OTHER TYPES OF COVER YOU MAY OR MAY NOT NEED
What you need Holiday insurance
THERE’S plenty of competition among websites selling holiday cover, which helps keep it competitively priced. Check out Comparetravelinsurance.com, which compares all the websites in one go. Multitrip cover can cost €25 a year. But you can get it cheaper, with cover differences. Multitrip.com, for example, quoted from €17.77 for a year’s cover in Europe or two years for €31.99, which works out at under €16 a year. At this price it’s worth getting and is cheaper than insuring every trip separately for around €14.
Worth considering Pet insurance
YOU can generally only get cover for pets if you start when they are under four. After that premiums can rise alarmingly as they age. One way to bring down the cost is to get a mutt instead of a pure-bred. Pedigrees cost up to €58 a year more than mixed breed dogs, according to quotes from Compareinsuranceireland.ie. Cats are cheaper still with cover available from €84. Another tip is to self-insure. Start saving as soon as you buy your pet, building up a pot that you can dip in to for vet bills. On balance you could win out although you could also be caught with hefty bills.
Of dubious value Gadget cover
DON’T bother with ‘small ticket’ cover for small items like your phone, which is a loss you could afford to cover yourself. The premium you pay will be gobbled up by the expense of marketing and administering such a small policy, not to mention commission and profit. The remainder — or the actual value of the cover to you — will be small.
Extended warrantee cover
THE same goes for extended warrantees that retailers try to flog us to make a fast buck. Consumer magazine Which? has put down these policies for years as consistently offering poor value.
Payment Protection Insurance
THE biggest financial scandal this century was this type of cover that was supposed to cover loan repayments. Banks sold it to customers, gaining commission of up to 85% (showing how much of your premium actually works for you — not very much). Our final tip: don’t buy it!