Travel Insurance: Hold on to your phone

Mobile phone theft is rife when on holiday, which is why it's so important to take out a reliable travel insurance policy. Holidaymakers ought to be aware that roughly 200 million phones a year are stolen, with the annual cost of mobile phone theft reaching around £390 billion per annum. Companies such as Vodafone are producing slicker, smaller mobile phone models to keep up with current trends. But now that phones are now lighter and more compact it's easier for others to swipe them from your hands or bags without you noticing...

These days, it's really tempting to choose travel insurance from cheap comparison websites. You convince yourself that theft or mishaps are unlikely to happen to you, and that it isn't really worth spending the money on an expensive plan. As many as 48% of us buying travel insurance do so through websites designed to find you cheap deals. But close scrutiny of the small print of the policies topping these websites are exactly those that exclude important elements of cover, like pandemic illness. Sometimes, where cover is included, a payout is so minimal as to be near worthless.

That's why it's important not to only go for the bargains when shopping around for travel insurance. Opting for the cheapest deal could leave you feeling panicked and sick when it really counts. In addition, even when you do have insurance, reading the small print carefully is a must. Doing so is the only way you won't get caught out.

But on top of these precautions, there are also ways for you to get good cover and address your money worries by cutting down insurance costs. For example, if you go away for more than twice a year, you ought to consider taking out an annual policy rather than single trip equivalents. The money you'll save will be considerable. Also, some home insurance policies provide cover for personal possessions when abroad. So you might already have a cheap option for good cover and not know it.

Choosing cover that's good value for money is a priority in economically dubious times. But it's not advisable to neglect the possibility of accidents, however unlikely they t seem. Being smart about money saving while buying proper cover will ensure you don't lose out, especially when it comes to valuables like mobile phones. And for the slick, smart phones you want to add to your list of flashy accessories, take a second to browse the Vodafone website for some of their fashionable handsets, including the HTC Desire - which you'd be wise to insure. You don't have to scrape on their model of your handset as long as you invest and make the efforts to get a good insurance policy too.