Should I care about insurance at festivals?

In the UK the music festival season has already begun in earnest with the Isle of Wight Festival and Download already behind us. The end of June will see 175,000 flock to Worthy Farm in Somerset for the Glastonbury Festival - and following Glasto there are numerous outdoor fests across the country and catering for every type of music fan. However, year on year an increasing number of festival-goers choose to take more expensive items, such as Smart Phones, digital cameras and laptops to such gatherings - but are they insured?

It might seem desperately over-sensible to be concerned about insurance prior to a weekend of partying and forgetting the trivialities of modern life, but the fact of the matter is that even if you do have home insurance; your items are not likely to be covered. Whereas losing items from your pocket can be covered by a contents policy (though each should be checked beforehand), if your items are stolen from your tent - i.e. a place without a locked door - they will almost certainly not be covered.

Another method for keeping things safer whilst at a festival is by storing your most expensive items in your car when they are not in use. This is a good idea in terms of security as a vehicle is always likely to be safer than your tent, but it must be remembered that most car insurance policies do not cover items that are worth more than £100 - just a small percentage of what many of today's items are worth individually. It should also be noted that, in my experience at least, vehicles are as likely to be targeted at festivals as tents are.

Consequently, if you are considering taking some more expensive items to Glastonbury or any other music festivals, checking exactly what is covered on your home contents and car insurance is a logical step. This will then allow you to make the informed decision about whether you need to buy a new policy, refrain from taking certain items, or take the risk.

Of course there are simple security measures that can be undertaken also. Try not to leave items in an unsecured tent, and especially not near the door (many opportunist thefts involve little more than a swipe or a grab of the items near your door when the occupant is sleeping). Marking your items is also a good idea in order to make them easier to identify by others. And if you do choose to leave items in your vehicle, be sure that they are out of sight and in the most secure place to get to, i.e. the car boot or the glove box.

Find out more about car theft at http://www.confused.com/car-insurance