Home – the most valuable asset of our life. The place where one finds peace of mind and cherishes moments spent with the loved ones. When we invest all our hard earned money to make that house, we need to have a protection against unexpected casualties.
Now, imagine you are at your workplace and you receive a call that your house is ablaze. One would obviously panic at this situation. One would go wild thinking about the valuables and other belongings inside the house? Is all gone? What to do now?
An average Singaporean family spends tens of thousands of dollars to furnish and renovate their home. The residential fires are on increase & just think over how much loss people suffer because of this, if they don’t insure their assets. To avoid such critical situations in life it’s mandatory to have an insurance of your assets. Now, the question is which insurance to go for? Although many types of insurance are available in the market but among all fire & home insurance are a must.
Fire Insurance
A fire insurance policy is a must before buying any sort of property. It covers structural damage caused to the original fixtures and the interior structure of the property i.e. all of the walled structure & cable fitting. Other belongings like furniture, electrical goods, and any sort of renovation is not covered under fire insurance. Fire insurance covers only the rebuild cost of the property and not its market cost.
Fire insurance basically covers fire, lightning, explosions like gas leakage, aircraft damage, bursting water pipes, smoke damage, earthquake, vehicle impact damage and other malicious damage. Though a basic fire policy is cheap with premiums at an affordable level but, the coverage and the premium rate differ from property to property.
There are various options for availing fire insurance according to the kind of property owned. For a mortgage property one has to go for a MIP (Mortgagee Interest Policy), which protects the bank’s financial interest in case of casualties. For HBD apartment owners, the board offers insurance schemes which one can go for as per the requirement. Many times additions do not get covered up automatically under the original policy and needs to be covered up separately. So, one need to look over in this regard. Private apartment and landed property owners without strata title can go for their own choice of insurance.
Home insurance
It protects your home and valuables against unexpected accidents like fire, theft or natural calamities. A home insurance covers what the fire insurance lacks i.e. the renovations done time to time and the contents.
One can choose any out of the two home insurance policies namely; All Risks and Insured Perils. While an Insured Peril covers damage caused, only by items which have been specified in the policy (like fire, water pipe burst, explosions etc.) whereas, All Risks covers more causes than Insured Peril including accidental damage.
A home insurance policy covers household contents like furniture, clothing, jewellery, appliances, etc, fixtures & renovations done in the house, alternative accommodation coverage, all types of glass breakage, loss of plastic cards such as debit & credit cards, accidental pet death and rent protection. For really expensive things one has to get the endorsement done in the policy to cover them. It’s advisable to keep updating the policy annually with new purchases and renovations made. Numerous companies offer varying types of coverage hence, the coverage amount and the premium varies from company to company.
Given below are a few insurance company names which offer home insurance in Singapore.
AIG Asia Pacific Private Limited
AXA Insurance Singapore Private Limited
Federal Insurance Company
Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd
United Overseas Insurance Limited
Now, when we know about both the insurances we can very well understand that as the fire insurance just covers the structure of the house hence, it’s mandatory to go for a home insurance as it not only covers unexpected accidents like fire but also covers the contents & renovations of the house.
Whether you are getting a new launch condo, executive condo or HDB, it is advisable to have a Home Insurance (Home Content Insurance). Below are some of the latest residential developments in Singapore
New launch condo in Singapore
Upcoming New Condo
