Looking to insure your white goods but not sure where to start when it comes to insuring your appliances? Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about home appliance insurance.
Home appliance insurance is designed to cover the gap between your standard home insurance policy and your warranty on any appliances you own. It will cover the cost of repairing or replacing your kitchen appliances – and other appliances too - if they stop working unexpectedly.
Generally, your appliances will have to be less than eight years old to qualify for this form of cover. Some people call it kitchen appliance insurance, but it covers more appliances than just those found in your kitchen.
Policies will vary but the following home appliances should be covered by most policies:
Other everyday appliances like mobiles, tablets, and laptops generally won’t be covered. You can insure these with gadget insurance or as part of your contents insurance instead.
There may be some overlap between home appliance insurance and your other insurance policies. Generally, home contents insurance will offer some cover for your appliances, but it might have limitations.
For example, you may be covered for accidental damage and/or theft of an appliance, but not for mechanical breakdown, repairs, or call-out fees – all of which can prove costly.
Look carefully at your home and contents insurance policies to see if you’re already covered. You can find this out by checking the policy document you received when you took out or renewed your insurance. If you’re in any doubt, contact your provider. They should be able to confirm what you are and aren’t covered for.
Additionally, some of your appliances might be covered by a warranty. While not strictly an insurance policy, it has a very similar outcome for consumers.
You can choose to pay for an extended warranty on your home appliances, rather than taking out home appliance insurance. Simply put, an extended warranty is an insurance policy provided by the appliance manufacturer. You usually take out and pay for warranty insurance when you buy the appliance.
Some packaged bank accounts can also offer extended warranty cover, usually at a cheaper rate than you would pay off the shelf. One limitation is that an extended warranty only applies to the individual item you’re buying. You can’t insure your existing appliances under it.
This means, unless you’re buying everything brand new at once, you could be better off opting for a home appliance insurance policy.
You should also remember your rights as a consumer. All goods should be of reasonable quality, do their intended job and last “a reasonable length of time”. This will depend on a range of factors, including what the appliance is, how much use it gets and how much you paid for it.
Of course, this is open to interpretation and can be disputed by companies. You may also be able to get help under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act if you used a credit card to pay. This will tend to be more helpful for newer appliances.
What’s included on your appliance insurance will vary depending on your individual policy, but there are some things that are usually covered and others that are rarely covered.
Make sure you check your individual policy, so you know exactly what is and isn’t covered.
To get a home appliance insurance quote you’ll just need some basic information about yourself, your home, and your appliances.
Be prepared to provide information on the following:
The cost of your insurance will depend on the value of your home appliances and the insurance provider you choose. It’s worth remembering that home appliance policies usually run for 12 months. After this you can either renew or shop around for a better deal.
You may well be able to find cheaper home appliance cover by doing the following:
A quick and easy way to make sure you’re getting the best deal is to compare your options through Quidco Compare. You could also earn £28 cashback on top just by using this tool.
Paying for your cover in one go each year will usually work out cheaper than paying in monthly instalments. If you can’t afford to pay in one go, you could consider taking out a zero-interest purchase credit card and spreading the cost interest-free over several months, so long as you are comfortable doing so.
Some insurers offer home appliance insurance as an add on to standard home insurance. Your existing provider may do this, meaning you just have to pay slightly more each month for the extra coverage. If your current provider doesn’t offer this – or you fancy looking for a cheaper deal – you could look at other insurers that do offer joint policies.
Another way to reduce the cost of your cover is to keep your home appliances in the best condition possible. Simple things like making sure you keep your oven clean and defrost your freezer regularly will keep your appliances in better shape. Age will likely be the biggest factor in your premium, however. Sadly, you can’t change the age of your appliances.
But, looking after them properly should reduce your premium, at least by a bit!
Providers all have different systems for making claims and you will find the details of how to claim in your policy document.
If you are unsure, the best place to start is the company’s website. Most have a clearly labelled ‘make a claim’ section, which will guide you through the process.
Some problems might need fixing quickly and you might not be able to contact your insurer before you get the issue fixed. Most companies are still happy to pay out as long as you make a claim within 14 days of the emergency.
This means you may need to cover the costs yourself at first before you receive the funds from your insurer.
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Katie Royals is a journalist and personal finance writer. She also runs the blog The Twenty Percent the-twenty-per-cent.com, which aims to help young people take control of their finances.