As we pack our homes with expensive gifts ready for the big day, is it time to check Santa’s list and see if our contents insurance is naughty or nice?

Statistics show that far too many of us are broken into around Christmas – a time when we travel to see relatives and friends and, of course, when there are rich pickings for burglars.

A good time then to make sure we have the right contents insurance – and it’s frightening to discover just how many of us don’t.

Before you set off to visit the mother-in-law just check exactly how much your contents insurance covers you for as being under-insured can have terrible consequences.

For instance, if your home contents insurance covers you for £10,000, and then you are burgled and find £20,000 worth of property was stolen, you were under-insured and it will hit you hard. Your insurance company will say you were only insured for 50% of your contents and will only pay 50% of your policy cover – £5,000!

The same applies if your building insurance covers you for £150,000 and the cost of rebuilding your home after a fire is £300,000, again the insurer will say you under-insured your property by 50% and will only pay you £75,000!

Sounds dreadful doesn’t it and yet it’s so easy to fall into the trap

You take out your insurance policy, pluck a figure from thin air and hope it covers enough. Then you forget about it and over the years buy flat-screen TVs, computers, iPads and so on. And then there’s the value of jewellery hidden in the drawer upstairs. Granny’s gold bracelet might be worth a lot more now than it was 50 years ago!

Some insurance companies do put minimum cover on policies, so you might automatically be covered for, say, £40,000 worth of contents and £500,000 on your building.

But a lot don’t and they will leave it up to you to put a figure on it, when it becomes tempting to under-insure, to keep your premium down. This is particularly true when taking out a policy online and through those comparison websites.

Your home insurance is one of those things you should check regularly – after all, it’s a one-year contract so why not check it every year? It’s also something that needs looking at very carefully to make sure it suits your needs

When I look at my clients’ insurance I look at all their needs and make sure to pick out the right policy for them from a wide range of insurance products on the market.

Give me a call and I’ll make sure there are no nasty insurance surprises waiting under the Christmas tree this year!