If you love fashion and the designer clothes in your wardrobe are your most treasured possessions, you probably want to protect them at all costs.
Home insurance can cover the contents of your home in the event of a fire, flood or other disaster, but will it cover your designer clothes?
The answer to this question is a tricky one and isn’t always straightforward. However, this blog will help you to better understand how to protect your designer clothes and whether your home insurance is doing the job.
Standard cover
Most home insurance policies cover clothing as a standard part of their contents cover. This means that your non-designer clothes are all included under that umbrella.
However, because designer clothes have a much higher price point, a lot of standard policies will exclude them from being covered.
You will need to read your policy carefully to find out whether this is the case. If designer clothes are excluded, you may want to shop around and find cheap home insurances to compare online that better fit your needs.
If your policy doesn’t mention anything about designer clothes or expensive items being excluded, you may still not be in the clear.
Check what the maximum payout for personal belongings is and make sure that it’s enough to cover everything including your designer clothes.
If it’s not, you won’t be able to recoup all your costs. You should also check if there is a limit as to how much a single item can cost, as some of your designer pieces may be above the limit.
Add-on cover
Lots of home insurance policies will allow you to add on expensive items for an additional fee. If you have a few designer pieces that you really want covered, you can specify them when taking out your home insurance policy.
However, this will likely mean paying higher premiums, which is something you’ll have to weigh up.
When adding on items like this, you’ll probably need to provide your insurer with documents to prove your items are genuine and how much they cost.
You should also take photos of your clothes in case you make a claim that they were stolen and have to report this to the police.
If you don’t have proof that the items are genuine because they were passed on to you by family, you may need to get a professional appraisal.
Always read your policy carefully
You definitely can get your designer clothes covered by your home insurance, but they may not be covered by all policies.
Whether you’re shopping around for a policy after buying your first condo or are trying to switch providers after moving to a nicer area, make sure you check all your terms and conditions before signing on the dotted line.
If you have any doubts, you can seek legal advice and ask a professional to look over your contract.
You may also want to mention to your insurer that you want something that will cover designer clothes and they may be able to guide you in the right direction during the initial stages of your discussion.
