Buying Christmas presents and gifts for other occasions, such as birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, means that you may temporarily store certain high value items, bought for friends and loved ones, in your home. If these items are lost or damaged, will your current high value home insurance cover you, or will you have to take out additional cover for valuable Christmas gifts?
Are Christmas Presents Covered Under High Value Home Insurance?
Your high value home insurance policy will cover you for Christmas presents. But the specific level of cover you get will depend on your policy wording, and on the value of the gifts themselves.
Standard Home Insurance: However, if you have a standard home insurance policy, rather than high net worth insurance, you should check your policy wording for a “New Possessions” section, as gifts for other people are not always covered as standard.
High Value Home Insurance: When taking out your high value home insurance, the policy wording will specify a level of cover based on the combined value of the contents in your home. This takes into account your home’s general contents, along with any high value items such as jewellery, antiques, art, and other collections.
Bringing Christmas presents and other gifts into your home may raise the total value of your home’s contents beyond your agreed cover limit. But does this mean that your policy will not cover you for any lost, stolen, or damaged Christmas gifts?
Some Insurers Will Cover Christmas Gifts as Standard
Some insurers will provide additional cover for Christmas gifts, even if their combined value exceeds your policy’s existing cover limit.
At James Hallam, our High Value Home Insurance policies include the following forms of cover:
- Extended cover around special and religious events: This means that you will automatically be covered for any high value items you bring into your house not just for Christmas, but for other special occasions, including birthdays, weddings, and other religious events, such as Ramadan, Diwali and Hannukah.
- Extended cover for newly acquired items: We understand that new acquisitions may push the value of your home’s contents beyond your cover limits, which is why we automatically extend cover for newly acquired items. This can include Christmas gifts.
How Long Do I Have to Inform my Insurer of a Gift?
When it comes to new acquisition cover, usually you would have to update your policy after a certain grace period has elapsed in order to get full cover for any new items you bring into your home. But as Christmas gifts will only be in your home for a temporary period, then you probably will not have to update your policy to get the cover you need unless you receive a high value gift yourself. New items and gifts will usually be restricted to 90 days, after which you should formally notify your insurer to have your cover increased.
For more information, please check your policy wording.
If You Need To Make a Claim For Lost, Stolen, or Damaged Christmas Gifts
If your Christmas gifts are lost, stolen, or damaged, then your insurers will want to know exactly what you have lost, along with the exact value of each item.
This is why it is a good idea to keep an inventory of any Christmas gifts you bring into your home. You should also retain any receipts or invoices for each item, so that you can demonstrate each item’s value.
Not All Insurers Offer Cover For Christmas Gifts As Standard
Also bear in mind that, if you are not insured with James Hallam, then your insurer may not offer the same extended cover for special occasions or new acquisitions as we do.
If your insurer does not cover Christmas gifts as standards, then you may have to take out temporary extended cover for the Christmas period. Your insurer will probably need an inventory of all of the additional high value items you bring into your home, along with the specific value of each item.
Get The Cover You Need This Christmas From James Hallam
James Hallam is an independent Lloyd’s broker with a dedicated team of experienced insurance professionals who care about protecting your property.
Our High Value Home Insurance policies will cover your Christmas gifts as standard, so you can have total peace of mind that you will be covered should anything go wrong over Christmas, and beyond.