10 sneaky insurance catches

If you're buying any kind of insurance policy, make sure you watch out for these nasty catches...

Admittedly insurance isn’t the most exciting of topics to talk about, but unfortunately it’s something we all need. Whether it’s car insurance, home insurance, pet insurance, or travel insurance, we all need to take out certain policies at some point in our lives.

However, the major problem with insurance is that it can be riddled with catches and as a result, you may find that if you need to make a claim, you won’t be able to.

So here, I’m going to reveal 10 of the biggest insurance catches around!

Car insurance

Courtesy car

Recent research from Defaqto has revealed that half of car insurance policies will not include a courtesy car as standard if your car is written off or stolen. Only 23% of policies will include this as standard, while the remaining 28% of policies only include a courtesy car if it’s selected as an optional extra when the policy is purchased.

As a result, if you know there’s no way you will manage without a car if something happens to yours, make sure you check the terms and conditions of your policy carefully before buying.

Lock replacements

Similarly, Defaqto has revealed that almost half of car insurance policies won’t cover you for replacing your car locks if your keys are lost, and a quarter of policies won’t cover you for replacing your locks if your keys are stolen.

So again, make sure you check your policy terms and conditions carefully.

Home insurance

Under-insurance

When it comes to home insurance, working out how much all of your possessions are worth can be a tad tricky. However, it’s really important that you get it right because if you’re under-insured, your insurer may not pay out. If an insurer discovers you have declared too low a value, it’s within its rights to reduce any payouts proportionately. So you may even want to consider unlimited cover.

Check out the Halifax Virtual Home for plenty of tips on how to sufficiently cover your belongings.  

You should also be aware of single-item limits. Most insurers will only automatically cover valuables up to a certain amount – usually around £1,500 (although sometimes this is higher). So if you have an item that is worth more than this, you will need to get it named separately on the policy. If you don’t do this, it won’t be covered and your insurer won’t pay out.

Unoccupied property

If you’re off on holiday soon, check your home insurance policy carefully. Most policies will only cover an unoccupied property for a certain period – this could be 30, 60 or 90 days. If you leave your property unoccupied for longer than this, you will invalidate your policy.

Too many claims

You may think it doesn’t matter how many claims you make on your insurance. But you’d be wrong.

If you make three claims on your home insurance policy in the space of three years, you’re likely to find it much harder to get insurance. Unfortunately, some insurers will frown upon this and won’t issue you with a quote. And those that do are likely to charge you ridiculously high premiums.

So if you want to avoid this, try not to claim unless you really need to.

Pet insurance

Dangerous dogs

There are certain breeds of dogs that will be registered under the dangerous dogs act. Most insurers won’t cover you if you own a breed of dog that is on this list. Working dogs such as police dogs, racing dogs and guard dogs may also not be able to be insured. So before you decide on which dog you would like to have, check whether this breed is on the list.

Age limit

Most insurance policies set up an age limit above which they will not insure a pet for the first time. However, once insured and providing the policy is renewed annually, most will cover a pet for its lifetime.

That said, it’s still important to read the small print as some companies will discontinue cover at a certain age regardless of how long they have been insuring the pet. They may also restrict the level of cover available for older pets.

Travel insurance

Drinking and skiing

Be careful how much you drink on your skiing holiday. If you’ve been drinking and then have an accident, the majority of travel insurance policies won’t cover you.

Scheduled airline failure

According to Defaqto, 77% of travel insurance policies won’t cover you for scheduled airline failures. Although some insurers will provide cover of around £1,500 for scheduled airline failure, this limit may not be enough to cover all of the other pre-booked and paid for items such as hotel accommodation and car hire. So make sure you check the details of your policy carefully.

Single vs annual

Deciding whether to get single travel insurance cover or annual cover doesn’t have to be tricky. The key thing is to only buy what you need. If you know you’re definitely going to be taking several holidays this year, opting for annual cover will work out cheaper.

However, if you will only be taking one holiday this year, don’t be tempted to take out annual cover just in case. Buying a single trip travel insurance policy could work out up to 147% cheaper than an annual policy, according to Defaqto.

So whichever insurance policy you’re going for, make sure you avoid these 10 catches!

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