Money and personal
belongings -what your travel insurance does not cover
Policies typically cover you for a total limit for the belongings
that you take with you and around a separate limit for cash.
Although it may be a boring task, the only way to find out
if this is enough is to make a list of everything you will
be taking with you, including suitcase, clothes, shoes, books,
personal stereo/CD player, pre-recorded tapes and CDs, camera,
camcorder, radio, jewellery, watch and so on. If you are way
over the limit, or anything you are taking exceeds the single
item limit, you would be better off getting an all-risks extension
to your contents policy.
The main advantage of extending your contents policy is that
you do not have to pay twice for the same cover: remember
that if you are covered twice for the same risk, you can only
make one claim which the two insurers will share. The other
advantages are that the limits on the contents policy are
likely to be higher, that valuable items (such as a camera
or camcorder) can be fully covered and that your claim is
likely to be paid on a new-for-old basis (where you get the
cost of replacing the item as new) rather than on an indemnity
basis (where the amount is deducted for wear and tear) which
is what travel insurance typically offers. Most insurers will
give you a discount of around 25 per cent on your travel insurance
if you exclude money and personal belongings from their policy
and use an all-risks extension to your contents insurance
instead.
What is not covered
What the ‘Money and personal belongings’ part
of your travel insurance will not cover you for is:
• The first part of any claim (the excess); there will
be separate ‘excesses’ for belongings any for
money
• The full cost of replacing items as new, since most
claims will be reduced by a deduction for wear and tear (although
some policies give new-for-old cover if an item is less than
two years old)
• The full amount of replacing expensive items if they
go over the ‘single-article limit’ specified in
the policy
• Loss or theft not reported to the local police within
24 hours of your making a discovery
• Loss or theft because you did not take ‘responsible
care’ of your belongings (e.g. you went for a quick
dip and left your camcorder on your beach mat with nobody
looking after it)
• Damage to very fragile or breakable objects
• Confiscation of your belongings by Customs or other
officials or authorities
• Loss or theft of glasses, contact lenses, hearing
aids or dentures.
Depending on the policy, you may or may not be covered against
loss or theft of valuables or cash which you left in your
car – even of left out of sight and locked in the boot.
There may also be a condition that you carry valuables in
your hand baggage if you are travelling by air.
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