In your home
If you're settled in your home, you might be thinking about making it your own or finding ways to add value to it. Whether it's your home for now or forever, here are a few things to consider.
Maintaining your home
Maintaining your home in good repair is often a condition of your insurance policy and can help prevent unwanted and potentially expensive surprises in the future. Gradual damage is usually deterioration that has occurred over time and as the damage isn’t sudden it’s generally not covered under insurance, so it’s important to consider maintaining your home and getting any issues sorted before they cause further damage.
Maintenance checklist: Inside the home
Windows and doors: attend to anything that is loose or rattling, such as windows and door frames, as soon as you become aware of them.
Water damage: investigate any unexplained pool of water or damp spots, as these could point to a leak or plumbing issue.
Maintenance checklist: Outside the home
Gutters and drains: check them regularly to make sure there are no blockages
Hedges: trim any that are close to external walls
Roof tiles: check for loose or misplaced roof tiles
Fences: verify that they are structurally secure
Trees: keep an eye on the health of mature trees growing near your roof or nearby fences, foundations or power lines.
There may be some work you would rather leave to a professional. For minor maintenance, plumbing or repair jobs, AA Home’s Book a Job service makes it easy to book reliable, qualified tradespeople and service providers at a time that suits you. Plus, AA Insurance customers can get up to 10% off services. Find out more on AA Home Book a Job.
Upgrading your home
Renovation projects
If you’re thinking about renovating, consider having insurance to cover your home and its contents before you start the project. Insurance can help protect your property from accidental damage, theft and weather events, and most home insurance providers will cover you for minor building work such as fixtures and fitting or decks. If you are planning a major renovation work, like building an extension or knocking down a wall which touches anything structurally, additional cover would be required.
Climate resilience
If you’re looking to make enhancements to your home over time, you might want to think about how you can make your home more sustainable and resilient to climate change. You could consider installing solar panels and speaking to a builder about improving your home’s resilience to natural hazards and weather. A LIM report can help you identify if the land is prone to risks such as flooding, allowing you to plan effective resilience upgrades to your property.
Enhanced security
You may also want to review the security of your property. You could look to strengthen it by adding a deadbolt to your front door, installing cameras, sensors and security alarms. Taking preventative measures can help keep your home and contents safe.
Upgrading your contents
Making the house a home
It’s common to invest in new appliances and furniture over time, increasing the overall value of your contents. Your contents sum insured is the total dollar amount your contents are covered for. It should be enough to replace all of your contents in the unlikely event of a total loss and is the maximum amount that can be paid to you if you need to replace your contents. This handy contents calculator can help you calculate the value of your contents.
Keeping your receipts
Having proof of ownership can make the process easier and faster if you need to make a claim. Proof of ownership refers to documentation that proves you have owned the item(s) you’re claiming for and can provide specific details about your lost or damaged item so we can properly compensate you for the loss. Proof of ownership may include valuations, receipts or financial statements.
Reviewing your home sum insured
Generally, your sum insured is the maximum amount your insurer will pay to rebuild your home, including demolition. At AA Insurance, the sum insured is the maximum we will pay to rebuild your home if it’s damaged as a result of a natural hazard. Your sum insured is different to the purchase price, appraisal value or rateable value figure of a home.
The cost to rebuild your home can change over time, especially with rising building costs or after renovation projects. Regularly reviewing your home’s rebuild cost helps ensure your sum insured is up to date.
Estimate rebuild costs using the Cordell Sum Sure Calculator.
Running a business at home
Planning to use your home as a base for your business or for storing business equipment? You may need separate business insurance on top of home and contents. Every situation is different, so get in touch with your insurer to talk through your needs and find out whether additional cover is required.
Helpful tools for home buyers and owners
Home Buyer's Guide
Things to consider from an insurance perspective. Our comprehensive guide provides things to consider at each stage of your home buying journey.
Insurance calculators
It can be hard to work out how much your home and contents are worth. By setting an accurate sum insured, this can help make sure you have enough cover at claim time. Our handy insurance calculators can help.
We're here for you
At AA Insurance, we put our customers’ needs first and pride ourselves on being there to protect what matters most to you, so you can rest easy knowing that we’ve got you covered.
One event, one excess - If you ever have to claim on more than one AA Insurance policy for the same event, you only have to pay one excess - the highest applicable one.
Replacement cover so in any event other than a natural hazard, we'll fully repair or rebuild your home even if it costs more than you insured it for.
New for old replacement for most of your items that are stolen or damaged beyond repair. So if someone did take off with your definitely-seen-better-days-couch, we'd replace it with a new one.