Are You Neglecting To Protect Your Possessions Adequately?

Many of us have lapses in concentration and forgetful moments on a daily basis and yet when it comes down to carelessly leaving your belongings unattended you are not only making rich pickings for opportunist thieves, you may in for a shock when you have the need to make an insurance claim.

Whilst many people believe that insurance companies will try and worm their way out of making pay outs any way they can, the truth is more likely to be construed as neglecting to protect your possessions adequately.

Examples of neglect include such things as:
* Leaving your bike leant against a fence or lamp post whilst you pop indoors or when your child goes to call for a friend. Any opportunist thief will be able to see your or your child's actions and within the blink of an eye simply ride away on the bike.

* If you go away on a camping holiday and leave valuables in an unprotected tent insurers may dispute the validity of your claim. Check the cover you have as you may need to take out a separate holiday insurance policy.

* Leaving your mobile phone, purse or wallet on the beach or at the poolside when going for a swim may also be classed as failing to protect your property sufficiently whether you are on holiday or just out for a day.

* Garden equipment such as patio furniture, barbecues, garden ornaments and statues, water features, expensive shrubs and plants, (yes, these too are often stolen from people's gardens) or children's toys may not automatically be covered under your contents insurance as insurers will expect them to be stored away safely at the end of each day whenever this is feasible and realistically possible.

Most people's personal belongings are included within their contents insurance, however there will be restrictions as to a single value of items, as well as the possibility of not being covered for wilful neglect.

As such you need to check the cover you have to ensure that these types of incidents are included within your policy. Make enquires with your insurers for aspects such as camping holidays to see what is covered and what is not. Likewise it is also worth checking that your possessions are covered outside of your home. Any valuables which are above the limitations on the policy should be insured separately.

Taking precautions to keep your valuables safe needs to be considered at all times in order for you to make a claim which will be less likely to be disputed by your insurers. You should also check the method of making a claim as in many cases insurance companies will ask for police incident numbers. These are always given by police when thefts are reported. Many police forces are also stepping up their attendance for burglaries which occur within people's homes and gardens in order to reduce crime rates.

Many of the cheap house contents insurance offers do not include these types of examples within their policies, they will be classed as optional extras for which you will incur further payments, making your cheap house contents insurance more costly than you first thought.