The digital age has possibly lead to a gap appearing in many home insurance polices. Whilst it is normal to provide accidental damage or loss to TV, videos, dvd’s, sound reproducing equipment and computers most home insurance companies, do not make any mention in their policy wording of insuring electronic downloads. Some companies even specify that, in the event of a loss they will not reinstate data to computers. A study by the consumer watchdog has found that a third of leading home insurers standard home insurance policies do not offer any form of protection, even though over 100m tracks are downloaded by Brits every year.
Some policy wordings are now beginning to be updated but a limit of £1000.00 a claim seems to be the norm. This seems adequate for most households but it is worth totting up how much you have spent to make sure. Also, it is just possible that in the event of a loss, an insurer may ask for some proof of purchase. Many companies, who sell digital music, are happy to allow the purchaser to download tracks again from a website if they are lost but some of the most popular ones do not. Anyone with a sizable digital music collection should check, their home insurance policy wording and also make sure that any portable devices are insured whilst out side of the home, as if a loss is going to occur, it tends to be away from the home when it does happen. iphones, ipods and nano’s are all popular and an average sized family can soon amass a sizeable and costly music collection.
Digital media is not just confined to music, many games and even computer software such as security programs can be downloaded from the internet, and in the event of the loss of the computer, then it is possible, that some programs will have to be purchased again as many come with a time expiry download link. With any form of digital media, it is a good idea, to keep a record of the cost and where the items were purchased from, also if the company will allow you to reinstall, if the items are lost. A definite, is to keep an offline record of any software unlock keys, these are often misplaced and replacement of items built up over a period of time can be costly.
