I?m on the telephone to a friend who?s recently made a ton of cash. ?Could you get me a kite board and power kite please? It?s about a grand for all the gear.? He?s astonished and suggests I can pay for whatever I like with my own money. ?You should put aside your issues and just buy me the stuff so I can go out and have some fun. I?m fed up with land boarding and want to get some serious hang time on a 10 metre kite off the coast showing off to all and sundry before the city boys come down and steal the scene from me,? I reply.
He?s lost for words, and I realise the point of the conversation is to demonstrate to him that in spite of his riches, I am the richer for being fluent in the language of power kiting and therefore belong to an exclusive club that cannot be joined solely based on financial status. It?s a desperate and flawed attempt at one-up-man-ship, because I know he doesn?t care and he knows I know that. Even so, he called me so it?s his telephone bill. Ha.
The trouble is, I have actually saved the money for the sports gear I want, but I?m worried about it being trashed or stolen. If I slam myself into the sea and the kite gets torn up on some rocks then could the kite be insured against damage? Probably, but I?m sure the premium would be costly, some obscure policy only bought by professionals and sponsors perhaps.
Theft though is a different matter. I know that home insurance can also cover a certain amount of value of stuff you can take outside the house. This is worth checking up on, and I would advise anyone buying home insurance to consider the value of insuring goods against theft while away from home.
It?s nice to see details of what can and can?t be insured on web sites rather than having to wait on hold on the telephone and go through fiddly menus and possibly get through to the wrong department. Forums too are a good way to find out about insurance offers that might suit you. The web is a handy place for finding out details about different types of home insurance.
I don?t really get that confused about the terms and conditions of home insurance but it?s always best to really make sure that if you want things like laptops, sports gear and things like that to be insured outside the home then make sure you understand under what circumstances they can be insured.
Leaving my kite on the beach then someone taking it for instance, is unlikely to be insured that cheaply, if at all. Losing stuff really is not exactly beyond your control and if you need to insure against that then you?ve got problems that are probably better sorted out by a bit of self-discipline.
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