Press Release

The average person now leaves home with up to $1,000 worth of personal effects on them. RACT Insurance says it can be a lot to lose in the event of having your handbag stolen.

A quarter of all the insurer's Personal Effects claims are for stolen handbags, where multiple valuables are lost.

The most common personal effects stolen are small devices such as mobile phones, small digital cameras, and ipods/mp3 players - nearly 40% of total stolen claims, says the Chief Executive of RACT Insurance, Trent Sayers. They are followed by sunglasses, laptops, and GPS devices. 

 "A decade ago, a lost handbag wouldn't have contained as much pocket-sized technology, and people should consider the value of what they put in their hand bag each time they go out.

"You only need to lose a bag containing a personal organiser and an Ipod, and you're already up to nearly $1,000 worth of lost value, not to mention the inconvenience of losing the material you have stored on these devices."

Mr Sayers said owners should be alert for their property when they were out and about, and should also ensure they are adequately insured. "Typically, handbag theft occurs in busy retail environments when people put their handbags in a shopping trolley, or let them hang from the trolley's handle bars.

"It's also easy to put down a handbag for a moment or two where it is out of sight, to find that an opportunistic thief has stolen it.

"While theft is an issue, most of our claims are for personal effects which are simply lost, but the result can be the same: inconvenience and money down the drain if you are not insured."

Mr Sayers said people should be mindful that each time they stepped outside the home, they had about their person a valuable collection of personal items. "It's a case of being more security conscious than we were before," said Mr Sayers.

ENDS

For more information, Mr Sayers on 0401 993 926