Teenagers cost parents on home insurance

If you’re a teenager today, you’ve got to look the part – and that may mean the right clothes, jewellery and electronic gadgets. According to insurer Cornhill Direct, many modern British teenagers leave the house with items worth more than £768 on their person, forcing parents to claim on their home contents insurance when these items are lost or stolen.

The insurer’s poll of 2,500 parents showed that the average teenager leaves the house wearing clothes worth £229.54. The required accessories such as jewellery have set them back £125.65, while watches are worth £75.80. Another £300 in value is accounted for by a mobile phone, MP3 player and wallet. That’s a lot to be walking around with.

However, many teenagers may not return home with their possessions. According to Cornhill Direct, ten per cent of teenagers lose or have stolen valuable items such as mobile phones, MP3 players, watches, wallets and digital cameras. Leaving the house wearing expensive clothing and jewellery and using an MP3 player could easily attract the wrong kind of attention. Young teenagers who travel alone may represent an easy target for thieves and muggers.

This won’t stop teenagers from getting the stuff they need. More than one third of parents say that their teenage children expect to have the latest designer accessories and the latest electronic gadgets and gizmos. Half of all teenagers save up their money to buy these ‘necessities’, even those who get the average of £6.29 a week. Forty eight per cent of parents say that their teenaged children spend all their cash on high street and designer clothing and the latest gadgets.

So where does that leave parents? Claiming for these items on their home insurance, that’s where. And it can add up to a tidy sum. Luckily, many insurers cover possessions outside the home, so if your teenagers forget to collect their gadgets at the end of an evening, or lose their money to an opportunistic thief, at least their parents will know they are covered.