Home Contents

I let our contents insurance lapse, so now I have to re-quote and get it all set up again. My rough estimate of what we own comes out to somewhere between $20-25,000.

But apparently that’s not good enough. According to the insurer, we should have $43,000 worth of stuff, at a minimum. So I look at the list of what they’ve got in there - digital video cameras, $1500 sofas, $800 TVs etc., etc.

So I start pruning and adjusting their little list. Even over-estimating some things (like the worth of our sofas. In total, I might get $150 if I sold both of them. The insurer seems to want to tell me they’re worth $1000 each, and I can’t adjust that number), I’m down to $23,000 already. And I’ve still got more to take off. I’ve only had to add the worth of our games consoles, and that’s not made much of a push upwards.

Where the hell they pulled $43,000 though, I don’t know. It’s not like our house is bare. It’s not at all. It’s a little on the over-full side. But jesus. It makes me wonder what some people are paying for home furnishings.

But if I understood my insurance agent correctly as I got my renter’s insurance, you’re not insuring for what you could sell the contents for. You’re insuring for replacing the stuff - I suppose if you want to go with all used stuff, that’s fine. But what did you pay for your sofa new?

Vevila nailed it. How much would it cost to replace everything, at the same time?

Trust me, and trust their number. It may be a dollar or two more per year, but it’s worth it.