cover, click here instead).
What's in this blog?
Home insurance
This is insurance to cover your home and belongings. The types of home insurance you’ll need will depend on whether you are a renter or a homeowner:
- Contents insurance: Contents insurance covers the belongings inside your home, so you’ll be recompensed if they are damaged or destroyed in certain circumstances. Depending on your policy, these could include fire, flood, leaks or theft. You are covered up to a certain amount, but you may need to add particularly valuable objects to your policy individually. This is an important type of insurance for renters and homeowners.
- Buildings insurance: If you own your home, you also need to protect the building itself. Buildings insurance will recompense you for damage or destruction to the structure and fixtures of the property. This is usually required when you take out a mortgage.
You may be able to get a combined buildings and contents policy if you’re a homeowner.
For extra cover for valuables, consider phone and/or gadget insurance. This insurance can cover devices such as your mobile phone, laptop, tablet, camera, smartwatch, console and other gadgets. This may be worthwhile if you have a particularly valuable device that is far in excess of the limits on your regular contents insurance. Another benefit is that you may be able to get a replacement device, so if you’re reliant on your phone or laptop for work then it could be a great idea.
Car insurance
It’s a legal requirement to have car insurance if you’re driving on UK roads. This type of insurance pays out if your car is stolen, damaged or you get into an accident caused by you. You will need to pay an excess (a fee) to claim.
The minimum you must get is ‘third party’ car insurance, which covers injury and damage to other people and property. You can add fire and theft cover, or purchase comprehensive cover, which protects you, your car, your passengers and your property from accident, vandalism or theft.
Travel insurance
If you are planning to travel, travel insurance could be an essential part of your trip. You could face a huge bill if your trip is cancelled, your transport is delayed or your possessions are lost or stolen. More drastically, if you fall ill, become injured or even die abroad, costs for medical treatment and repatriation of your body can be enormous. You can buy separate insurance for each journey, or purchase multicover e.g. on an annual basis. It’s important to look into what’s excluded and you may need to add extra cover, for example if you are planning on taking part in extreme sports.
Pet insurance
The cost of caring for a pet can be high, especially if they need treatment at the vet’s. Paying a regular premium can be more than worth it if your pet needs an unexpected operation, and you can also get the cost of routine treatments covered as well.
Health and dental insurance
In the UK, we are lucky enough to get our health and dental care for free, or at low cost, through the National Health Service. However, there may be circumstances in which you want to access private health or dental care, for example if there are long waiting lists, you want a particular service not available on the NHS, or you cannot access an NHS provider.
The bill for treatment can be high and a health or dental policy can cover some or all of that cost. Just be aware that pre-existing and/or chronic conditions may not be covered, so check the exclusions carefully.
Life and illness protection
Life and illness protection can be complex, and you may need to research them carefully before making a decision. You can learn more about life and illness protection here.
This content is for information purposes only. You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice. Any figures or references made were accurate at the time of publishing, and we cannot guarantee they remain correct after this date. We often link to other websites, but we aren’t responsible for their content.
