While traveling is always exciting, it can also cause a slight disruption to your routine, resulting in your guard being down, and your valuables being vulnerable to being lost or stolen. With this in mind, it is vital to ensure your items are covered, and that you understand the type of cover you have for them.
A great point of departure is knowing the difference between the All Risk and Unspecified All Risks covers.
Unspecified All Risks
This covers clothing and personal effects that belong to you and are typically carried on or worn by you whilst away from your home.
For clients who have selected this cover, this includes items noted on your certificate of insurance including, but not limited to, luggage containers, jewellery, photographic equipment, binoculars, sporting equipment, study material, children’s car seats, and prams, household goods and accessories, and motor vehicle and hand tools not used for business or commercial purposes. For this cover, it is important to remember two things:
Firstly, any single item may not exceed 20% of the sum insured and may be covered to a maximum of R5,000.00 per item.
Secondly, the total value of any Unspecified All Risks claim cannot exceed the total sum insured noted on your policy schedule.
What this means in practice is that if you have a jewellery (or photographic, or sporting equipment, etc) item that is below the item limit, it will be covered by your Unspecified All Risks cover. However, if you have jewellery, or another item, that is either individually higher than the item limit of R5000, or that, combined with other Unspecified All Risks items, would add up to more than your total Unspecified All Risks sum insured, then you will need to specify that item individually to ensure it has full cover.
*Note: Unspecified All Risk is only applicable if the cover has been selected on your policy.
All Risks Cover
There are exclusions to the Unspecified All Risks cover though, which means that some items that leave home with you are not covered under this section.
Items that are excluded from Unspecified All Risks cover include cellular phones, laptops and tablets, eyewear and contact lenses, cycling equipment, golfing equipment, fishing equipment, scuba diving equipment, stamps, and coin collections, portable audio equipment, portable GPS’ and accessories for any of these excluded items.
If you want to cover any of these excluded items, you must specify them. Always err on the side of caution, and if you’re unsure of any item, chat with your Barker consultant for advice.
Be safe and enjoy your travels!