The UK Insurance Blog

In the article “The one that got away”  fishermen are being warned they need to protect their tackle kit.

A fact that has been recently highlighted during National Fishing Week was that fishermen are easy targets for thieves. The UK’s beloved and most favourite of all participatory sporting activities, fishing, a hobby or pastime that is often spent in seclusion, has come to the recent attention of thieves. Seeing nothing in their way to prevent them from helping themselves to valuable fishing gear, they are taking advantage of the fact that fishing gear is expensive and valuable gear. A fishing rod can cost anywhere between £100 and £2000 while specialist carp fishing reels, nets and lines can cost up to £3,000.

A fact that was highlighted during the recent National Fishing Week was that fishermen are being targeted for their valuable fishing gear, totalling a ‘net’ worth of thousands.

Night fishing, increasing in popularity all the time is providing thieves and muggers with ample opportunity to take advantage of lone fishermen. As a result this kind of crime appears to be increasing alongside the sport’s rate of popularity. Crime related to fishing, in fact, has increased by 17% with the most frequent type of crime being theft of fishing tackle.

As a response to this increase in fishing crime, one of the UK’s leading insurance providers suggests we check our policies and ensure there is a personal possessions extension (all risks) which will cover us for any personal effects or sporting equipment we carry or wear.

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The article “Brits leave personal goods unattended in holiday homes” highlights the fact that holiday home owners are leaving valuable belongings unattended at their own risk.

Our holiday homes are not secure! Containing collectively, over £6.3 billion worth of personal possessions and valuables, it comes as a surprise to learn that holiday home protection is not adequately provided for.

The company Zurich Private Clients are observing a pattern where their affluent clients are being targeted for burglary even when they are occupying their second homes. It seems a popular trick is to release gas into the air con system so that they can steal valuables without the victims resisting.

People with second homes are not paying attention to insurance. About one in ten have no contents insurance for their holiday home and eleven percent have claimed they have no idea if their insurance is adequate.

Holiday home owners, for some reason, seem to be a little cavalier about their security arrangements. Basic practices like fitting locks on the windows are being ignored. Don’t tell anyone, but 6% have admitted to no security at all. The message the insurance companies want to put out is that even though a holiday home is secondary their security protection should be afforded just as much attention as their first home.

They are left empty for the majority of the year, sometimes for months at a time. Two thirds of people with holiday homes claim to visit them no more often than every three months. Although offering out the holiday home to friends and relatives, many of these holiday-homers admit their homes quite often remain empty for at least a month at a time. When holiday homes in Britain have contents to the average value of £15,200, it comes as a big surprise that they have such a slap dash attitude to their belongings. Despite this however, when quizzed they claimed they were worried about the security of their holiday home, particularly of local crime and their empty house being targeted by criminals.

Never before has property been at a premium for the buyers of the UK holiday home market. Apparently, we can’t get enough! Even if we haven’t the time to enjoy our second properties for more than twice a year, we still can’t resist investing in them!

These holiday-homers – they just don’t seem to get enough! Around 18% of holiday home owners are actively seeking more properties and forty seven per cent of these are ready to purchase in 2008.

Countries that are the most popular with purchasers of holiday homes are France and Spain (24% and 26% respectively). Other destinations moving up the ranks include Cyprus and Bulgaria. Twenty five per cent of people who are hoping to buy a holiday home in the near future are thinking about purchasing somewhere in the United Kingdom. Half the holiday home buyers are hoping to find their dream home on the continent while twenty five per cent want to find somewhere outside of Europe.