Around 80-90% of clients that we see are incorrectly insured, and most of these people are underinsured. Now that could be because someone is using a historic valuation. For example, if someone had a furniture valuation in the early 2000s and has continued to use that figure, they will now be overinsured because the furniture market has gone down. However, the vast majority of people are underinsured. This is for a number of reasons; one of the main ones is that the world of art and antiques fluctuates, trends and tastes change which causes the value of things to go up and down.
"More importantly, when people guess the value of things in their own homes, they often forget about some of the more straightforward things they own. They think about their art and antiques, but it’s hard to get a grasp of everything in their homes; curtains and carpets and their kitchen equipment, for example. Whether because of upsizing or downsizing, the kids leaving home or inheriting things from family, it’s easy to lose track of what you’ve got. That's the importance of having a valuation.