Home insurance vital for young families as kids cause £229million of damage
21 July 2008 / by Rachel Mason
According to new research from Tescocompare.com, young children are the number one cause of damage in their households, and are responsible for 42 per cent of all accidents.
And even when the kids get older they are still capable of expensive damage, with teenagers causing 250,000 accidents a year resulting in £68 million worth of damage, although, overall, teens are only a fault for one in five accidents around the home.
With the summer holidays coming up, school-age children will be in and around the home for most of the day, and Tescocompare.com is warning homeowners to keep an eye on their clumsy kids.
And even those homeowners without children need to be on their guard, because of the 850,000 accidents last year, 250,000 of them happened in someone else’s home, which means youngsters caused nearly £70 million worth of damage when visiting other people’s houses.
“As the saying goes accidents do happen – and this research suggests many of us suffer financial loses on an annual basis,” said Paul Baxter of Tescocompare.com.
“What is worrying is that over four in ten (41%) of us don’t cover ourselves for accidents in the home – leaving us at risk of being seriously out of pocket.”
Many home insurance policies now include accident cover as standard, but many don’t and it is a good idea to check your policy to see if you are covered.
If you are not, you will be able to add accident cover as an extra; accident insurance covers for a wide range of mishaps, from your own DIY disasters, to the kids knocking over a vase or spilling Ribena on the carpet, which will give you that added peace of mind that your home and its contents are covered.
“With children at home during the holidays the likelihood for accidents to happen increases – and if you aren’t covered for accidental damage to your possessions it isn’t too late to add this cover to your policy,” concluded Mr Baxter.
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