When it comes to buying the right home insurance cover for your needs, many of us get to work on an insurance comparison site and review the different prices and basic coverage details. Then, after a few minutes reading we click buy and often opt for one of the cheapest options.

However, with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) currently estimating that around 20% of homes in the UK are underinsured, it might be time to do a little more research to ensure you’re insured correctly.

“Home insurance is one of those important jobs that people don’t always find the time to do properly, but unfortunately that can become a problem for some when they need to make a claim,” said Wimbledon estate agent, Robert Holmes. “Even if you’ve had the same cover for years, its no guarantee its been the right cover and if you’ve been lucky enough never to make a claim, there’s no way you could know for certain, without a thorough check.”

Give your insurance provider a call

While the information you need about your home insurance cover is probably available online, sometimes it’s just easier to have a chat with someone who knows what they’re talking about. It can also be the quicker and more sensible option, particularly if you think you might have made a mistake or two in the past when arranging your insurance cover.

It can feel frustrating going over old ground with a firm you’ve been with for years. However, it could turn out to be a very worthwhile conversation. Of course, you’ll only discover that by the end of the chat, when you go through your cover and see if you need to make any changes or not.

Even if you don’t need to make any changes, you might have misunderstood a crucial detail relating to the conditions surrounding a potential claim that could have resulted in a problem in the future.

“Time spent checking your home insurance cover is right isn’t a waste of time, even if it turns out your cover is spot on,” said Plaza Estates. “It’s always good to be reassured that everything you’ve arranged is as it needs to be.”

Expect more from your insurer

However, even though its important that you know about and understand your home insurance cover, there is also more the insurance industry can do to help:

Avoid confusion.
Word important policy details clearly.
Ensure policy holders know when they have to and don’t have to pay excess.
Understand exactly what’s covered and what isn’t.
Indeed, Anne Kirk, marketing director for Swinton Insurance said in a recent interview that the insurance industry should be helping consumers – both customers and potential customers – to bridge the knowledge gap so they understand exactly what they need, what’s on offer and what it costs.

If the broader insurance industry can take on that attitude and work to give consumers clearer information and a better understanding of the insurance industry as a whole, along with their own specific policy, then Britons would likely feel more kindly towards insurers than many of them perhaps do at present.

“Taking time to understand your insurance cover is a job everyone should do, but if the industry were more consumer friendly, it would be a job that took less time and more Britons would feel confident about when choosing their insurance, too,” said Andrew Reeves.

This blog post is a guest feature, written by Property Division.