Over 22 percent of families with children under five have had toys taken from outside their homes according to a Halifax home insurance survey.
The most common item to be taken was a childs bicycle, making up almost 1 in 5 of all home insurance claims from those surveyed. Prams and buggies were also a popular target for thieves, no doubt driven by the costs of such items being quite high. The advice from the Halifax insurance people is to put items away safely when not in use, using a garden shed or bringing them into the house.
A Halifax spokesman understood the potential difficulties of being able to put everything away at some times, especially during the Summer when children are in and out of the house all day, but it is worth doing to avoid the psychological stresses it can cause, even if they have contents insurance in place to cover the financial cost.
As costs rise so the amount needed to replace household items increases also. The need for home insurance is therefore greater than ever say Direct Line.
Having surveyed a selection of UK adults the insurer found that the typical cost of replacing or repairing damaged household items was around GBP200. The most common incidents were red wine spills, broken vases and damaged furniture. Each of these is covered with Direct Line home insurance and the peace of mind that cover brings, as well as the money it can save, is of real benefit to customers.
At the moment Direct Line have a special offer on their contents insurance, with free accidental damage cover provided to all new customers. In addition, when the time for renewal comes these same customers will also be eligible for a 10 percent discount as long as they have not made a claim.
Having taken a look at the attitudes of their home insurance customers Legal and General found that many prefer to throw broken items away rather than repair them.
Asked about electrical items like MP3 players and DVDs, 46 percent of those surveyed said they would throw it away if it stopped working. Slightly more worrying was the fact that 12 percent of people in the Legal and General study said they would throw an electrical item away if the fuse had blown.
On the one hand these results suggest we are throwing away perfectly serviceable items, though many small electrical items are very difficult to repair now, with manufacturers themselves recommending replacement rather than repair. Legal and General will usually replace electrical items that are claimed for on a home insurance policy since they follow the manufacturers guidelines.
Get a quote for Legal and General home insurance at Moneygossip.co.uk.