Garage insurance

[rcx132]

Hey everyone, I've moved into my newly built, almost finished workshop. It's a blockwork garage at the end of my garden.

My insurance company, Barclays, have said that the contents of my garage are covered to a maximum of £3000, which is a limitation they place on contents in "out buildings". I think this is better than some other insurance companies, my sister in law's garage was broken into and her insurance company turned out to have a £500 limit.

I've probably got £10'000 worth of gear in my garage, it's all for hobby use, I've got decent security, but insurance would still be good.

So what are my options? To look for a new insurance company with a higher limit, or maybe get dedicated insurance, which would probably be expensive.

 

[rtbcomp]

If you got dedicated insurance on the garage you may be able to get a reduction in the house insurance if it no longer covers outbuildings contents. If these policies have a no-claims discount a theft from the garage would lose you the NCD on the house if you have a single policy.

Have you considered self-insuring the £7000 above the £3000 limit? Find out how much extra it would cost to insure the garage contents and put that in a deposit account, and hope your security is good enough to prevent a theft until you've saved enough to replace what might get stolen. When the deposit account balance equals the value of the contents you can stop paying in, except a for small sum to cover inflation.

That said, do you want the garage insurance to cover third party risks? In which case self-insuring won't be viable.

 

[RonA]

Hey everyone, I've moved into my newly built, almost finished workshop. It's a blockwork garage at the end of my garden.

My insurance company, Barclays, have said that the contents of my garage are covered to a maximum of £3000, which is a limitation they place on contents in "out buildings". I think this is better than some other insurance companies, my sister in law's garage was broken into and her insurance company turned out to have a £500 limit.

I've probably got £10'000 worth of gear in my garage, it's all for hobby use, I've got decent security, but insurance would still be good.

So what are my options? To look for a new insurance company with a higher limit, or maybe get dedicated insurance, which would probably be expensive.

Hi,
I had exactly the same ratch with my previous company. Max cover £3000 & like you I have a lot of gear. In the end I insured my contents with Hancock Insurance & asked for £10000 cover on the garage. It's costing me approx £350 per year (but also includes cover for my expensive camera) but money well spent in my mind. I did get a 5% discount because my garage is integral with the house.
RonA

 

[wristpin]

If insuring the garage separately try the NFU

 

[Kent]

Nfu will likely Taylor make you a policy. We have a home insurance, work shop insurance, and company insurance all separated into three different named policies.

 

[Mr Fro]

I've got 10k on mine with my house insurance - Direct Line ~ £300.

 

[addjunkie]

I had this issue at my last house. My sister who is an insurance broker, arranged me a speacilist policy. Then the folloing year a different policy as the garage was attached to the house it could all be included as contents. Now were in the sticks, were with the NFU. Cheaper for bettter cover. Obviously my welders, lathe mill etc are all the normal tools of a small holder. All I had to do was list anything over 1000.

 

[seriesonewelder]

Our house is insured with the NFU, the standard garage cover was for £5000 which I doubled, they didn't ask for any extra premium.

 

[indy4x]

My house insurance is direct with the Prudential and there is no limit on the garage contents. It was one of the things I checked when taking out the policy as other providers had a limit of £2k on outbuildings.

 

[dobbslc]

I recently made my wife check the insurance and found it only covered about £1000 so she asked and they got me cover for I think up to £10000.
It's for a detached garage at the bottom of the garden. I think I was an extra £100 odd quid.
Well worth it in my (paranoid) mind.

 

[optima21]

I recently has this issue, so insurance broker changed my policy to one with AXA who don't have a separate limit on outbuilding and garages, and I havn't had to list anything in my garage or outbuildings either.

this was £40 more (for the same total cover) than with the previous insurance company.