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Make sense of your policies. No jargon.
Insurance only matters on the worst day of your year. These guides explain what your policies typically cover, what they quietly exclude, and which one to claim on first.
Home
What does home insurance actually cover?
Home insurance is really two products. Buildings covers the structure — walls, roof, floors, fitted kitchens and bathrooms. Contents covers the things you'd take with you if you moved. Sudden, unexpected damage is covered; wear, tear and gradual problems almost never are.
Read the answerDoes home insurance cover boiler repairs?
Usually not. A boiler that stops working from age or a mechanical fault is a maintenance cost, not an insured event. Home insurance does pay for the damage a leaking boiler causes, and boiler or home emergency cover pays for the repair itself.
Read the answerDoes home insurance cover a roof leak?
A leak caused by a sudden event — storm, falling branch, impact — is normally covered. A leak from tiles that have worn, flashing that has perished or a flat roof past its life is treated as maintenance and declined.
Read the answerDoes home insurance cover subsidence?
Yes, buildings insurance normally covers subsidence, heave and landslip — but with a separate excess that's often £1,000. Damage to drives, paths, patios and boundary walls is usually only covered if the house itself is damaged at the same time.
Read the answerDoes home insurance cover storm damage?
Yes for sudden storm damage to the structure and, with contents cover, to your belongings inside. Fences, gates and hedges are excluded from storm damage on most policies, and property already in poor repair won't be paid for.
Read the answerDoes home insurance cover a leaking pipe?
Yes — sudden escape of water from pipes, tanks or appliances is a standard insured event, and most policies also pay to find the leak (trace and access). The plumbing repair itself, and slow long-term seepage, are usually your cost.
Read the answerDoes home insurance cover blocked drains?
Standard home insurance rarely pays to clear a blockage. Home emergency cover does, and your water company is responsible for shared and public sewers — which means many blockages cost you nothing at all.
Read the answerGadgets
Does home insurance cover a mobile phone?
Inside your home, contents insurance usually covers a phone stolen in a break-in, and cracked screens only if you have accidental damage. Outside the home you need personal possessions cover — and many policies specifically exclude mobile phones from it.
Read the answerTravel
I broke my phone on holiday — am I covered?
Probably, by one of several policies: gadget cover, travel insurance, your bank's packaged benefits, or contents personal possessions. Gadget cover usually pays out fastest with the lowest excess, so start there.
Read the answerDoes travel insurance cover cancellation?
Yes, for specific listed reasons — illness, injury, bereavement, jury service, redundancy and some other events. Changing your mind, or a reason you already knew about when you bought the policy, is never covered.
Read the answerDoes travel insurance cover lost luggage?
Yes, but the airline is liable first for bags it loses. Travel insurance covers what the airline won't, plus theft and damage elsewhere — limited by a single-item cap, a total baggage limit and your excess.
Read the answerVehicles
Am I covered if I have a bicycle accident?
Theft of the bike may be covered by contents insurance — but often only at home, with a low single-item limit. Injury to you and damage you cause to others needs specialist cycle cover, a cycling body membership, or personal accident cover.
Read the answerDoes car insurance cover someone else driving my car?
Only if they're a named driver on your policy, or their own policy includes driving other cars with the owner's permission — which is usually third-party only, and increasingly not included at all.
Read the answerDoes car insurance cover pothole damage?
Comprehensive policies normally treat pothole damage as accidental damage, so it is covered — but with your excess and a possible loss of no-claims discount. For a buckled wheel or split tyre, a claim against the highway authority is often the better route.
Read the answerAm I covered if my car is stolen?
Yes, if you hold comprehensive or third-party fire and theft cover. The insurer pays the market value at the time of theft, not what you paid — and leaving keys in or on the car, or the car unlocked, will normally void the claim.
Read the answerPets
Does pet insurance cover pre-existing conditions?
No. Any condition your pet showed signs of before the policy started, or during the initial waiting period, is excluded. This is also why switching insurer mid-treatment usually means the new insurer won't cover that condition.
Read the answerLandlord
Does landlord insurance cover tenant damage?
Malicious damage by tenants is often an optional extra rather than standard, and accidental or careless damage is usually excluded — that's what the deposit is for. Wear and tear is never covered.
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