home insurance company

[Lizzie@HK]

Hi all!

I'm looking for an insurance company for my flat (I'm tenant). Can anybody give me some name?

thanks all.

[PhilE]

Lizzie, we went with Axa - was cheaper than our bank (HSBC):

http://www.axa.com.hk/axacr/axacr.ns...tentsInsurance

To give an idea, our policy covers flats of size 1500-2000 sqft and upto 1.25M HKD contents. Annual premium was 2100 HKD.

[PDLM]

Is there really any significant risk of burglary or loss to fire in an apartment in Hong Kong? I don't get that impression (and nor do the insurance companies since they can offer you odds of 600-1 per year and make a profit).

[PhilE]

Probably not PDLM, but that's insurance for you. We wouldn't gamble the loss of all our posessions over saving 150 quid a year. And it gives accidental damage and public liability cover too. Certainly not a bargain, but a necessary evil in our eyes...

[Lizzie@HK]

I was thinking the same thing, PDLM. But isn't it compulsory to have a home insurance? What happens if you have water damage for instance?

Thank you PhilE, you answers to all my questions.

[PhilE]

Sorry Lizzie can't help on that one - we're renting unfurnished with lots of our stuff from the UK so took out the insurance as a matter of course.

[Lizzie@HK]

thanks PhilE. Anyway, I think it's better to have one. Just in case!

[PDLM]

You need to read the smallprint of your contract, but the Landlord is normally responsible for fixtures and insurance for the property itself and damage to it from fire or water or other causes not direct due to the tenant or their actions.

So you're not responsible for insuring the property against anything - just your contents against things other than fire or damage due to the failure of the things which are the landlord's responsibility.

So the only water damage that you would be responsible for would be if, for example, you left a bath running and it overflowed and flooded the apartment. If a fixture fails in normal use then that is the landlord's responsibility.

So all you are really insuring is your possessions against burglary. And in high rise apartments in HK the risk of that is tiny, and in any case, in the worst case I could just about afford to replace all my burglable possessions.

Remember that insurance companies only exist because on average you pay in more than you take out, so it only makes sense to take out insurance if you have good reason to believe that you are much more likely than average to get burgled (and yet don't have to pay an increased premium) or if the cost of something that could happen (however remote the possibility) would be such that you simply could not afford to pay it yourself.

For possessions insurance I simply can't see the case for it in Hong Kong. And for medical insurance it only seems to make sense to cover the big-ticket stuff (chronic/acute/major surgery etc.) and deal with any smal scale stuff just by paying the bills directly.

Again, the key point with insurance: you will, on average, over your lifetime pay more in insurance premiums than you will get back in claims. This must be true for insurance companies to survive.

[PhilE]

I agree with most of what PDLM wrote, except for the last bit: "you will, on average, over your lifetime pay more in insurance premiums than you will get back in claims. This must be true for insurance companies to survive."

I know I'm being pedantic (but I believe PDLM likes that ) - it should read:

"Mr Average will, over his lifetime, pay more in insurance premiums than he will get back in claims. This must be true for insurance companies to survive"

However, if you are unlucky enough to stop being Mr or Ms Average - e.g. having a fire start in your flat that destroyed your furniture and clothes - it may cost you a lot more to replace than a lifetime's worth of insurance premiums. It would for us (it was scary when we did our inventory of replacement costs of the stuff we moved here) - hence why we are willing to pay to cover that (very smal) risk.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an insurance junkie - when I bought a plasma tv back when they were silly prices, people were arguing on forums that you should spend 10-15% of the purchase price on an extended warranty. I never buy cover for electrical items as I've never had one go wrong in the first few years and I could always afford to replace it if it did.

[Sleuth]

PhilE,
Does your insurance also cover things like jewelry? Here in the US you have one policy that covers normal personal property but need another policy to cover expensive items like jewelry, silver, etc....