Home burglary is one such crime that we all must be worried about considering both, visible and hidden financial losses one may face. With several thousands of homes violated by burglars each year in India, any of us can become a victim at any time. Not to mention that house theft and burglary have seen a rise of almost 20 – 30 per cent in the last 5 years.
As per a report, the current burglary rate for India is 8.2 cases per 100,000 people. Interestingly, burglars make the most of summer vacations, when most of the people are away from their home for a holiday. And, as we are fast approaching the holiday season, it is best to insure your home against burglary, theft and other possible damages to avoid any financial loss.
The most convenient and secured way to protect your home and its contents is by buying relevant home insurance. Home insurance comes with two major coverages including damages caused to the structure and loss of content (personal belongings).
During a burglary or theft, the personal content coverage helps you to cover the cost of repairing or replacing the contents in case they are stolen or damaged. The advanced home insurance plans available in the market safeguards the contents of your home as well including furniture, artwork, jewellery and electronic appliances. The contents of the home can either be insured by investing in a policy that accounts for depreciation, or on the basis of reinstatement.
While the valuation of the contents, the value has to be declared to the insurer by presenting valid invoices and bills. Under a reinstatement cover, the policyholder gets the cash value for the stolen insured items, without any allowance for depreciation.
For instance, Reliance General Insurance offers a replacement for specific electronic items (up to 10 years old), wherein the old item is replaced with a new one of the same model. Mostly, the premium for reinstatement type of home insurance cover is relatively costlier than a regular plan and comes attached with numerous terms and conditions attached.
Talking about the premium of a home insurance policy, it generally depends upon the chosen sum insured of the structure as well as the content. While the sum insured of the structure depends upon by the cost of creation, the value of the contents is usually determined by its current market value. The premium even depends on the overall coverage under the policy and various sub-limits chosen under different categories.
The average premium for insuring the contents (worth 5 Lakh) of a house comes around Rs. 2,500 to Rs 3,000 annually. While the annual premium for Bajaj Allianz’s My Home All Risk plan is Rs 4573 with 5 Lakh sum insured for the contents, the annual premium for Royal Sundaram General Insurance company’s Gruh Suraksha Plan is Rs 4537.
For filing a home insurance claim, the first thing you will need to do is file a police complaint and inform your insurer. A claim inspection officer then comes to your home to assess the loss. The more information you can provide about the stolen items, the faster the claims get processed.
In order to make a claim about the contents, you need to present valid bills or invoices of the stolen items. The insurer after deducting the depreciation amount of the items (considering the age of the items and market value) pays the calculated amount.
(Views expressed in this article are a personal opinion of Tarun Mathur, Chief Business Officer- General Insurance, Policybazaar.com)
