A subtle difference between the two could be the reason your claim is not entertained and you miss out on the claim
Language can be sometimes confusing, especially when two words almost mean the same. Theft and burglary are used interchangeably at the time of writing, but when it comes to home or office insurance, the meaning changes completely. While the householder’s insurance covers against burglary, it does not cover the risk of theft.
Theft: You may have visitors and helps commonly visiting your house. Although they may not intentionally steal anything, but there is every bit of a possibility that some household items may be lost – valuable and not valuable. In case of not so valuable items, say daily-use utensils, the concern may not be much. But, what if you lose a valuable diamond ring? Such a loss could be a theft during the normal course of activity in your house. You may discover such a loss over time and not instantly. Such losses are not covered under the householder’ policy as it is not treated as burglary.
Burglary: For the sake of insurance, burglary is something that occurs when your house or office is broken into by force. For instance, the breaking in of a door or a window to get inside the premises is all signs that the house or office was burgled and robbed. The insurance policy benefit will kick-in in such instances.
Understand the distinction between these two to know when your householder’s and office policy will stand the test of insurance and when your claim will be declined. Theft inside the house is assumed to be negligence by the insurer and is hence not covered. The reason why insurers do not service such claims is because of the difficulty of ascertaining the loss due to negligence or actually the intentions of someone to actually steal and rob the owner. Some insurers do offer additional theft cover, but it is fairly expensive compared to the policy sans this cover.
If you are unsure which policy to go for; ask yourself if it is better to be careful with your possessions than let things be taken by people visiting your home. The answer will tell you which version of the policy to go with. When raising a claim in against burglary, you will need to make a police complaint and also inform the insurer about the burglary for it to be processed and paid.