Travel insurance query, high value items?

atchaa

Im about to embark on a 3 week holiday in Europe (France and Spain), and am taking quite a lot of high value luggage with me.

My baggage will include my laptop, digicam, ipod etc,

but I also have a lot of expensive clothing (amounting to around £4k worth).

I am about to take out a travel insurance policy with Morethan, as they appear to offer the most comprehesive high value cover.

However, the "reductions for wear and tear" should I make a claim are concerning me. The clothes for example are largely under 2 months old, and say, if a suit cost me £800 a couple of months ago, would they pay out somehting minsicule, or an amount that would pay for an equivalent suit?

Its just that im not going to bother with it if they are going to be unreasonable should the worst happen.

Anyone have any expereince of this?

Or should I put it on home insurance?

lisyloo

Have you checked your home insurance policy to see if you already have cover for "personal posessions" outside of the home.

It can be unwise to get duplicate cover because
1) you are paying for it twice
2) even worse they cover argue over who pays causing delays.

I know EGG used to allow you to exclude this from travel insurance if you had it on your home cover, so it might be possibly to stop paying for it twice.

Personally I'd want to cover all year for sports equipment, watches etc. so I'd want it on my house insurrance, because you could have stuff stolen from your car when you are not on holiday.

atchaa

thanks for that, but how would the travel insurer know i had home insurance cover in place anyways?

also, anyone have any ideas about the payouts under claim?

lisyloo

but how would the travel insurer know i had home insurance cover in place anyways?

To be honest I'm not 100% sure but if the claim form asks if you have other cover then you have two choices which are to answer it honestly or to lie and commit fraud.

I haven't been through the process myself but I would expect this to be a fairly standard question on the claim form.

If you lie they may never find out.

But if they do find out then they could decide to prosecute and you could get a criminal conviction which will cause problems with getting a job, getting credit etc. and would make your life very difficult.

I'm not suggesting you would do any of that, just stating the hypotethical position of what could happen.

These days a lot more information is computerised so that fraud can be more easily detected.

I've not had any experience with MoreThan but if they don't pay out a reasonable value then you the court is another option.
I know that's hassle but at least it's a back up.

RibAd

ditch the expensive clothes, unless you're actually going to be going to business meetings and really need the designer stuff.

Look under the baggage/personal possessions section and you should see a Single Article Limit. You will see an overall limit under baggage of £xy amount, valuables limit of £xyz and single article limit of £x limit.

In event of claim, you can only claim the single article limit, less deductions for wear and tear. Ie if your designer shirt cost you £1,000 2 mths ago, and it got stolen from the dry cleaners (hypothetic only!) and you had a single article of £400, you would get back £400 less wear and tear and excess.

They may be covered under your household policy so definately check up on it as your expensive electricals should be covered on that as well.

RibAd

atchaa wrote: »

thanks for that, but how would the travel insurer know i had home insurance cover in place anyways?

also, anyone have any ideas about the payouts under claim?

lol I know from the script I have to say at work "to help prevent fraud, we exchange information with other insurers through various databases....please answer the questions asked of you as any incorrect information may invalidate your insurance".

yes, they can check out other insurance companies if you're insured elsewhere. and legally too.
It also depends on who you're insured with... think sister companies e.g. Churchill and Direct Line both RBS owned and more than likely run by the same call centre(s).

Some insurance companies may pool or re-insure the risk with other companies (and this is something you don't need to know about but legal.)

FlameCloud

RibAd wrote: »

lol I know from the script I have to say at work "to help prevent fraud, we exchange information with other insurers through various databases....please answer the questions asked of you as any incorrect information may invalidate your insurance".

None of the databases can identify a single person to that extent, its mostly reliant on the policy holder being honest.

Travel companies, if they find out about the home insurance will almost invariably seek a contribution. It will then sit in a scanned file in the home insurer for a few months until somebody finds it, actions it and gets rid of it.

Wear and tear for clothing is usually around 10% per year, with minor variations for certain types. Wedding dresses for instance are close to 100% discounted after the first use.

mattymoo

All insurers are going to ask to see receipts for these items in the event of a claim. It is truly unbelievable how many people have Armani suits less than 2 months old, Police / Oakley sunglasses, Prada handbags etc.

If you truly are a high flyer with expensive tastes, I would suggest the likes of More Than and Direct Line are not for you. You should be speaking to people like Hiscox and Chubb for insurance for high net worth clients. These firms understand that market far better.

atchaa

mattymoo wrote: »

All insurers are going to ask to see receipts for these items in the event of a claim. It is truly unbelievable how many people have Armani suits less than 2 months old, Police / Oakley sunglasses, Prada handbags etc.

If you truly are a high flyer with expensive tastes, I would suggest the likes of More Than and Direct Line are not for you. You should be speaking to people like Hiscox and Chubb for insurance for high net worth clients. These firms understand that market far better.

Im a bit confused as to what you mean by the first part? Are you suggesting people make fraudulent claims about armani suits they do not own? I make a point of keeping all receipts for insurance purposes after a nightmare trying to claim on house insurance about 5 years ago.

Are the receipts enough for proof of ownership?

lisyloo

Are you suggesting people make fraudulent claims about armani suits they do not own?

That's what I inferred from the post.

are the receipts enough for proof of ownership?

If you have the original receipts then there's no problem (providing it's within the overall limit and the single-item limit of your policy).

Personally I would scan or photocopy them before sending in case they get "lost in the post".

mattymoo

Yeah, sorry for not being clear. Insurers cynicsm says a coat is never a coat, it's a leather jacket. Sunglasses are never £10 from Boots but £300 Oakley or Police. A handbag is never a market stall jobbie but one from Prada or Gucci.

They see so many optimistic / fraudulent claims like this and this is why when people claim to have such items they ask to see receipts as proof.