Am I insured twice? Where double insurance hides

Is my phone already covered by my home contents insurance?

Often, yes. Many contents policies cover mobile devices, sometimes also outside the home. In a 2024 survey by Which?, two-thirds of people who had no standalone gadget insurance already had cover through their home insurance. Check your contents policy for “mobile devices” or “outside the home” before you buy or keep a separate phone policy.

Source: Which?, 12 September 2024.

Am I still paying for a policy I replaced?

It happens more than you would think. Ireland’s Central Bank found that 21% of gadget insurance buyers failed to cancel their previous policy after taking out a new one. When you switch insurer or buy a new device, cancel the old policy explicitly; it does not stop by itself.

Source: Central Bank of Ireland, 5 December 2017, survey of 700 buyers.

Did I buy extra insurance at the checkout?

Insurance sold together with a product, such as a phone, laptop, rental car or flight, is easy to forget. About 1 in 8 Dutch people say they took out this kind of “embedded” insurance in the past year, according to the Dutch financial regulator AFM. Check your purchase confirmations and bank statements for small recurring insurance charges.

Source: AFM Consumentenmonitor verzekeren, spring 2025 (published 19 June 2025).

Is my bicycle insured twice?

Possibly. Some home contents policies include bicycles up to a limit, and many people add a separate bicycle or e-bike policy on top. Compare the limits and what each policy pays for: a bicycle policy often covers theft away from home and damage, where contents cover may be limited to theft from your home.

Do my travel and health insurance overlap?

Partly, in many cases. If your health policy pays for emergency medical care abroad, the medical part of a travel policy may add little. The rest of the travel policy, such as luggage, cancellation and repatriation, can still be worth keeping. Read both policies for “abroad” or “worldwide” cover.

If I am insured twice, do I get paid twice?

No. You can claim from either insurer, but in total you never receive more than your actual loss; the insurers share the cost between them. That is the rule in Belgium (Insurance Act, art. 99) and in the Netherlands (Civil Code, art. 7:960 and 7:961). The second premium mostly buys you nothing.

How do I check all my policies for overlaps?

Put every policy in one list with what it covers, then look for the same risk twice: the same item, the same type of policy, or cover that sits inside another policy. Covera does this for you: add your policies and it flags possible overlaps, such as a phone policy next to contents cover.

See how Covera’s double insurance check works.