Blanket Sum Insurance Policies Explained (2021)

Increasingly Park Home policies offer what the industry describes as blanket sums insured; what do they mean? 

Historically when insuring your home and contents, you were asked how much you wanted to insure them for, and the premium was calculated accordingly. This was fine if you knew how much it would cost to replace your home – like new – and how much it would cost to replace all of its contents – as new.

If you had a mortgage, your lender would usually advise you how much to insure the property for, but there were, and are, no shortcuts to calculating the value of your contents; it’s a room-by-room analysis! And remember, if your park home has to be replaced, it has to be purchased through the park owner and not directly from the manufacturer.

To overcome the problems of calculating how much to insure your park home and contents for, and importantly to address the serious worry of being underinsured, most, but not all, policies offer a ‘blanket’ sum insured. Your home and contents are automatically insured up to a set figure, a figure which, on the face of it, is likely to appear excessive but which is designed to give you the complete peace of mind of knowing that in the unlikely event of a total loss the policy will be able to replace your home and contents as new, to include site clearance, re-siting and delivery fees, the replacement of any outbuildings and any additions such as conservatories, porches, skirting and decking.

The ‘Select’ policy from Paul Baker Insurance Services insures the home for up to £600k and the contents for up to £65k; the ‘Economy’ policy sums insured are up to £300k and £40k, respectively.