What is Contents Insurance?
Contents Insurance is a type of Home Insurance that covers your possessions for loss or damage. With a Contents Insurance policy in place, you can make a claim up to a value of £150,000, depending on the cover limit you choose, with individual limits on single items.
Be aware that home Contents Insurance policies will typically include an excess, which is the amount that you agree to pay every time you make a claim. For example, if you have to claim to replace home contents worth £200 and you have a £100 excess on your policy, then your insurer will only pay you £100.
What does Contents Insurance cover?
Contents Insurance can cover loss or damage of most personal possessions in your home that aren’t part of the building itself. Belongings that are covered include:
- Furniture - Things like beds, sofas, tables and chairs (fitted furniture like cabinets and kitchen countertops are not included)
- Electricals - TVs, laptops, games consoles and Hi-Fi systems
- Clothing and accessories - Everything from your favourite skinny jeans to your jewellery collection
- Kitchenware - Pots, pans, cups, plates and cutlery
- Small appliances - Microwaves, kettles, toasters and coffee machines
- Large appliances - Washing machines, dryers, refrigerators and ovens
- Soft furnishings - Cushions, bedding, curtains and rugs
- Other - Toys, antiques and ornaments
Swinton covers damages to these items that are caused by:
- Fire, smoke or explosions
- Forms of civil unrest like riots
- Malicious acts
- Storms and floods
What types of Contents Insurance are available?
When taking out Contents Insurance, there are two options you can choose from: a standalone policy or a Combined Contents and Buildings Insurance policy.
Standalone Contents Insurance
You can get a Contents-only Home Insurance policy if you only want to cover your personal possessions and not the building itself.
This is ideal for tenants in flats or shared accommodation where it is the responsibility of the landlord to set up and cover the costs of a Building Insurance policy.
Combined Buildings and Contents Insurance
Choosing a Combined Buildings and Contents Insurance policy is a great way to cover your home in full. It means you’ll be covered not only for the loss or damage of your belongings but also for any damage to the structure of the house itself.
A combined policy is ideal for homeowners. Lenders usually stipulate that you need to have Buildings Insurance as part of your mortgage agreement, so you’ll need to buy it either way. By combining policies, insurers will often be able to offer a small discount overall, meaning your Contents Insurance may be cheaper.
You can learn more about our Buildings Insurance here.
Why choose Swinton for your Contents Insurance?
There are several compelling reasons why Swinton should be your first choice for a Contents Insurance policy:
- Specialist insurers - We’ll compare quotes from our specially selected panel of insurers to give you the lowest price we get back.
- Policies tailored to you - You can tailor your insurance with optional additional cover to suit your personal needs.
- Easy-access online hub - We store your insurance documents in our handy online insurance hub so you can view them at any time.
What levels of cover are available with Swinton?
When you choose Swinton for your Contents Insurance, you can select from three policy options to suit your needs: Essentials, Classic and Premier.
Here’s what you’ll get with each tier:
Please refer to policy wordings below for exact cover
Key benefits | Essentials | Classic | Premier |
|---|---|---|---|
Contents (Choose a limit to suit your needs) | £50,000 to £150,000 | £50,000 to £150,000 | £50,000 to £150,000 |
Alternative accommodation cover | Up to £10,000 | Up to £10,000 | Up to £20,000 |
Lost or stolen keys | £500 | ||
Freezer contents | £250 | ||
Theft from outbuildings | £2,500 | £5,000 | |
£2,500 cover for downloaded audio/visual files | |||
Office equipment cover in the home | £5,000 | £10,000 | |
Garden cover | £1,000 | £2,500 | |
£5,000 student cover | |||
Matching sets cover | |||
£100,000 legal protection | Optional | Optional | |
Accidental damage | Optional | Optional | Optional |
Personal possessions (cover your valuables and gadgets wherever you are in the world | Optional | Optional | Optional |
Maximum limits shown. Other features, benefits and limitations exist, please contact us for details. | |||
Policy Documents
Policy wording (PDF - 1.6MB)
Policy wording (PDF - 1.6MB)
Policy wording (PDF - 1.6MB)
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How to calculate the value of your home contents
FAQs about Contents Insurance
The cost of your Contents Insurance depends largely on the possessions that you would like to insure. If you have a lot of expensive electrical items and furniture in your home, your Contents Insurance premiums will be higher to compensate for the large payout that insurers risk should damage or loss occur.
However, if you don’t have many expensive possessions and your home has a small number of rooms, you may get cheaper Contents Insurance as a result.
No, Contents Insurance is not a legal requirement. However, the average three-bedroom family home has contents worth £35,000 according to the Money Advice Service. If you don’t have Home Contents Insurance, you could be hit by a very large payment to replace your belongings should the worst happen.
Contents Insurance isn’t mandatory for renters. However, while your landlord will have a Buildings Insurance policy in place to cover the building itself, it will not cover loss or damage to your personal belongings, even in events like fire, flood, storm damage or civil unrest. This can only be covered by taking out a Contents Insurance policy yourself.
You can cover your mobile phone with a Contents Insurance policy from Swinton if you opt for additional cover for personal possessions. Personal possessions cover is available as an option in our Essentials, Classic and Premier packages.
New for Old Contents Insurance is a type of cover that allows you to replace possessions that have been damaged or lost with brand new products of the equivalent value.
At Swinton, we will replace your contents on a New for Old basis wherever possible when you take out Contents Insurance with us.
No, we don’t currently offer short-term Contents Insurance policies.
Yes. The maximum that an insurer will pay out for a single item is typically set at around £2,000. Items of this value are usually things like a piece of jewellery or a high-end computer.
If you have any valuables worth more than the single item limit, then you should tell your insurer as you will need to buy extra cover.
High-risk items are those that are particularly valuable and are likely to be the subject of a claim, either because they’re fragile and therefore vulnerable to damage, or because they’re the target of theft.
Objects typically classed as high-risk include:
- Jewellery (wedding rings, engagement rings, watches and necklaces)
- Original artwork
- Designer handbags
- Antiques
- Rare books