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CGF ARTICLES, OPINIONS & EDITORIALS

ARE YOU ADEQUATELY COVERED FOR FIRE DAMAGE? (2015-07-14)

Have you ever really thought about what would happen if you lost your home and all your possessions in a fire?  If you live in a fire prone area, you may have an inkling of the anxiety and strain of being ordered to evacuate your home, or watching helplessly as walls of flames engulf your neighbourhood, desperately hoping that it doesn’t reach your home.

Each year many families across the country -- but especially in Cape Town -- face the devastation of fire as emergency services struggle to contain a number of runaway fires on Cape Town’s South peninsula, fuelled by strong winds and high temperatures.

Many people believe that the threat of a catastrophic event such as a fire or flood is far-fetched, and as a result they neglect to properly ensure their property and possessions for worst case scenarios.  It’s evident in the fact that people rarely update their policies as they add new assets, or relook their property replacement values and sums insured over the years says Mandy Barrett of insurance brokerage and risk advisors, Aon South Africa.

“Consider these important questions - could you rebuild your home, or buy one of equal quality with your sums insured if you lost everything in a fire?  Are your home and contents insured for market value, or actual replacement value?  If it is insured for replacement value, does it have a built-in inflation or cost of living adjuster that is keeping pace with inflation?  Are you covered for the cost of demolition, site clearing and architect’s plans if your home was burnt to the ground?   Asking these questions makes most people uncomfortable as the reality is that most of us don’t actually know in any real detail what we are covered for.  You owe it to yourself and your family to know the answers to these questions,” says Mandy.

Ensuring that you have adequate insurance cover in the event of a worst case scenario is vitally important.  “Financial times are tough and many households have reduced their sums insured in a bid to try and cope with skyrocketing living costs.   What most people forget to factor into their decision is the fact that they will most likely have to replace all their household content and possibly even the entire structure of their home in the event of a catastrophic event, such as a fire,” warns Mandy.

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