Home contents insurance

Contents insurance is known as home contents insurance in our kingdom. This type of cover pays for the cost to repair or replace any of the prized personal possessions that you keep in your home if they're stolen or damaged by some kind of risk, like a burst water pipe or lightning strike.

Home contents insurance covers a range of possessions that you keep in your home. We say that if you take the roof off your home and turn it upside down, then what falls out = your home contents. For example, your furniture, fridge, clothes, and kitchen appliances. If it ain't nailed down, it's usually covered by this policy.

How much you insure your home contents for depends on what it would cost to replace them. You can work this out by going from room by room, filling in an inventory (click here to download a template) and then adding replacement prices. Then, it's easy to cover your home contents for their correct value.

Home contents insurance works by paying out an amount to replace your stolen or damaged valuables. Before you get the cash, the excess is taken off, as well as any under-insurance. As an example, if you insure your contents for R20,000 but their actual value is double this amount, and you claim R5,000 for a stolen TV, we'll pay out half of what you claim.

Household insurance (or home contents cover, as we call it) covers the valuables that you put into your home to make it your very own. But, it doesn't cover things like bicycles and hearing aids (these are portable possessions), or geysers, swimming pools and anything that's considered a fixture in your home, like the fitted carpets and windows (these are covered under buildings insurance).

• Bicycles.
• Contact lenses and prescription glasses.
• Cellphones.
• Hearing aids.
• Jewellery, watches, laptops and other things that are stolen or damaged while you're not at home.
• Geysers.
• Fixtures, like carpets, windows and lights.

Damage that's caused by insects or pests, like termites, moths, or rats isn't covered by the king's home contents insurance. King Price covers more risks than most insurers in South Africa, but we don't like pests.