BIBA: Christmas holidaymakers should insure valuables and gifts

People planning to travel during the festive season have been urged to be extra careful to insure all of their valuables, including Christmas gifts.

According to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), holidaymakers should ensure they have adequate cover, especially as doing so is unlikely to break the bank.

However, Graeme Trudgill, technical and corporate affairs executive for BIBA, expanded on the point saying: “What you might have already is, under your home insurance, a personal possessions extension.

“In which case, you’re going to get a much higher limit under your home insurance than you are on any travel product, but also you don’t have to then have that section of the travel insurance policy.”

Research carried out on behalf of Halifax Travel Insurance last year showed that a staggering 2.5 million people leave Britain at Christmas taking with them £727 million worth of presents.

Furthermore, it found, average personal baggage claims go up by an impressive 48 per cent from its annual average of between £560 and £830.

Tags: point, baggage, season, personal possessions, holidaymakers, case, insurance policy, personal baggage

Kids’ rooms are worth £14bn

The average child in the UK is now worth around £1,260 due to the number of gadgets present in his or her bedroom.

In total, the UK’s children have £14 billion worth of goods in their rooms, with one in ten parents admitting they have spent £2,500 on keeping their youngsters entertained.

Co-operative Insurance (CIS) carried out research into the matter and found that although parents are keen to keep giving their children the latest gadgets, very few update their insurance policy at the same rate.

“Many parents simply do not realise just how valuable the contents of their children’s rooms are,” said David Neave from CIS.

“It is important for people to regularly review the value of their home contents and if necessary increase the level of cover to ensure that it is adequate.”

The most common electrical item to be found in a child’s bedroom is a TV, with 21 per cent of parents saying they allow their child to have one so that they can watch their own programmes undisturbed.

The CIS research also reveals portable gadgets are becoming more popular among children. Around 60 per cent now carry a mobile telephone.

Mr Neave said that this too should lead to parents reconsidering their insurance policies.

“Parents should also ensure that they have personal possessions cover for those items which their children take out of the home; such cover can be provided simply, by adding it to the contents cover,” he added.

Tags: kids, item, Co-operative, child's bedroom, child, realise, personal possessions