On any policy the most important cover is medical cover and most travel insurance policies will focus on this and provide good cover. But what about expensive items such as cameras, laptops and other electronic goods? It is important to read your travel insurance policy. Also to understand the extent of cover they have for expensive items.
“Rita took out our budget policy when she went to Poland. Her digital SLR camera was stolen from her bag while she was there. The camera was worth R7 200.” Unfortunately on our budget travel insurance policy the schedule of benefits states that the cover limit on stolen baggage is R10 000 with a single item limit of R2 000. Single item limit means the limit to the amount paid for a single item such as a laptop, or camera. A set of golf clubs is considered a single item as well as a camera bag with all its lenses. A laptop, its carrying case, hardware and software is considered a single item.
Your travel insurance is therefore often not adequate to cover expensive items such as these adequately and we therefore recommend that you purchase an all risks policy that will specifically cover these expensive items. Rita was very angry when she realised that with the excess payable of R500 and the limit on single item of R2000 that she did not have enough money to replace her camera. Rita had opted not to purchase our excess waiver. For R100 you can actually opt for our excess waiver which means on all excess amounts in your travel insurance policy you will not have to pay any excess should there be a claim. We tried to explain to Rita that most travel insurance policies are the same when it comes to single expensive items such as a camera.
Making it Clear
We try and make it as clear as possible on our schedule of benefits and on our policy wording. We recommend purchasing an all risk cover for expensive items. The premiums for our travel insurance would be very high if we were to provide cover on expensive items. There are several reasons for this and unfortunately one of them is that some people can be dishonest and claim for expensive items that they never had or that may have been much cheaper than the replacement value that they claim. All risks policies can be purchased, where equipment can be itemise with serial numbers. This helps control this sort of dishonesty. We would like to have happy users of our travel insurance but unfortunately we have to operate sensibly. We were very sorry for Rita and how unhappy she was. Please read your schedule of benefits carefully.
Read your policy
We believe our cover is good and fit for purpose but please do check the value of your insurance on expensive items and get an all risk policy if necessary. Please read your policy. We would like to make you happy and feel secure on your holiday.
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