Insured

An “insured” is how the person (aka policyholder) being covered is referred to on a contents insurance policy.

What does insured mean?

When you’re reading an insurance policy, you’re bound to come across the word ‘insured’ more than once and it’s important to know what it means – (because it’s you!)

‘Insured’ is used to describe the person who is covered under an insurance policy.

Let’s say you live in a studio apartment, and you just got contents insurance. You’re reading through your policy, and it says, ‘We cover personal property owned or used by an ‘insured’ while it is anywhere in the world,’ the ‘insured,’ is you.

Who’s an “insured” and who’s not

Your contents insurance policy covers everyone living at your place who’s related to you by marriage, blood, or adoption. That means your children, husband, wife, partner, parents, etc. … you get it.

A few notes here: If you aren’t legally married to your significant other, or in a legally-recognised union, you’ll have to add them as an ‘additional insured.’ And if you live with anyone outside of your immediate family too, you’ll need to get cover for “additional insured” to make sure you’re all protected.

What about housemates, do they count as an “insured”?

Yep! You can choose to insure up to 3 housemates (4 including yourself). Just remember your housemates collectively will have a lot more personal property than you alone so pick a contents coverage amount that reflects that. BTW if your housemates have a couple of high-value items above £2,000, it might make more sense for them to purchase their own policies.

Named insured vs. additional insured

Named insured

The “named insured” is the person, or people, who are actually listed on your insurance policy (like family members or sig others that may be living with you) and automatically covered by your insurance company.

You can usually find their names on your policy.

Additional insured

On the other hand, “additional insured” are other people you may add to the policy. In most cases they are added on for liability reasons; if a claim is brought against them because of damage caused by the insured or named insured.

So who would you add on as an “additional insured,” you ask?

Well, it really depends on your situation, but if, for example, you’re living with your significant other, who you aren’t legally married to, and you’d like to get cover for them, you’d want to add them as an additional insured.

Just make sure to get enough contents cover, to cover both your and their stuff (your clothes and their clothes alone might be worth more than what you currently have covered).

An alternative to adding them as an “additional insured” would be suggesting that they get their own policy 🙂

Want to learn more about who your contents insurance policy covers?