The AA recently revealed that a third of homeowners make no effort to either conceal or protect their valuables in case of burglary.

Despite the fact that average precious possessions are worth a little over £4000, only 12% of the AA customers surveyed keep their valuables in a safe while just 2% use a safety deposit box. While one in ten conceal precious items in a bedside table, over a third said that they make no effort to hide their valuables.

As the days get longer and hopefully warmer and with summer sporting events distracting the attention of many of us, opportunistic thieves are more likely to take the chance to snatch expensive items if windows or doors have been left open or unlocked. An insurer may well take a dim view of any resulting claim if the policyholder has exposed themselves to unnecessary risk.

And with many families leaving their homes unoccupied for a week or two over the summer holidays, leaving valuables out in the open or easily visible could make them a target.

Why not take the opportunity over the coming weeks to remind your clients of the responsibility they have to protect their valuables and pass on a few tips to make sure that if the worse does happen, they should still be able to make a valid claim:

• Check how much cover their policy provides for money in the home and make sure that if they do have any spare cash, they take it with them or pay it into their bank account if they’re going to be away for a few days
• Check the limit applicable to valuables such as jewellery, watches, artwork and collections under their policy to make sure they have enough cover
• If they do have valuable jewellery or watches, encourage them to install a small safe – if thieves do get into their home and see a safe, they may be put off altogether – or consider securing their valuables in a safety deposit box at their bank while their away on holiday
• They shouldn’t forget about their sporting equipment. With the boom in cycling for example, the value of road bikes for a family of four can soon add up and bicycle cover isn’t always included as standard. Those clients who are budding Bradley Wiggins should check their policy to make sure they’ve got the right level of cover and make sure their bikes are padlocked inside a shed or store area and that the entry to that is also securely locked

And even if their home is like Fort Knox, there’s no escaping the fact that accidental damage is still the most common claim on valuables under a home insurance policy – so securing them will help to keep them out of harm’s way as well as putting them out of the sight of thieves!

Brian Coulton is national sales manager at Source Insurance