IF you are unfortunate enough to conk out on the motorway with the kids and dogs in the back the chances are that your breakdown cover won’t tow you away.

And if the worst happens and your house burns to the ground the cost of a rebuild could be a whole lot more than you anticipated - perhaps double.

Leading insurance guru David Harlow, chief executive of Three Castles Cover, says there are a host of unwelcome surprises lurking to catch out the unwary.

David, based at Torfaen’s Mamhilad Park Estate, has launched the new business as catch all insurance

Three Castles Cover provides combined insurance for homes, including investment properties, cars, worldwide travel and pets all in a single policy

David said: “I was spurred on to the launch the cover after an experience I had at home when as a result of a flood we lost two rooms at the house for two months.

"I got to thinking that although we were covered what would happen if the cover a person thought that they had didn’t cover the cost of this kind of accident; the problems associated with being out of half your home for a long period of time are endless.

“I also became aware that people can be seriously under insured when it comes to matters of, for example, a house fire and rebuilding costs. People will most likely find that their cover, if claimed after a serious fire, would not run to anywhere near the full cost of a rebuild.

“Our policy offers unlimited rebuilding costs.

“I have quite an old house in the middle of the countryside. These kind of houses tend to be quite large. I thought that in the event of a catastrophe such as a fire that the rebuild cost would be kind of where the value is but I found that the rebuild cost is actually twice the value of the property, which came as quite a surprise.

“What we offer as part of our service is to have a house, which we cover, surveyed by a professional surveyor from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. They come up with a rebuild cost for the property so that if the house did burn down that you are covered correctly and the insurance we provide would cover the cost of a rebuild.

“Another issue for people who live in cities is that have if they have a fire or a flood they may need to hire a skip for a week or more and there may not be a parking space, so arrangement will have to be made with the council.

“There are all sorts of issues which have been experienced by our underwriting team. This is all added expense and cost which people may not be aware of and will not have included in their budget.

“Other policies may cost a few less pounds but for a couple of extra quid we’re are ensuring that customers get a much better, more comprehensive insurance service. It’s peace of mind for the policy holder to know that whatever happens they are sorted.

“What we found was that some cover wasn’t as extensive as a customer may think. Often it’s not until you need to claim or call for assistance under the cover that gaps show.

“For example there is a case of one of our customers when covered by a previous insurer, when she broke down on the motorway. She was covered for break down assistance under her insurance so made a call. The assistance arrived but despite the lady’s predicament refused to tow her car as she had dogs in the vehicle.

“People often travel with their pets in the car, especially at this time of the year and they will be blissfully unaware that they aren’t covered if they break down. They don’t know that their policy doesn’t cover them and why would they know?

“This wouldn’t happen under our cover as this sort of thing is covered. We’re aiming to iron out anomalies, such as this lady and her dogs, so that when you take out cover with us you are covered and there aren’t any nasty surprises like being left stranded on the hard shoulder with a knackered car, fretful kids and a pack of over-excited dogs in the back.”