Home insurance tips for the new year

The start of a new year is the perfect time to get everything in order, including your home and contents insurance. Things like Christmas gifts, completed renovations and a general increase of your land value over the past year can affect your total sum insured. An amount that was sufficient last year may not be anymore. Making sure your cover is up to date can help you avoid underinsurance, meaning you’ll have enough to cover costs if anything were to happen to your home and belongings.

Update your sum insured for the new year

Your sum insured should be enough to replace your home and everything in it, if they were damaged or destroyed. Not updating your sum insured regularly could leave you with a ‘coverage gap’, where your insured amount isn’t enough to cover the costs needed to replace or repair everything.

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Calculate your home building value

Because of inflation, the value of your home can change over time, especially if you’ve completed any renovations. With the new year, it’s always a good idea to see if the value of your home has increased over the past twelve months. Ignoring this could mean that the building value on your policy becomes outdated, and the cost to rebuild your home could now be higher than before.

Not sure where to start? Our home building calculator can help.

Make sure that you factor in certain rebuilding costs, such as demolition, debris removal, architectural and engineering costs, and council fees

Take stock of your contents

After the gift-giving season, it’s important to update the list of contents and valuables that you’d like to be covered by your Home and Contents Insurance policy. If you haven’t already, you can start your list by videoing each room of the house, cataloguing your contents, and digging up receipts.

The more comprehensive your list, the easier the claims process should be if anything were to happen, and the more accurate your sum insured will be.

Our Contents Insurance Calculator can help you to estimate how much to insure your items for.

Take preventative measures

Getting your home storm season ready and making sure your home security is in check can help to avoid damage and grief. It can also help to make the claims process easier should you need to make one. Securing your outdoor area from wild weather, keeping your windows shut while you’re out, and asking a neighbour to get your mail while you’re away are handy tips to start with.

Stay ahead with your cover

While you may have gotten your sum insured in order and taken preventative steps to secure your home, there’s no guarantee that everything will be covered. Help get that extra peace of mind for the year ahead with things like Safety Net Home Protection, which can help safeguard you against the coverage gap. Safety Net Home Protection can provide a financial buffer if the cost of repairing or rebuilding exceeds your sum insured. This can be added onto the GIO Classic Home Insurance cover or is automatically included with GIO Classic Extras and Platinum cover. Launch into the new year with our Home and Contents Insurance today.

Read more :

• Home security tips for the Christmas season
• How much should I insure my house for?
• Do you have the right home insurance policy?

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Insurance issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as GIO. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement before buying this insurance.This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.