Wardrobe cover - insuring your clothes

Do I need clothing insurance?

It’s easy to overlook the cost of our clothes when we’re working out the value of what we need to insure in our homes.

But imagine if you found yourself having to replace everything you wear, from top to toe, if your home suffered a major event like a fire or flood.

The costs could run into thousands but having insurance in place can help you pay for replacements.

Is clothing already covered by home insurance?

This will depend on your policy. Not all contents insurance policies will cover your clothes, or they may have a limit on how much you can claim for, so you’ll need to see what’s included.

If you find that clothes are covered on your policy, check what the total amount you can claim for is and whether there’s a single item-limit.

To make sure you’ve got the right amount of cover, work how much it would cost to buy all your clothes now. If you’d like your cover to be increased to match this, contact your insurer.

What does clothing insurance usually cover?

As part of your home contents insurance, it will cover your clothes from damage or loss because of unexpected events like fire, flood, and theft.

However, if you want your clothes to be covered for accidental damage you might have to pay extra. The same will usually apply if you want your clothes to be insured when you take them out of your home.

And be aware that most policies will usually have an excess. This is a fixed amount you’d have to pay if you make a claim. Make sure that you’d be able to afford this comfortably.

Does home insurance cover personal belongings?

For insurance purposes, personal possessions refer to items that you can take out and about with you.

This includes things like:

• Phones, tablets, and laptops
• Watches
• Jewellery
• Purses, wallets, and handbags
• Clothing
• Cameras

Home insurance policies will often cover these items for loss, damage, and theft when they’re inside your home, but not always when you take them outside your home.

If you find your policy doesn’t include this cover, you can normally buy it as an add-on so that your belongings will be protected when you leave the house - with some policies this includes taking them abroad.

What does new for old mean?

There are two main types of contents insurance policy: new for old and indemnity (also known as ‘wear and tear’). These work differently when it comes to making a claim.

New for old means that when you make a successful claim, you’ll receive a payout from your insurer to replace your missing or damaged item with a similar new one, no matter what condition it was in before.

With indemnity home insurance your premiums are likely to be cheaper, but the payout amount will reflect the item’s age and current second-hand value. This means you’ll receive less when you claim with this type of insurance.

Most standard contents insurance policies are indemnity policies. This means that when you’re claiming for clothing, insurers will consider its age and likely wear and tear.

What about high-value clothes, like designer items?

Home insurance policies will typically have a single-item limit, this is the maximum amount you can claim for individual items and is often between £500 and £1,500.

If you own expensive items like designer clothes, shoes, and bags, their individual value may be much more than this. Altogether they may add up to an eye-watering amount if you had to replace them all.

Home insurance policies will also have a maximum sum insured, the total value of the contents you can insure, which is typically between £50,000 and £100,000.

So, for any high-value clothes you want to be protected, you have the option of either listing them separately on your policy and paying slightly more to have them covered, or looking into a high net worth policy if you need a much higher sum insured.

Does the value of my wardrobe affect my home insurance premiums?

Whether your wardrobe’s full of designer pieces or high street fashion, you should always factor in the cost of your clothes when choosing home contents insurance.

You’ll need to calculate how much it would cost to replace all your clothes and include this in the value of your contents - known as the sum insured.

Insurers will use this to help calculate your premiums, so the higher your sum insured, the more your premiums are likely to be.

And if you’ve got any particularly expensive items in your wardrobe, you may need to list these separately and pay a bit extra to make sure they’re adequately covered.

How to calculate the value of my wardrobe?

The best way to work out how much your wardrobe is worth is to write a list and separate out the different types of clothing.

For example, look at how many suits you have - if you can’t remember how much you paid or don’t have the receipts, take an estimate at an average cost, taking into account any tailored suits which usually come with a much higher price tag.

Repeat this process for other types of clothes and accessories like dresses, shoes, bags, belts and so on. And if you’ve got vintage items look at how much they’re fetching online to get an idea of their current value.

Try to keep this list safe and update it regularly. You’ll find that even if you don’t have any designer items, your wardrobe will probably be worth far more than you thought.

How do you claim on your insurance for clothes?

It’s a good idea to be prepared by keeping receipts of any expensive clothing you buy and taking photographs. Store these online if you can, to avoid them getting lost or damaged.

If you need to make a claim, gather up any proof of owning the clothing before you contact your insurer and don’t throw away any damaged items as they may want to see these.

If you made a list of your clothes when you were calculating the value of contents for your policy, it’ll be useful to have this to hand when you contact your insurers.