Key protection

Key protection cover features a range of benefits as standard

What's covered:

• Up to £1,500 annual cover for locksmith charges, new locks and keys
• Access to a 24-hour emergency helpline, which is open 365 days a year
• Up to £75 per day (max. three days) for car hire if your car is stranded
• No excess to pay if you have to make a claim
• Making a claim won't affect any no claims discount you've built up on other insurance policies.

What is not covered:

• Any costs experienced before telling Inter Partner Assistance within 48 hours of the discovery of the incident
• Any claim for theft of keys which isn't reported within 48 hours and a crime number hasn't been obtained
• Any claim for additional or duplicate keys
• Any claims where you can't provide valid receipts or tickets
• Locks damaged before the loss or theft of keys
• Keys lost or damaged in a lock by someone other than you or a member of your immediate family living at your address
• Keys stolen from someone other than you or a member of your immediate family living at the same address.

Full terms and conditions can be found in our insurance policy documents

Lost keys

Picture this: it's late Friday afternoon and you're driving home after a long week in the office. You arrive at your house, walk up to your front door and rummage for your keys, but you can't find them anywhere. What do you do?

The average Brit spends 10 minutes a day searching for personal items, which equates to a jaw-dropping 153 days over a lifetime. Mobile phones are at the top of the 'most lost items' list, with house and car keys coming in respective second and third places.

Losing your keys, whether they're your home, car or office keys, is a huge nuisance. And if you can't find them, you have to spend time and money arranging for them to be replaced. If you lose the keys to your home, you've also got the added hassle of changing all the locks – an expense any homeowner could do without.

Stolen keys

Misplacing your keys is one thing, but what if they're stolen? If you've reason to believe someone has taken your house keys, it's important to get your locks changed as soon as you can.

There are plenty of things you can do to keep your keys safe, such as:

• Avoid leaving spare keys in 'hidden' places such as under the doormat – they're more obvious than you think
• Separate your keys rather than having them on one bunch
• Leave a spare house key with a trusted neighbour or family member
• Keep keys out of sight inside your home and never leave them near a door or window.

For added peace of mind, many people take out home key cover on top of their home insurance to protect themselves in the event that their keys are either lost or stolen. Home key cover provides help in the recovery or replacement of lost or stolen home, car or office keys.

Lost or stolen keys present a stressful situation we could all do without. Thankfully, having protection in place through Hastings Direct makes things a lot easier.