What are the top home and contents insurance tips?

Your home and belongings are some of your most important assets. And it only takes something like a flooded pipe to ruin your carpets and furniture, or a break-in to lose valuable items. So it pays to get the right protection. Here are some handy simple ways to help you choose home and contents insurance that will be there when you need it most.

1. Make sure your cover meets your needs

You've probably heard the stories about people who thought they were insured against certain events. But when a flood or bushfire destroyed their home, they found out that they weren't covered for those events. Make sure that your insurance will be there when you need it – including for accidental damage, storm, fire and flood.

2. Make sure you have enough to rebuild

When estimating the cost of rebuilding your home, for most of us this is a hard thing to do – and could see you being left short of what you really need. To help you estimate what you'll need to help rebuild or replace your home and contents, you can use the free online sum insured calculator from the Insurance Council of Australia. ANZ Home Insurance  also features a Safety Net as standard, meaning that if the cost of rebuilding or repairing your building exceeds the nominated sums insured, you will have cover for reasonable costs up to an extra 25% of the building sum insured to minimise any out of pocket expenses.^disclaimer

3. Understand when your policy won't pay out

All insurance policies have exclusions and limits as there are some things insurers do not cover. It's important to understand these exclusions and limits upfront, so you know what you're covered for. For ANZ Home Insurance, check the ANZ Home Insurance Product Disclosure Statement – issued by CGU Insurance.

4. Keep your policy details close to hand

Make sure that you keep your policy number on file in a place that's easy to find. If you ever need to make a claim, it helps speed things up when you have your policy number, so it's a great idea to have your cover details in reach when you need them most.