New research has found that almost nine out of ten people have some form of home insurance cover.

According to Fool.co.uk, home insurance is the most popular form of cover on the market, while motor insurance is purchased by 85 per cent of people.

The study also found that four per cent of people have more than 12 different types of policy, covering different things.

However David Kuo, the head of personal finance at the website claims that consumers may be spending more money than is necessary.

"The key to buying insurance is only to insure against risk that you cannot afford to bear. So if you buy insurance you don't need then you are wasting money. But if you don't buy insurance that you do need, then eventually your decision will come back to haunt you," he said.

More than half of the respondents claimed to dislike insurance but nonetheless see it as a practical tool, while 23 per cent try to self-insure as far as is possible.

Last summer's floods in the UK cost the insurance industry around £3 billion in payouts.

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