If you’re splashing out on a sofa or holiday, you’re more thanlikely to be offered the chance to insure your purchase against disaster. Accidents happen, and you may be tempted to pay a little more to make sure that a spilled cup of tea doesn’t lead to grumbles over your new buy becoming a write-off. But before you sign up to a specialist insurance policy, make sure you know what you’re buying – and that it isn’t something you have already paid for.

Sofa stain cover

If you buy a sofa from stores such as DFS, SCS and Furniture Village and you’ll be offered this insurance. Usually sold as a furniture protection policy, it will typically cover accidental damage and stains on both fabric and leather sofas for up to five years. If things do go horribly wrong you can claim a repair or even a replacement.

At DFS you can pay £95 for a five-year policy to cover a three-seater fabric sofa against damage caused by stains from food and drink, ink, make-up, pet fluids, glue, paint and acid.

Furniture Village charges up to £49 a seat, or around £120 for a three-seater sofa, but if you make a claim it’s not clear cut that you will get a replacement if the damage can’t be fixed. This policy states that if a repair isn’t possible, “we may choose to replace the damaged part”, and if this isn’t possible the policy provider may “at its sole discretion provide a replacement product”.

Unlike your household insurance policy there is no excess to pay on claims, but there are exclusions and small print. While you can make unlimited claims over the policy term, there is a maximum limit to the cover. With Guardsman policies, sold through DFS and Furniture Village, the cover limit is the price you paid for your sofa. This means that if you’re accident prone and have several repairs carried out, it could reduce your chance of having the sofa replaced if you later suffer a major incident.

These policies also only allow one claim for pet scratches. If for any reason the item is replaced by the insurer, then that is the end of your policy.

Guardsman says 89% of claims are accepted. In 72% of cases its cleaning specialists are able to fix the damage, but 15% of claims result in ordering replacement parts and in 2% of cases a replacement item is arranged.

However, before you buy you should check your home insurance and decide if you need extra cover, says Martyn Foulds from Halifax Home Insurance. Accidental damage is the cover to look for on your household policy, and this offers pay outs on damage throughout your house, not just specified items like sofas. Even if you don’t have this, Foulds says, “adding it to your existing contents cover can work out cheaper than buying individual warranties, although you will have to stump up the excess if you make a claim”.

Repair and protect policies

If one of your kitchen appliances packs up you could call the manufacturer to arrange a repair. However, if you take this route, and the appliance is beyond its guarantee period, it could prove costly if you are persuaded into buying ongoing protection in the form of a repair and protect policy.

Big manufacturers like Hotpoint, Hoover, Zanussi, Whirlpool and Samsung all work with Domestic & General to offer these. They cover the cost of any initial repair – including callout, parts and labour – along with future breakdowns within the year. Cover also includes a replacement option if on a subsequent visit the appliance is deemed beyond repair.

But policies can be pricey, starting from £168 a year, and appliances must be less than 12 years old.

Instead of forking out for insurance, shop around locally to find an independent repair company which may be able to fix the fault much more cheaply. Also check that your bank account doesn’t come with similar insurance – Nationwide’s FlexPlus account includes extended warranty cover for unlimited household appliances with a zero excess on claims.

Hotel cancellation cover

Book a room with Travelodge and you can buy cancellation cover. This costs £1.95 per booking, paying out up to £500 if you cancel due to reasons including illness, injury or vehicle breakdown. The payout is limited to any pre-paid charges including the room, breakfast or dinner, and early or late checkout fees.

Bob Atkinson from TravelSupermarket.com says you should think carefully before buying such a policy. “If you are offered cancellation cover for a hotel, ask yourself some questions before considering if it’s worth buying. Is the room rate you’re booking non-refundable? Many rooms can be cancelled up to the day of departure at no cost if you have a flexible room rate. Do you have existing travel insurance?” he says.

“Many travel policies have an excess of £50 upwards to cancel, and for UK bookings will require you to be away for two or more nights to make the booking valid for cover – so weigh up the pros and cons before deciding whether standalone cover is worth it to protect your stay,” Atkinson adds.

While a claim on your travel policy would cost you the excess, cover usually extends beyond the cost of any overnight accommodation and payouts may include cover for excursions along with other prepaid costs.

Excess protection on holiday hire cars

This insurance is worth having, but to get the best price you should buy before you go, and not from the car rental firm.

The insurance you typically get with your hire car covers the bulk of the damage in the event of an accident, but you can still be liable for the “excess”. And it doesn’t need a major accident to leave you out of pocket – even a relatively minor scrape can mean you have to pay the excess, which can be up to £1,000, according to the AA. At Hertz, the excess in Spain starts at €670 (about £480), for a Toyota Yaris or similar model.

Hire companies are often keen to flog you excess protection insurance, which effectively wipes out any excess and is often sold when you collect your car, but it can prove the expensive. “Some companies charge up to £50 a day,” warns Ian Crowder from the AA.

Hertz’s excess waiver product starts from €20 a day in Spain (around £100 a week), but you can save money if you buy an excess protection policy. This costs from £3.99 a day or £39.99 a year with insurance4carhire.com, from £2.99 a day or £39.99 a year from icarhireinsurance.com, or from £4.50 a day with the AA with cover up to £5,000.

Key cover

If your car keys are lost or stolen it can be a costly business, not to mention inconvenient. This is where companies like Keycare come in, offering annual cover including replacement keys, transport home and hire car fees for up to three days. This costs about £30 a year for up to £1,500 of cover.

There is no excess to pay, but you should check your motor policy before buying a standalone car key cover policy, says Jeremy Ward from Lloyds Bank. “Some motor insurers offer this as standard or an optional extra, which may work out cheaper.”

Research from Gocompare claims 84% of motor policies already include cover for stolen keys as standard, and 52% automatically provide cover for lost keys with limits typically between £500-£1,500. With some insurers like LV= key cover is unlimited on motor policies.