Protecting where we live and what‘s inside it is something most people do without a second thought. When searching for home insurance, there may be a number of deals out there which might seem quite reasonable - but the product itself is often more complicated than people think. With some extra information, a home owner could make better decisions about what’s right for them and could even save money in the process.

Different providers, different prices

A home insurance policy will often be offered by a person’s car insurance provider, or even by their bank. There are dozens of other cover providers who will also quite happily give someone a quote. Although it might be tempting to go with one of the first deals offered to you, you could save money by comparing a number of products against one another. By working out their different plus and minus points and comparing cost on a like-for-like basis, you can make sure you are getting good value.

One way to compare products is to use a home insurance comparison website such as ours where you enter some basic information about your home and in return get a number of quotes from a number of different providers. These can then be compared not only for price, but for the important policy features and benefits too.

When starting out it’s important to know exactly what you’re after. Home insurance comes with two sections - buildings insurance and contents insurance. The buildings insurance policy will protect the actual structure of the property, and will pay out if it is damaged by things like fire or flood. It will even cover the cost of rebuilding your home in many cases.

Contents insurance covers the everyday belongings you have in the house, like CDs, computers, other electrical items, clothes, furniture and jewellery. If you’re unsure, think about what you’d take it with you if you were moving house - all of this will normally be covered by a contents insurance policy.

Checking out the circumstances

When getting buildings insurance, a good thing to look out for might be the different circumstances that are covered by different insurers. For example, some insurance companies will not provide protection for flooding in certain areas. If there’s an element of flood risk where you live, you’ll need to find a policy which protects against this eventuality.

It might also be worth comparing how different insurance companies value your building - you may want to ask any potential provider how much they would increase their premiums by if you made a major improvement like a conservatory.

Does your contents fit your policy?

Basic insurance premiums for contents cover will vary. Most companies will provide low budget policies for relatively modest levels of contents, but it’s important to think about the realistic limit of the value of what you own.

Remember that underestimating the goods which you have could mean you’re under-insured in the event of a burglary or fire. This means the insurer will not pay out for the full value of the loss, so you could end up having to pay extra for any items that you’d not thought about.