It seems strange in the light of the current economic climate that a large number of Britons may be spending money that they absolutely don’t have to. This is particularly strange when you consider that some of this number is almost certainly committing insurance fraud particularly designed to pay less than they have to for their insurance.

The ABI (Association of British Insurers) has recently revealed that Britons are under-insuring the value of their house by as much as £9,000. There have been many reason suggested for this but the primary one is that people have been misreporting the value of their possessions in order to reduce the costs of their insurance policy.

However, another report from a leading British insurer has suggested that many consumers are doubling up on the insurance that they do have. Many consumers, particularly around Christmas, purchase new and expensive items that come with their own insurance from the retailers. This seems sensible, particularly if the item is expensive, but there is no point spending extra money to insure an item that would already be included as part of your home insurance policy.

The research suggested that 23 percent of consumers buy additional cover when they buy new items. This cover is usually designed to protect against loss, theft, or damage and promises to provide a new item or comparable value should any of the above happen. Whilst this might seem like a good idea, if you are one of the 3.3 million homeowners who already have personal possessions cover as part of your home insurance you would be buying extra protection for absolutely no reason at all.

If you are going out and buying products in the January sales, or even received expensive new gifts for Christmas you should consult your insurance policy, or speak directly to your insurance company to make sure that you know exactly what your existing policy covers you for. You should not, however, simply assume that your insurance policy will cover you for everything, particularly if one of the new items is a particularly big or particularly expensive item that would usually be named individually on an insurance policy.

Home insurance is a vital commodity but it doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive product. You should make sure that you do not under-insure yourself either accidentally or on purpose, as ultimately this will only cost you more in the long run. Likewise you should not over-insure yourself, as this would just mean spending extra money for no reason. If you are looking at getting a new home insurance policy take a look at a company like Co-operative Insurance for good deals at the moment.