Is your bag covered, ask insurers

Legal & General are warning people to make sure they are adequately insured, following research showing that handbag contents are worth around 1,000.

09:56 28 July 2004

Legal & General are warning people to make sure they are adequately insured, following research showing that handbag contents are worth around 1,000.

It may not seem possible, but small items in an average sized bag can quickly mount up - thereby raising the total value of the contents.

Legal & General are reminding consumers to check whether their home insurance policies cover these expensive items on their daily outings.

Most household policies only offer cover for personal possessions away from the home as an optional benefit. Consumers should therefore check that they have taken up the option, and that the value of the cover is sufficient.

"It is surprising how the value of something like a handbag can mount up," says Legal & General's head of marketing, Andy Sampson. "It is upsetting enough for someone to lose their handbag without them realising that they are underinsured and will suffer financially too."

Expensive items such as car keys, sunglasses, make up and mobile phones (all worth in the region of 100) quickly escalate the value of the bags.

In response to the research Legal & General is running a prize draw for people to win a leather Radley handbag (pictured) from johnlewis.com.