Home insurance ’second most important insurance you can buy’

Homeowners are being urged to take out insurance for their homes if they have not already, as it is the “second most important insurance you can buy”, one expert claims.

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) said only car insurance, which is a legal requirement, is more important than home insurance.

According to the organisation, insurance premiums for buildings and contents insurance are still low as they have “hardly changed” in the past ten years.

Graeme Trudgill, technical and corporate affairs executive of BIBA, said: “Look at the flooding that we have had – 75 per cent of people have contents insurance which means 25 per cent don’t.”

“This means that if something happens, they have lost everything,” he added.

According to BIBA, a mortgage holder could also be breaking part of a contract between themselves and a mortgage lender if home insurance is not in place.

Meanwhile, figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) have shown that the UK insurance industry paid out £9.0 million to householders in 2006 for property damage or the loss of possessions.

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Number of uninsured drivers on the roads gone down

The number of uninsured drivers on the road has gone down over the past two years, claim industry experts.

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) said that “things have changed a lot” with rates going down in excess of ten per cent.

Graeme Trudgill, technical and corporate affairs executive for BIBA, said: “In 2007, approximately 150,000 were seized by the police and in 2006 this number was 78,000.

“So it’s practically doubled in the last year and we’re expecting it to be much higher again this year,” he continued.

The police have now got access to the motor insurance database and the power to seize uninsured vehicles as well as “automatic number plate reading cameras” which are helping catch uninsured drivers.

According to the Motor Insurer Bureau, uninsured driving cost law-abiding motorists in excess of £500 million each year or around £30 on their insurance premium.

The body also said that up to 160 deaths on the roads each year in the UK are caused by uninsured drivers.

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