Your home is one of your most precious possessions. If you are not born with a silver spoon in your mouth, it may take you a lifetime of savings to buy a home of your own. What’s more unfortunate is the fact that it may not even take a few days for such a labour of love to be damaged. Yes, your home looms under the threat of damage due to flood, earthquake, fire, and so many other mishaps.

So, after making a reasonable investment on your new home, furnishing and even decorating it nicely, does it make any sense to leave it unprotected against the threat of damage? Obviously not! Which is why a home insurance policy is a must. It will not work as a shield to protect your home from any kind of impending danger. But, of course, it will help the owner recover the losses caused by a calamity.

As a basic rule, home insurance policies are divided into two different components – buildings insurance and home contents insurance. The former covers your home’s bricks and mortar, meaning the physical structure of the home. The later covers the precious things generally kept within the home.

Home insurance for contents covers possessions inside your home like furnishings, furniture and appliances. Insurance terms may be based on ‘like for like’ or ‘new for old’ compensation. As per ‘like for like’ basis, one will be provided with monetary compensation equivalent to the value of the insured item just before it was damaged.

On the other hand, under the ‘new for old’ terms, the insured will be provided with monetary compensation, with which the damaged item can be replaced with a new one. So, when you buy a Home Insurance policy, make sure that it covers important home contents as well as the related items, including garage or outbuilding’s contents, personal money, garden contents, food in the deep freezer and loss of fuel or water.