Help

We want to help you to understand how Pack App can help you collate your home contents and why it's important for you to do so.

Pack App is specifically designed to help you collate your home contents in one place. Your home probably houses all of your most prized possessions. What would you do to make sure that your personal possessions were protected?

With Pack App, you can record your home contents digitally. Create the floors and rooms of your home and add your contents to each room using photo inventory. Record a price, add images and descriptions, upload receipts and pack your items away. Export reports on your items and calculate an estimated worth of your entire home contents.

Find out more about Pack App or click here to download Pack App today.

Before you start looking to arrange home contents insurance for your home you should think carefully about how much cover you require. The level of cover you require will be based on the value of the contents in your home. Most online comparison sites will give you an estimated value based on the rooms in your home but that doesn't necessarily give you the right level of cover for your home contents. Remember that home contents insurance is insurance that pays for damage to, or loss of, an individual’s personal possessions at a given location (namely your home address) In this context "possessions" means anything that is not permanently attached to the structure of the home meaning that if you could pick up your home and shake it, everything that falls out is contents, everything else comes under your home buildings insurance. Don't forget that your contents insurance may well cover areas you haven't considered like your garage, outhouses and your gardens.

Each policy will be different and offer various levels of cover including 'old for new' but essentially you need to collate all of the items you have around your home and value them, even down to your curtains and carpets!

Valuing your home contents is important in making sure that you get the correct level of home contents. The level of cover you need depends on the total value of the items in your home. That’s easy to underestimate, which is why it’s important to take time to work it out properly.

But how do you value contents? Well that's easy if it's brand new and you have a receipt but most home contents won't be brand new so you will have to estimate a value for each item. The estimated value you give is the maximum amount your insurance provider would pay out if everything you own is destroyed. To help prevent you being out of pocket, this estimate needs to be as accurate as possible. If you estimate your total value too high, you will end up paying more than you need to for your insurance. If it’s too low you could end up underinsured, which means that your insurance provider might only give you a percentage of any claim you make.

When you estimate the value of your home contents you need to consider all your possessions, not just the more valuable items that you deem to have value to you. Remember that home contents is everything that isn't a fixture or a fitting.* The value of an item for insurance purposes is usually the amount of money it would cost to replace the item today, which is unlikely to be the same as the price you paid for it.

To estimate the value of your home contents, we advise that you consider the following:

  • Go from room to room, making a list of all your possessions (make sure you get everything!)
  • Estimate how much each possession is worth
  • Get up-to-date valuations of jewellery and other high-value items
  • Add up the cost of all your items to get your estimate

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), many UK households could be underinsured because they just don’t know how much their home contents are worth**.

*Fixtures and fittings include the walls, windows and roofs of your property, plus anything that’s secured in place to the walls or floor, such as fitted wardrobes, the kitchen and bathroom suites.

*Underinsurance is when your insurance cover, or sum insured, is less than the value at risk.

Home contents insurance covers the cost of replacing your belongings in your home if they are damaged, destroyed or stolen.

Your ‘contents’ are the items that would fall out of your home if you could pick it up and shake out the contents.

These include but are not limited to:

  • Furniture: beds, sofas, wardrobes, and dining tables and chairs
  • Kitchenware: cutlery, cookware, microwaves and kettles
  • Entertainment: video games, toys, DVDs and CDs
  • Soft furnishings: cushions, curtains and bedding
  • Electricals: TVs, laptops and game consoles
  • Clothes and jewellery
  • Ornaments and antiques

According to Which?, there are a number of exclusions that are likely to apply to your contents insurance policy. These include but are not limited to:

  • High-value items There is usually a limit on the amount of cover for high-value items such as jewellery or audio-visual equipment. For most contents insurance policies, the limit for each item is around £1,500, but this can go up to £15,000 depending on your provider and policy. If you have expensive possessions, be sure to check your policy to make sure they are covered.
  • Running a business from your home Ordinarily, if you run a business from your home, any business-related equipment will not be covered by your contents policy. It’s important to check this with your insurer however and notify it if you work from home
  • Subletting your home If you experience loss or theft when you’ve let or sublet your home, you may not be covered by your contents insurance unless there are signs of forced entry.
  • Pairs and sets The cost of replacing an entire set of furniture or units is unlikely to be covered by your contents insurance if only part of the set is damaged. You’ll usually only receive the cost of replacing the damaged parts.
  • Unoccupancy Most insurers will cover your home on the condition that it will not be left unattended for more than 30 consecutive days. If your home will be left unoccupied for an extended period of time - if you’re taking a long holiday, for example - be sure to let your home insurance provider know as you may be able to increase your cover temporarily for an extra cost.

In the event you have finished using Pack App and want your account deleted, please contact us a info@pack-app.com and request your account is deleted. - Photos, and personal information will all be purged.