Do You Need to Insure Your Boiler?
A number of people wonder and ask if it is important to get insurance for their boilers. Getting insurance is the most recommended way to securing one’s household items and property. Boilers are a commonly found item in most households across the United Kingdom. However, as it turns out, according to British Gas, one in every fourteen boilers is likely to develop a fault over a period of time. As for the consequences, we can all imagine the level of damage that can occur from a faulty boiler. If under repair, the entire family, young and old, will have to suffer the chilly water. In more severe cases, the damage can be very serious. One of the main reasons that boiler insurance comes highly recommended, is that it ensures access at least to an alternate heating facility or even repair services, in the event of there being a problem with the equipment. Some things to check before getting boiler insurance:
1. Warranty Period: A lot of times, most electrical items come with a warranty period. Therefore, check if your boiler is still covered by its warranty period. If it is, then you will be entitled to certain benefits and services if your boiler breaks down. However, if the product has completed its warranty period, then you should probably rush to get insurance on it.
2. Getting home insurance: Often, home insurance policies cover items such as boilers. Therefore, do a thorough check of your home insurance policy to make sure that your boiler does not fall under it, and only then opt for getting insurance for the boiler. You don’t want to have spent money insuring the same product twice. There is, however, one catch that you must pay attention to while checking your house contents insurance. Most home insurance policies will only cover boilers if they are less than a said number of years old. This is because most old electrical items are more likely to develop problems and faults, causing the insurance company a wasted expenditure. Therefore, companies only insure electrical items if they are within a specific number of years since purchase.
3. Research: Always do your research before purchasing insurance, get quick quotes from online suppliers, http://www.axainsurance.com for example. Premium rates will differ from one agency to the next, based on the nature of coverage that they are offering for the product. Some agencies only provide immediate action such as repair during the winter months, and others may give that kind of service perennially. Therefore, based on your needs, do a comparison of premium rates and coverage from a number of firms before settling on what suits you best and what costs you think are most beneficial to you. It goes without saying that this step applies to any kind of insurance purchase.
4. Efficient Policy: One thing to consider while getting the insurance policy is deciding if you want the policy to cater just to the boiler or to the entire heating system. By just adding a little more money to the policy cost, one can get insurance for the entire heating system including the boiler, the pipes and so on. That way, whether the problem is with the boiler or the pipes, or other parts of the machinery, it is all likely to be covered by the insurance policy.
Other important things to consider while insuring your boiler/ heating system is checking the ‘no claims’ period in the event that the insurance policy has one, and also finding out exactly what the insurance company would treat as an emergency. These are important things to consider in case there is a situational exigency and your insurance does not cover it.
Category: Home Insurance
