COLLECTIBLES INSURANCE
Homeprotect does not provide standalone collectibles insurance. Rather collectibles can typically be covered under home contents insurance – both inside and away from the home. Read more about our contents insurance.
What you need to know about collector insurance
It’s really important that you get your items valued before taking out a policy so you can avoid being underinsured. A professional appraiser can determine the value of your collection. This, in turn, will allow your insurer to underwrite your collection accurately.
As the value of a collection can change over time – as you add to it, and as market prices vary – you should also get it re-appraised every 1-2 years. If your collection increases in value but you don’t update your cover level then you could be underinsured, leaving you out of pocket if you need to claim.
Homeprotect insurance for collectibles can cover a broad range of risks and mishaps including theft, fire, smoke, and accidental damage. And there’s no need to arrange separate insurance protection for your collection because it can be incorporated in your home contents policy. Read more about our contents insurance.
covering collectibles as part of your contents
Under a Homeprotect contents insurance policy, you are covered up to a maximum of £5,000 or 20% of the contents sum insured, whichever is lower, for high risk items worth less than £1,500 or as part of a collection.
If your collection contains any high risk items, you need to specify on your policy that the collection as a whole is worth more than £1,500. High risk collections include watch collections, coin collections, medal collections, and stamp collections as well as collections of gold, silver and other precious metals, or guns.
Collections of antiques, glass, china or porcelain (including porcelain dolls), comics, sporting, TV, film or music memorabilia, vinyl records or CDs, or other items that we don’t classify as high risk, don’t need to be specified on your policy, even if they are valuable, but it’s still important to have an up-to-date estimate of what your collection is worth so that you can include its value in your general household content sum insured.
Get a home insurance quote online
Get a quote online in less than 10 minutes*
What’s covered by contents insurance?
Your belongings make your house feel like home. If they’re stolen, damaged or destroyed, our contents insurance helps cover the cost of replacing them — so you’re not left out of pocket.
- Fire and smoke
- Flood and storm
- Theft and attempted theft
- Escape of water or oil
- Malicious damage
This includes items like furniture, electronics, clothing and kitchenware — plus a limited amount for contents stored in garages, sheds and outbuildings within your boundary.
What we offer
Emergency help when you need it most
If you have a home emergency — such as a power outage, uncontrollable leak or a broken lock — our 24/7 Home Emergency cover is included as standard.
- We aim to get an engineer to you within four hours
- For serious water leaks, we’ll try to have a plumber with you in two hours
Response times may vary during extreme weather. Policy terms and claim limits apply.
5 star rated cover
Our insurance has received the highest rating from independent financial researchers, Moneyfacts.
12-month repair guarantee
Any repair work we arrange after a claim is guaranteed for one year.
New for old
Where we replace a damaged or stolen item, we’ll do our best to match the original — on a ‘new for old’ basis. If that’s not possible, we’ll offer a suitable alternative or a full cash settlement.
Legal support when you need it
Family Legal Protection is included as standard. You’ll have access to expert telephone legal advice on personal matters under the laws of the UK and most of Europe.
What isn’t covered?
There are some things we can’t cover, including:
Items you don’t own or aren’t legally responsible for
Items stolen from unoccupied vehicles
Gradual wear and tear, or damage caused by pets
Faulty design, construction, or workmanship or failure to fix a known issue
Mechanical or electrical breakdown
Keeping your home and belongings in good condition is essential. If damage happens because of neglect or poor maintenance, your claim may be declined, and your policy could be cancelled.
Contents Insurance Cover Levels
Our contents insurance is designed to protect your belongings against insured events such as fire, storm, flood, escape of water, theft, malicious damage, subsidence, landslip or heave.
Contents cover
Protects your household contents — including furniture, clothing, appliances, gadgets and valuables — against events like fire, flood and theft. Cover is provided on a new for old basis.
from £25,000
Alternative accommodation
We’ll help cover the cost of temporary accommodation for you and your pets if your home becomes uninhabitable due to an insured event. If you stay with friends or family instead, we’ll cover your extra living costs.
up to £10,000
Home emergency
Covers sudden, unexpected emergencies — such as an uncontrollable leak — that require immediate action to prevent damage or secure your home. Two levels of cover are available, for different types of insured loss.
up to £500
Family legal protection
Covers legal costs for certain insured events. There must be a reasonable chance of success, and the incident must happen during your policy term. Two levels of cover are available, for different types of insured loss.
up to £25,000
Liability cover
Covers your legal liability for accidental death, injury or illness to someone else, or damage to their property.
up to £5 million
Personal possessions
Covers items you wear, carry or use outside the home (e.g. clothing, bags and sports equipment).
Optional
Gadgets, bikes and valuables away from the home
Optional cover for mobile phones, laptops, tablets, watches, jewellery, hearing aids and other high-risk items you take out of your home.
Optional
Accidental damage
Optional cover for unexpected mishaps around the home — such as breakages, spillages or damage caused by you, your guests or wild animals Two levels of cover are available.
Optional
Your Questions Answered
An excess is the portion of a claim that you’re responsible for paying. It’s either deducted from your settlement or collected from you if we arrange a repair or replacement. You can find out what excesses you’ll need to pay by logging in to make a claim and selecting your policy in the “Check my cover” section. Your excesses are also listed in your policy documents.
There are three types of excess:
- Compulsory excess – A fixed amount that applies to most claims, based on the type of damage. If your claim includes both Buildings and Contents, a compulsory excess will apply to each.
- Special excess – A higher excess that applies to specific events like flood, escape of water, subsidence, landslip, or heave. If both Buildings and Contents are affected, only one special excess applies.
- Voluntary excess – An extra amount you choose when buying your policy to lower your premium. If your claim includes both Buildings and Contents, the voluntary excess applies to each.
- Exception: voluntary excesses do not apply to Flood Re claims.
You can find your excess amounts in your Policy Schedule or by logging in and selecting your policy in the “Check my cover” section.
Examples:
Example 1 – Claim for one type of damage
Romesh claims for accidental damage to his buildings.
- Compulsory excess: £249
- Voluntary excess: £150
Total excess: £399
Example 2 – Claim affecting both Buildings and Contents
Sam’s theft claim involves damage to both buildings and contents.
- Buildings excess: £249 compulsory + £150 voluntary
- Contents excess: £149 compulsory + £50 voluntary
Total excess: £598
Example 3 – Escape of water affecting both Buildings and Contents
Frankie’s claim is for escape of water.
Voluntary excesses: £100 for Buildings + £100 for Contents
Total excess: £700
Special excess: £500 (applies once)
Yes, you can insure your collectibles as part of your home insurance. If any individual item, or a set of items,falls under our definition of high risk item and is worth £1,500 or more it should be individually specified on your policy. Please note that you should store your collectibles in the main home building (rather than a detached garage or outbuilding) to be covered for theft or damage.
The cost of contents insurance depends on a range of factors including the total sum insured, and the location and security of your property.
In most cases, they are covered up to a certain maximum per claim if you make sure the value of these items are included in the value of contents to be insured. You can find out more about our garage insurance here, and our shed insurance. Please note that there are some items that we can’t insure such as boats and water skis, please refer to the policy booklets for full details. Some business equipment stored in outbuildings is covered, but not high-risk items or stock without underwriter approval.
Not unless you have taken out our personal possessions cover. This cover is an optional extra that you can purchase with your policy. Under our Homeprotect policy, the personal possessions option covers your personal belongings against theft or physical damage anywhere in the world.
If you are taking these possessions overseas, cover is included for up to 90 days each year. Any individual items worth £1,500 or more and any bike, electronic gadget or high risk item will need to be specified on the policy.
We exclude cover from unoccupied vehicles.
Recommended by our customers
72% Saved money when they switched to Homeprotect*
*Survey data of 1,089 buying customers from 30th October – 12th November 2024
Prefer to SPEAK WITH us?
Our insurance experts are on hand if you have any questions.