Contents insurance for workshop attached to house

[MattChow]

Afternoon Chaps

Just reviewed my insurance renewal notice and noticed there is a £2500 claim limit for thefts from my single garage workshop that is attached to the house and has a door into the hall.

I've spent ages this morning contacting people like direct line, aviva, NFU etc and none of them could offer about £5,000.

I then spoke to LV and they don't have a limit other than what your home is insured for. I got them to check with the underwriters too.

I've never used them before and I wondered if anyone had ever had to claim from them under the above circumstances?

With a couple of bikes and tools stored in the garage its easy to get past 5k!

 

[Blackswanwood]

I haven’t but would suggest downloading a copy of their insurance policy wording of you haven’t already as that is what would determine if the claim is paid. I would be surprised if their policy isn’t written in plain English as they are highly rated by several consumer groups.

 

[eezageeza]

Our attached garage has cover in excess of £5k, with the NFU. I think we have to specify individual items with values over £xxx, but other than that they've always seemed happy to insure whatever value we specified.

 

[MattChow]

NFU Mutual could not get me off the phone fast enough. Zero interest and adamant that their limit was 5k and nothing could be done to change it / no options etc etc. That was contacting the local office by phone. I only tried them due to the number of good reviews but the sales experience was worse than poor.

 

[Homers double]

Mattchow
Were you after domestic or commercial insurance, I’m with NFU for all my business stuff, All my tools and equipment are insured at home and in the work place for in Excess of 5k.
If your were just after domestic insurance that may have been the reason why they weren’t interested

 

[MattChow]

Thats a fair point its just hobby domestic stuff

 

[billw]

My first thought would be to insure some items specifically rather than rely on blanket cover.

 

[Artiglio]

You could try Hiscox directly, they are a bit more encompassing with their policies but charge accordingly. Better still seek out a proper old fashioned broker to find a policy that suits you. Had real problems finding a suitable policy for my mums place, but via a broker got what was needed from an insurer that had turned us down.

 

[pulleyt]

I changed to Saga Home Insurance last October as they provided a policy where the insured amount covered the entire property including outbuildings. I spent a long time ensuring that that really was the case and they continually assured me that there was no limit on contents cover for outbuildings as long as it was within the insured total.

 

[MattChow]

I changed to Saga Home Insurance last October as they provided a policy where the insured amount covered the entire property including outbuildings. I spent a long time ensuring that that really was the case and they continually assured me that there was no limit on contents cover for outbuildings as long as it was within the insured total.

Thats exactly what I have done with LV. I'm tempted to explain the situation again in writing and ask for a written confirmation. The policy wording is fairly explicit though

 

[RogerS]

Check out Lloyds Bank Home Insurance Premier. Outbuildings content up to £10k. If you have any single value items then they can each be covered up to a max of £3k each. New joiners were getting a hefty discount last time I looked.