If you’re travelling around on holiday with a rental car it can be easy to fall into the routine of loading your luggage into the boot, stopping for lunch, checking into your hotel and carrying on.
Most of the time nothing will happen – but theft from a a parked car in busy tourist areas isn’t impossible. Your luggage is out of site to you but is not always out of site to someone else, like an opportunistic thief.
This is where personal possessions cover under your Cover4Rentals excess insurance policy for rentals cars comes into play. It won’t stop something from happening altogether but it can lessen the financial burden if it does. If you’re planning a trip, it’s worth understanding how this cover works.
Why Personal Possession Cover Matters
When you’re on holiday you’ll have more with you than usual. Suitcases, shopping and other travel essentials, it all ends up in the car at some point.
Common situations where belongings are left in a vehicle include:
In these moments, your belongings are probably left unattended for longer than you might realise. It’s important to take extra care with valuables left in vehicles, especially when they’re left in unfamiliar locations.
What Personal Possessions Cover is Designed to Do
Personal possessions cover is in place to deal with a specific type of loss. It applies when items are stolen from inside your rental car during the rental period. It’s important to separate this from damage to the vehicle itself. Car hire excess insurance deals with charges you might face from the renal company as a result of damage to or theft of the vehicle. Personal possessions cover relates to your belongings inside the vehicle meaning although they sit alongside each other, they’re not interchangeable.
What You Can Usually Claim For
The intention is to provide some protection for normal travel belongings rather than high value or specialist items. This means it includes:
We don’t, however, cover expensive or high risk items. This means:
If you’re travelling with anything valuable, it’s worth keeping it with you or checking whether your travel insurance provider offers separate cover.
The Conditions That Matter Most
For your personal possessions cover to apply, certain conditions must be met to confirm how the theft happened. In most cases, you’ll need to show that:
To make a claim with us, you will need a police report or crime reference number so make sure you obtain this after reporting the incident.
Reducing the Risk in the First Place
Having cover in place helps but of course avoiding the situation altogether is always better and a few simple habits can make a big difference:
A good rule of thumb is if you’d be stressed about losing it, don’t keave it behind.
FAQs
Not usually. Most rental agreements are focused on the vehicle itself rather than the contents.
It is included but it depends on the policy. For example, for UK residents, it’s included in both our silver and gold policies but covers you for varying amounts; for EU residents, personal possessions cover is include in gold policies only.
In most cases, no. High value items like phones and laptops are excluded. You may be able to include them on a travel insurance policy though.
Yes, a police report or crime reference number is required for any claim involving theft.
When you’re on holiday your belongings are with you and most of the time they’ll be exactly where you left them. But if something does go wrong, knowing what you policy covers makes a big difference. Take a few minutes to make sure you have the right protection in place and understand what it does and does not cover so you’re not caught out later down the line.
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