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.
Direct Line home insurance will now include an automatic 10 percent increase in the level of cover for contents around the time of a wedding.
The extra contents cover Direct Line insurance offer is for the period 4 weeks before and after the wedding itself and is designed to offer peace of mind for all the extra items that will be there in the build up to the big day and of course all the presents afterward. The fact that there will be more people around and a greater risk of accidental damage is also critical.
For anyone interested in this aspect of contents cover it is the Direct Line Home Insurance and Home Insurance Plus policies that both feature this additional benefit.