Insure your home for its real value

When insuring your home, it is now more important than ever to get independent advice.  House insurancehas changed and your home may now no longer be insured for its “FullReplacement”. 

Your house now needs to be insured for a “Sum Insured”; avalue that should represent the replacement cost of the house. It makessense to obtain as much sound advice as possible to make the best decisions inprotecting your most valuable asset.

You will need to determine anappropriate “sum insured” for your home.  The best method of determiningthis is by employing a quantity surveyor or registered valuer, however there isa free tool available at www.need2know.org.nz that can also be used.  There are many pre-conceived notions, speculationsand simply bad advice around determining the sum insured, so it is importantthat you contact a broker who can tell you what the sum insured needs torepresent and how your policy will respond. 

Common and costly mistakesare made by people;

• believing they need to insure their home for the “GV” stated in their rates demand,
• over or underinsuring their home by a factorof 15% by not applying GST correctly to the “sum insured”,
• not including costs including demolition ofthe existing structure, compliance costs and draughtsman’s fees, and
• not knowing their policy wording andunderstanding the limitations and required extensions.

Don’t take the risk.  Speak to a broker who understands what you need and enjoy peace of mind knowing your home and most valuable asset is in good hands. Call our Towes Insurance Brokers Team on 0800 230 235.

David Bradbury