How home insurance can truly save the day
Picture the scene. You have been on holiday with your family for the first time in nearly three years. To make it a memorable occasion, you decided to go with your parents, grandparents and your young children, and you have been out of Hong Kong for three weeks.
Yet all that time spent on beaches of Thailand, or on the ski slopes of Japan, or on a tour of Europe’s most romantic cities, all that now seems like it was for nothing. Why? Because when you get home you find that your apartment has been ransacked by burglars while you were abroad with your loved ones. Someone has used a power drill to destroy the lock on your front door. Your high-end laptop, the new flat screen TV, your jewellery and even your husband’s golf clubs – all are gone, and you don’t even know when the incident took place.
This is a nightmare scenario for any of us. The idea of our homes being invaded by strangers and losing precious items to theft is a deeply disturbing thought.
Unfortunately, in Hong Kong overall crime is firmly on the rise. From January to September 2022 crime in the city increased by 4.4 per cent compared with the same period in 2021, according to figures released by the Hong Kong Police Force.i The good news is that the number of burglaries fell sharply in the same period – down by almost 40 per cent. However, that’s still nearly 650 instances of burglary in nine months across the city.
While we should welcome the news that burglary is seemingly on the wane, it still pays to protect your possessions with home insurance. Not only will taking out a suitable policy protect your personal belongings against the financial loss of burglary, some plans will even cover expenses for things you might not have considered, such as damaged locks, and may even provide cover so you can see a counsellor to help you deal with the psychological trauma of enduring a home invasion. However, whenever you choose a home insurance plan, you should ensure that you take note of the coverage sublimit per item such as jewellery and valuables. So it’s worthwhile finding a plan that offers you flexibility depending on your individual needs.
Sticky situation
When you think of all things that can go wrong in Hong Kong, power outages are not the first incidents that spring to mind. After all, Hong Kong is an ultra-modern city with cutting-edge infrastructure. And yet accidents can and do happen, as residents of Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun discovered in June 2022 when electric cables caught fire and power supplies in the affected areas were completely cut off.
Local newspaper noted that there were 56 reports of residents being stranded in elevators and, perhaps more worryingly, the power supply to hospitals in the New Territories West Cluster was unstable, according to the Hospital Authority. ii
The prospect of having the aircon cut out during the sweltering summer months is daunting enough, but what if you have recently just filled up the fridge and freezer with perishable food items? Depending on how long the power supply is disrupted, you could be looking at a hefty shopping bill to replace defrosted goods. And if it happens during a festive period, such as Christmas or Chinese New Year, the expense can mount considerably as we all tend to splash out.
Once again, taking out a suitable home insurance plan can help alleviate the worst of the financial burden of replacing spoiled food and drink, MSIG’s Home Insurance plans provide coverage of up to HK$5,000 if food has to be discarded due to unforeseen power outages, such as those experienced by unlucky residents in the summer of 2022.
So don’t get caught out in unfortunate circumstances. To find out more about MSIG’s Home Insurance, please feel free to contact us 
or read more about our insurance plans.
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