Insurer urges holidaymakers to ensure adequate travel insurance this Easter

Over half a million families are expected to travel abroad during the Easter break, taking advantage of the children’s school holidays and extra days off work afforded by the bank holidays. 

Travelling with children often means carrying a lot of ‘kit’ and calculations from Gigasure found that when going abroad on holiday, the average child can have over £4,000 worth of items with them. When you account for all items you take with you on holiday when travelling with children, from buggies, car seats, entertainment, toys, clothing, toiletries and more, the value of all these items combined soon mounts up. 

The research found that many families going abroad during the Easter holidays may find they are underinsured because they do not have a sufficient level of travel insurance to cover the value of the personal belongings they take with them.

The average travel insurance policy will cover a traveller for around £2,000 worth of belongings. This typically includes up to £300 per single item, valuables up to £300 and gadget cover up to £300, leaving more valuable items such as buggies, car seats and digital devices effectively uninsured through a standard policy should items become lost, damaged or stolen. This could leave parents exposed and potentially £1,000’s out of pocket if they need to make a claim.

Ernesto Suarez, CEO, Gigasure, says: “Travelling as a young family is a great opportunity for those that can, but of course, children often need a lot of items and equipment to make the trip run more seamlessly. We don’t want to think about items being lost or damaged in transit, but the reality is if that happens, those key items need to be replaced, and quickly. 

“The cost of going on holiday can be high, particularly with rising household bills and other financial pressures, and it can be tempting to save money by either not having travel insurance or not having high enough cover for their needs. We want to avoid parents potentially being left thousands of pounds out of pocket if they do need to make a claim. 

“Before you travel, check the small print of your insurance policy to see what you are covered for and do some quick calculations to see how much the items you have with you would cost to replace. Big ticket items like buggies and car seats, for example, are likely to be more than the £300 item limit often provided. If you need to, increase your cover so you can rest assured that if you need to make a claim, you will get enough back to replace those items.”