With Christmas fast approaching, the value of contents in the majority of homes is most likely to go up over the next two months as we cram our houses full of presents and other festive goods.

Games consoles, blu rays, mp3 players and other such goodies make great presents but this unfortunately means that they are also very appealing to thieves.

It is therefore important to consider whether or not your current home insurance policy will provide you with sufficient cover for your Christmas purchases before you go out and buy them.

For some, this will be easy enough because the majority of home insurance providers offer increased cover, as standard, for a period of time before and after Christmas. This is usually a set amount of around £5,000 or 10% of your overall contents cover.

However, even if you do have this extra cover it may not be enough, especially if you haven’t reviewed the value of your house contents recently.

When you originally took out your home insurance policy, the contents cover you bought should have been adequate to replace all of your belongings in the event that they are lost in a fire or theft. If you have since purchased anything of great value, you may currently be underinsured and so the 10% extra Christmas cover will simply bring your standard contents cover to the correct amount for your needs. This will leave any additional contents you bring into your home, including your Christmas purchases, uninsured.

If you don’t have this cover as standard on your policy or you do but you think you will still be underinsured, contact your home insurance provider to arrange more cover. When you come to renewing your policy it is then worth comparing home insurance to see if you can get this Christmas cover as standard within a policy that costs a similar amount to your current premium.