School holidays are a popular time for break-ins, so secure your home
School holidays are here, which means it’s a good time to remind everyone that this is generally the best time for opportunistic thieves. A lot of South Africans escape normal life and head for the hills, the beach, the bush, or wherever they go for some good ol’ family bonding. This means that, for a few consecutive days, their homes are unoccupied.
Once potential thieves become aware of your absence, it’s almost as though you’ve sent out a personal invitation, asking them to come in and nick your stuff.
Easy steps to protect your home from a break-in
First things first. You need to assess your home’s vulnerability. If you already have a house alarm installed, call your security company and request a site visit so they can do a walk-through and highlight locks that need to be replaced, windows that need repairs, gaps in your boundary walls, and other weak points. Ask them to test the alarm while they’re there.
It’s good to know if there’s anything more you can do to up your property’s security. And, if you don’t have a house alarm, then this is a good opportunity to get in touch with a company to get their advice and a quote for a home security system.
3 steps you can take to secure your home while you’re away:
- Don’t give away your holiday dates on social media and alert the public to your ‘away’ dates.
- Ask a friend or family member who you trust to housesit for you so that they can water your plants, take in your mail, and generally be a presence in your home.
- Make sure that your bigger valuables are locked away and out of sight so that, if there is a break-in, the thieves won’t easily make off with your computers, expensive jewellery and sound system.
Don’t forget about home contents insurance
The cost of fixing and replacing things after a break-in can often be higher than what the average homeowner can afford. This is what home contents insurance is for. Having this policy means that you can claim for items that are stolen from, or damaged at your home.
What you need to know about getting home contents insurance
Getting home contents insurance is a pretty simple process, especially if you go through 1 of the established, top insurers in South Africa. King Price, for instance, will help you get a policy in a handful of minutes. They’ll even make doubly sure that you don’t make the mistake of under-insuring your home, which is when you insure your contents for less than their value.
In this case, if you’re under-insured and your TV that’s worth R6,000 is stolen, then you won’t be paid out the same value. You’ll get something back that’s worth a lot less and probably not as nice.
So, what do you do? The first step is to compare comprehensive home contents insurance options. Once you’ve found the cover that you prefer, check the policy docs so that you know exactly what you’re covered for. For instance, most insurers will require you to specify any jewellery and watches worth over R35,000 individually if you want to be covered for those items.
Curious about what you could pay for a royal home contents insurance policy? Take the first step and get an affordable quote online or call King Price’s expert sales team on 0860 50 50 50.
