Military Kit and Home Insurance Buyer's Guide
In this guide we’ll take you through the key points of our military cover, explain them in straightforward terms and give you some insight into our policies. Read on to find out more.
What's in this guide?
What is military insurance?
Military insurance is designed to cover a range of possessions owned or rented by military personnel, including uniforms and kit issued to them, personal possessions, home contents, buildings insurance for homeowners and damage to service accommodations. This means that regardless of whether you are in single serving accommodations, married quarters, privately renting or even if you’re a home owner, we’re confident we have a policy for you.
What is particularly important about our policies is that we offer to cover your possessions anywhere in the world whilst on MOD posting.
Do I need military insurance?
Military life can be stressful at the best of times. You don’t want to be worrying about losing an important part of your issued kit or misplacing or breaking your phone whilst on deployment and having no means to contact home. We want to help combat the stress of having your contents damaged or stolen whilst on posting by offering different levels of cover.
Our military insurance is designed to take some of these worries away and allow you to focus on your important line of work. Our policies are constructed specifically for military personnel with your job roles and situations in mind. We offer military personnel the comfort of knowing that they will have the support of a knowledgeable adviser if something goes wrong with their contents, personal possessions or uniform and kit.
Features of our military insurance include:
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Worldwide cover - Our policies cover your personal possessions and contents worldwide even whilst on deployment, as long as this is specified on the policy.
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Damage to service accommodation - Also referred to as ‘license to occupy’, covers you for any damage caused whilst living in any MOD based accommodation up to the value of £20,000.
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New for old cover - On everything except civilian clothing and bed linen where a deduction for wear and tear will be made. We will always try to replace your goods with the same item or the closest equivalent model.
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Flexible claims process - We accept as part of your job role it’s not always possible to report incidents of loss straight away whilst on deployment. As such we are more flexible with our claims process and ask that you report your losses no later than 180 days after becoming aware of the loss. Please try and report to us as soon as you can though - the quicker we know, the quicker we can resolve the claim for you.
Frequently asked questions
Are my goods covered in transit?
We understand as part of military life you’re often on the move which can mean experiencing loss or damage of goods whilst travelling from one place to the next. As such, all of our policies provide cover for your goods to the value of the contents sums insured whilst they are in transit as long as it is a result of any MOD posting.
I’m moving abroad as part of an MOD posting and need to place goods in storage, will these be covered?
We can offer additional levels of cover for your goods that are placed in storage provided that you update us with the address of the storage unit you use and the total cost of the contents you wish to store. This can be added on as an extra on your main policy. Exclusions to cover include articles of gold or silver or other precious metal jewellery or fur must be contained in a locked safe inside a strong room. (Only available on Right Dress kit and Home policies.)
Are my family's belongings also covered?
Our policies can cover your ‘family unit’, meaning contents within the home are covered. Your personal effects cover can extend to your partner and children and also protects their personal possessions whilst away from the home. You can also add cover for your children whilst away at school or university as long as the address details are specified. (Right Dress Kit and Home and Right Dress Advantage policies only.)
Insurance jargon buster
Unoccupied - is when the home has not been lived in for than 30 consecutive days or is insufficiently furnished for normal occupation.
Excess - is the payment you make towards a claim on your policy.
Public liability - is your liability to other members of the public. We cover legal costs and compensation payments resulting from injuries or property damage to others, which are caused by you, up to the value of £2,000,000 with exclusions.
Military insurance policy exclusions explained
As with all policies, certain conditions apply. A full list of exclusions are detailed in the policy documents. Here are a few common exclusions you should be aware of:
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Mechanical or electrical breakdown for mobiles, laptops, tablet computers and pedal cycles is not covered on the policy however these items are covered for theft and accidental damage.
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Service firearms and ancillaries are not something we can provide cover for.
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Unoccupied homes are not covered for loss or damage caused by theft or attempted theft. (See unoccupancy clause for full description in the insurance jargon buster section.) If your home will be unoccupied it is best to discuss with us so give the team a call.
Optional military insurance features
Below are several optional extras that we can add to the policies that we offer.
Personal Accident - covers you and/or your family in the event of suffering an accident whilst on deployment or in everyday life. There is also an addition to the personal accident cover known as Term Life which covers you for death by natural causes with exclusions applying to both. This optional product is currently unavailable on Right Dress Advantage policies but can be offered as a standalone policy.
Legal Expenses - will insure the legal costs to pursue a third party for up to the value of £50,000 per claim. Some of a few examples of this use can be for property damage, personal injury, employment disputes and legal defence. Cover will not be provided for costs incurred without our prior consent and subject to exclusions. This is not currently available on Right Dress Advantage policies.
Insurance 4 Excess - allows you to claim back up to the value of £250 a year back in excess fees where you are the named policy holder. Our policies have a standard excess of £50 for claims and £125 for claims for laptops or tablets.
Covering your military kit with Towergate
As a specialist insurer we’ve come to know what military personnel want from their insurance. Combined with our flexible and helpful approach to customer service, we’re confident that our cover and service will give you financial confidence and provide essential support where it’s needed most.
Should you need to claim, our in-house claims service will manage your claim without passing you from pillar to post. Our staff will guide you through each step of your claim and advise you on how to gain swift resolution of your claim. Simply give us a call on 01242 533747 or visit our Military Home Insurance page.