Your home may have become the new playground during the summer holidays, causing damage and breakage to furniture or the garden. Parents are being prompted to check their home insurance, as research from the insurers shows accidental damage claims peak during school holidays.
Parenting on Female First
According to new research, kids cause an average of £3,150 worth of damage in the home and worryingly one in five parents don’t have or don’t know if they have accidental damage cover included in their home insurance.
Policy Expert carried out the research and found that a further one in seven children have caused more than £500 worth of household damage in the last year alone.
The household items that are damaged during the summer holidays are carpets, upholstery and furniture with parents revealing that interior paintwork and décor have been ruined by mischievous children.
Children are quick to make the excuses, however, with ‘it wasn’t me’ being the most popular.
More inventive excuses included blaming ‘a swarm of bees’, suggesting that ‘Peppa Pig and all of her friends started jumping on the sofa’ and that ‘the fairies told me to’.
Top 8 items children cause damage to:
- Paintwork / interior décor
- Carpets / upholstery
- Furniture
- Gadgets
- Glass / mirrors
- Plumbing / electrics
- Crockery
- Garden
Top kids’ excuses:
- It wasn’t me
- Blame mum / dad / teacher
- Blame a sibling
- Say it was an accident / I didn’t mean to
- Fairies told me to / did it
- I was playing
- It was the dog / cat
- Peppa Pig and all of her friends came in
- A ghost opened the door and it got in my way
- A swarm of bees
- Blamed ‘Mr Pumpkinhead’
Adam Powell, Head of Operations at Policy Expert said: “Kids are great at testing their parents’ patience, as well as the durability of their home, whether it’s decorating the walls with crayons or using the sofa as a bouncy castle. That’s why it makes sense to ensure your insurance policy covers you for any mischievous mishaps, especially when the kids are at home during the school holidays. Accidental damage is a very straightforward thing to add to your policy but gives you peace of mind, even if that’s the only peace you get this summer.”
For further information visit: http://www.policyexpert.co.uk