The top five unusual holiday phone insurance claims
On average the UK family takes over £3,000 worth of gadgets with them on holiday. Travel gadget insurance has become common place and so have unusual claims.
Phones and gadgets have become such a part of our life that we could not imagine leaving them at home when we go on holiday. Whether it is to entertain us on our flights, keeping the kids quiet on the plane or capturing those magic moments on film or video, they are as essential as our passports. Unfortunately, unlike passports, they are expensive and have a habit of getting lost, stolen or broken. Here at Switched On insurance we have compiled our top five favorite claims, including some unusual ones!
Number 5 – Hard floors vs Phone
We start with not a particularly unusual claim, but the most common type of claim we see. Alfresco dining and Mediterranean restaurants invariably come with ornate tiled floors. These floors and high-end smart phones do not go well together, in-fact when they meet it generally ends badly for the phone. About 50% of our screen damage claims are because of phones falling off tables, slipping out of children’s hands or being dropped out of pockets onto tiled restaurant floors.
Number 4 – Underwater photography
Why do some people insist on buying a £5 cover that claims to be 100% water proof and place their £700 phone into it to take some fun underwater photos? Whether it is the cover itself or the application of the cover, we will never know. What we do know is that we get a lot of claims for water damage, when the inevitable happens.
Number 3 – Water parks and lazy rivers
It may seem like a great idea to take your phone to the water park whilst on holiday, but our advice is to leave the phone in your hotel safe for the day. One culprit is the innocuous lazy-river rides. People seem to think taking a video or some pictures as you serenely travel down-stream is a good idea, and it may well be, until as always seems to happen you hit the rapids and your phone fly’s out of your hand!
Number 2 – Beware the friendly local tour guide
You and the family are enjoying the sites of the local tourist trap. A friendly tour guide, complete with hi vis jacket offers to take a family picture for you. Unfortunately, the only picture you remember is that of him running down the street with your camera in his hands. No this is not a scene from National Lampoons vacation, but an actual claim we received from one of our customers, whilst on holiday in Rome.
Number 1 – Don’t mess with the angry Sea Lion!
This is our absolute favorite and one to remember next time you visit the Sea life attraction whilst on holiday. For £20 our client thought it was a fantastic opportunity to take a selfie with a Sea Lion near the hotel pool. However, Sammy (yes Sammy) the Sea Lion was a tad hungry and mistake the shiny silver camera for a fish. Fortunately, Sammy did not swallow the phone but did manage to take a large Sea lion sized chunk out of the phone!
