Travel Insurance
- Money and personal belongings
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 covered
This section of travel insurance covers you against loss,
theft or damage to the things you take with you, including
money and your passport. Cash, cheques air and other travel
tickets, petrol coupons and vouchers all usually count as
money. Traveller’s cheques and credit cards may also
be included in the definition of money but if the cheque
or card issuer has an emergency replacement service, you
will be expected to use that. Your passport may also be
covered under this part of the policy, but you will usually
be able to claim only for the cost of replacing it (a limit
of £100 is common) and not for the extra costs –
such as travel or any extra nights’ stay in a hotel
– involved in getting it replaced.
Delayed baggage
Within the ‘Money and personal belongings’ section
of your policy, you will usually find details of an allowance
which is paid if your baggage is delayed. This pays out
for the replacement of essential items – washing things
and underwear, for example – while you wait for your
luggage to catch up with you. Most policies which offer
this sort of cover will pay out if your baggage is delayed
by more than 12 hours, although some make you wait for 24
hours. If your baggage fails to turn up, any allowance you
were paid to replace essential items is deducted from your
overall claim for loss of baggage.
This sort of cover is unnecessary if you will have your
baggage with you at all times – if you are driving
to your holiday destination or you pack essential items
in your hand baggage, for example. It is also unnecessary
if the carrier that caused the baggage delay has some arrangement
to cover out-of-pocket expenses while you wait for your
baggage to arrive.
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