What is contents insurance? Do I need it? Is it worth it? Doesn’t the landlord cover this? These are all valid questions if you want to make sense of how best to cover your stuff. Here we answer these questions and dispel some myths around contents insurance at the same time. And we even throw in a curve ball of a flexible alternative.
A recent survey from Nationwide Building Society showed that the number of households who have no insurance on their privately rented property is over 2 million. That’s not 2 million of us who have passed on an invincibility superpower onto our precious items. No, we’re still dropping phones, smashing watches, putting AirPods in the washing machine, the usual capers. So why are so many of us chancing it with our expensive stuff?
There are a few reasons. One is that there can be confusion over who covers what. Is it you or the landlord? Another is around reducing monthly outgoings, with contents insurance getting the axe as an “unnecessary outgoing.” Which is fine if you can guarantee no accident or theft will befall your items. Other times it may well be what we like to call “insurance-cover-overwhelm” (catchy, right?). That’s the feeling you get when you’re going around in circles, and potentially overpaying with an add-on monthly outgoing you’ll forget to cancel for nine years, by which point your iPod has paid for itself. Twice.
Being sensible and taking out cover doesn’t mean opting for whatever’s easily available. Here, we take a look at some of these barriers, and why it might be time for a rethink when it comes to insuring your possessions. Whether this is through contents insurance, or a new kind of cover. One that’s just as easy to arrange, and goes that little bit further in what it protects against.
Myth 1: My landlord’s got my contents insurance covered
Landlords cover the building, fixtures and fittings, and furniture if the property is furnished. Anything you bring to increase the homey vibes is your responsibility. That’s different to a contents-only insurance policy, which covers pretty much everything that would fall out if you tipped the property upside down. If that happened, you’d have bigger problems than a broken coffee machine, frankly.
If you’ve ever opted for this type of policy, you’ll know it would ask you to give an estimate if you were to tot up all your possessions. Think plates, rugs, knives and forks, the quirky print you thought would bring the room together that you’ve now taken against – all that jazz, plus the pricier items.
So, if someone breaks in and the window or door needs fixing, that would be the landlord. But your stolen TV, laptop, phone, bike and jewellery would be up to you to replace.
Contents insurance normally covers these possessions at home as standard. If you wanted to protect things like your camera, or jewellery, you’d often be looking at an extra on top of your policy.
Myth 2: Insurance isn’t worth it
Why insure against something that may never happen? We get it, but as one Reddit user said on a thread around this very topic, “it’s worth it when you need it.”
We’d love to provide you with an “every 10 seconds someone spills a drink over their laptop” type stat, but as of yet, we don’t have that level of intel (we’ll get Karmadillo to do some digging). What we do know, is that it can cost around £200 to get a screen repaired on a smartphone. And that’s not even for the latest model. Given that we as a global community took 1.4363 trillion photos in 2020, there are plenty of opportunities to drop our phones, which many of us now use in place of a camera.
Plus, with an Arma Karma subscription, you’ll be contributing to a worthy cause every month, which means a lot to them. So, in that regard, you might say it will never be not worth it, even if you don’t claim.
Myth 3: It works out cheaper to cover valuables individually
If you’ve ever bought a new gadget or precious ring, you’ll have been offered some cover from the place you bought it from at some stage. This seems sensible enough. But, if you’re looking to bring down your outgoings, then having different insurance for each will soon mount up.
By bundling these items together through our subscription, however, it works out cheaper per item the more things you add. This comes with the added benefit of being able to use them where they were designed to be used; out and about, in your pocket, in your bag, in your hand, on your hand, balancing precariously on a rock that’s close enough to a flat surface…
Myth 4: Arma Karma is just contents insurance
In case you’re wondering what we meant about a subscription in the previous point, let us explain. An Arma Karma subscription is a bit more all-encompassing than your typical contents insurance policy, which is what makes us different. Think of us as providing a kind of mash-up where we pick the best bits from other types of insurance. In doing so, we’ve created a new breed of cover that works for you and your lifestyle.
For instance, as we’ve already mentioned, a contents insurance policy covers stuff in the home. But if you want to make sure it’s protected while you’re out, you might have “personal possessions” cover. This could either be an extension on an existing policy or a different one entirely.
If you wanted that cover to continue while abroad, you’d again be looking at yet another policy, as this would normally be extra on your travel insurance.
Arma Karma’s subscription covers the things you want to protect like your gadgets, bike, or watch, and that cover continues wherever you go without you having to let us know.
We include accidental damage as standard, which not all policies do. But it makes sense, as it’s far more common for a phone to get dropped than be wiped out in a flood.
Still unsure?
We work on a subscription basis, meaning that you can cancel at any time with no fees if you’re wanting to keep monthly outgoings under control.
