HOUSEHOLDS FORKING OUT NEARLY £4 BILLION TO FIX HOME EMERGENCY DAMAGE
After Christmas our hard-earned cash becomes more valuable than ever, it’s no surprise that 74% of us are concerned about home emergencies, particularly as over half of us (52%) have experienced one in the last two years. Our top concerns include heating breaking down (32%); failure of electricity or gas supply (27%) and blocked or broken plumbing systems (26%).
The research, commissioned by home insurer NFU Mutual, highlighted that to avoid costs some people would rather simply not fix the problem (16%) or ‘fix it themselves’, with people in Northern Ireland being the most likely to just leave the damage (25%), followed by those in the South East (23%) and then people across Scotland (22%).
When it comes to paying out for the damage caused by home emergencies, 45 - 54 year olds are most likely to pay to fix the damage from their own pockets (44%) whereas 16 - 24 year olds are most likely to get a credit card or loan (17%). This, coupled with the fact that two thirds (63%) of 16 - 24 have experienced a home emergency in the last two years, could suggest some costly outgoings and repayments for the youngest age group.
Ross Garner, home insurance specialist at NFU Mutual, said: “Whilst home insurance protects against disasters such as fire, flood and storm damage, the costs of everyday domestic breakdowns, such as broken boilers, can be expensive to fix. For this reason we have introduced our home emergency cover to help customers resolve common domestic faults quickly and avoid hefty repair bills.
“Although some people put money aside to cover unexpected costs, repairs can often cost more than anticipated and home emergencies can happen in quick succession. This leads to more than one in five people taking out cover following a bad experience.”
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