With single item insurance, you can cover one or more individual items in your home. It's slightly different from traditional contents insurance because it lets you pick and choose specific items you want to protect, such as your phone, laptop and camera. It can cover you for events including fires, theft or accidental damage.
Single item insurance is a new type of insurance that covers individual items, such as your camera, laptop or phone, rather than whole categories, in the way that contents insurance does. You can insure more than one item and examples of what it can cover include:
Is there a difference between single item insurance and portable contents?
Yes. Here's what they both do:
Single item insurance. This functions like contents insurance, except it only covers individual items inside your home, as opposed to everything in your home.
Portable contents insurance. This protects your items when you take them away from your home. It's usually only available as an add-on with single item and home insurance policies, which means you'll need to pay extra to get it included.
Should I get single item insurance or contents insurance?
Here's the pros and cons of a single item insurance policy.
Pros
It's usually cheaper than contents insurance.
It's good if you just want to protect a couple of expensive items in your home.
Cons
A contents insurance policy can offer much better value for money.
A contents insurance policy can cover those items and a lot more (from carpets and curtains to furniture and white-goods).
You'll usually still have to pay an excess when you make a single item insurance claim.
What's covered by single item insurance?
Single item insurance generally lets you insure the same items that would ordinarily be covered in a contents insurance policy. These items include:
There are some items that single item insurance ordinarily won't cover. These include:
Motorcycles, vehicles, caravans and trailers
Motorised golf buggies or carts
Ride-on lawnmowers
Mobility scooters
Tools, e.g. work equipment such as drills and saws
Any items and stock used for your business or profession
Gemstones
Single item insurance can be a convenient way to protect specific valuables you own but it's not always the most cost effective option compared to contents insurance – which protects all, not just some, of the items in your home.
You pay the same as buying directly from the home insurer. Better still, we regularly run exclusive deals that you won't find on any other site – plus, our tables make it easy to compare policies.
Unlike other comparison sites, we're not owned by an insurer. That means our opinions are our own and we work with lots of home insurance brands, making it easier for you to find a good deal.
We're here to help
Since 2014, we've helped 150,000+ people find home insurance by explaining your cover options simply and clearly. We'll never ask for your number or email. We're here to help you make a decision.
Gary Ross Hunter is an editor at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, travel, home, car, pet and health insurance for over 6 years and regularly appears as an insurance expert in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and news.com.au. Gary holds a Kaplan Tier 2 General Advice General Insurance certification which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146).
Camera insurance is a must-have if you carry a lot of expensive gear. Find out how to get cover through either contents insurance or speciality camera insurance.
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