Are you paying twice for holiday cover?

By Michele Lucato Posted on May 20, 2023

20.05.23 Are you paying twice for holiday cover you don't need?
Are you paying twice for holiday cover you don’t even need?

Are you wasting money on duplicate policies? I only realised just how common this is after speaking to my friend Simon, whose parents realised they were inadvertently paying for two lots of travel insurance when they went to make a claim on a missed flight the other week.

It turned out they were paying for one policy as part of their Direct Line home insurance cover, and another as part of their Lloyds Silver bank account package (which also includes AA breakdown cover and mobile phone insurance as part of the £10 monthly fee).

It got me wondering: if they have a duplicate travel policy, what else might they be doubling up on? Mobile phone insurance? Car breakdown?

After a bit of digging, it transpired that they did have more insurance cover they didn’t know about, from free global emergency dental cover as part of their Denplan payment scheme to free car insurance and breakdown cover.

They even have personal liability cover through their golf membership, would you believe?

Apparently they, and everyone else who is a member of a UK golf club, have £10 million worth of personal liability cover for mishaps on the golf course? (www.englandgolf.org/benefits), which would come in handy if Simon’s mum were to accidentally hospitalise someone — as she did to herself a few years ago while trying to get out of a bunker.

Even if none of the above could possibly apply to you, you never know, you might have other insurance policies you have forgotten about or didn’t even know you had. Many employers, for instance, offer a raft of perks and discounts to employees.

Read Jasmine’s column in full here