Newlyweds warned to avoid the underinsurance trap

Summertime is peak season for getting hitched, so Halifax Home Insurance is reminding people to check they have enough home contents insurance to cover the increase in valuable items they may have in their home around the time of their nuptials.

Senior Technical Claims Manager for Halifax Home Insurance, Vicky Emmott comments: "Those looking forward to their big day are likely to have a house stacked full of wedding goodies including presents, bride and bridesmaid dresses, new suits and wedding rings. All these items can add up to a princely sum, and with all the planning that goes into arranging a wedding, ensuring that home contents insurance is adequate may not be top of everyone's list."

Most insurers offer sum insured policies, which means the onus is on the customer to notify their insurer if the cost of their home contents increases significantly. As many customers fail to do this, they can find themselves underinsured when they come to make a claim. Halifax offers unlimited home contents cover, meaning that all year round, customers have peace of mind that they will never find themselves underinsured, even if they suddenly increase the value of their home contents.

Newlyweds may also need to check their home contents cover, as they are likely to have been showered with gifts on their wedding day, and even guests who have bought new designer clothes and gifts for the bride and groom can add significant value to their home contents without realising that they may be leaving themselves underinsured.

Homes of newlyweds left unoccupied while the happy couple are on honeymoon can provide rich pickings for burglars. Fire or flood can also be enormously damaging to home contents, so it is essential to ensure the home is adequately insured to cover the total cost of its contents.

While some of the sum-insured Home Insurance policies will increase cover temporarily to account for the additional valuables in the home, this temporary increase may not offer enough cover to ensure newlyweds are covered now, and in years to come, for the cost of all their valuables.

It is also worth noting that many insurers require valuable items, such as wedding rings, to be specified on the policy document if they exceed a certain cost. Halifax Home Insurance requires any item over £1,500 to be listed on the policy, which would cover the item both in and away from the home.

Vick Emmott concludes: "Organising a wedding can be great fun, but also very stressful. The last thing people need is to discover they are not adequately insured when it matters most."