My wife has just arranged a travel insurance policy with Extrasure, which claims to cover baggage. But in the exclusions, if the baggage is more than five years old, there is no cover. If baggage is up to one year old, only 90 per cent of the cost is covered.

Insurance is supposed to put you back to the situation you were in before the theft or damage to baggage. Is it normal for travel insurance companies to offer baggage cover, and if over five years old, nil payment, and if three years old only 50 per cent of purchase price is covered?

Can you recommend a company that covers a 72-year-old for a single trip to Europe and doesn't impose such baggage restrictions? - William Warren, via e-mail

Times travel expert Julia Brookes responds: The Association of British Insurers said that it had never heard of a policy without baggage restrictions, and a spokesman for Extrasure explained the rules: “We understand that if you lose your clothing there is a financial outlay to replace these items, however the purpose of insurance is to return you to your financial position prior to the losses incurred.

Therefore, if the true market retail value of the items is 50, 30 or 0 per cent of the purchase prices at the time of the loss, the insured would be gaining financially if the provider were to settle 100 per cent of the purchase price for an item that has no current retail value.”

Annoyingly, clothes and shoes are treated in the same way as cars: if you buy a car and sell it three years later it's only going to be worth a fraction of its original price.

To make matters worse, the claims department would usually request receipts or bank/credit card statements as proof of ownership, so unless you are the sort that keeps records of all your purchases, replacing your holiday wardrobe might not be an easy task.

Times recommends

• Our globetrotters relax in New Zealand
• How to minimise the euro holiday misery
• A break for every weekend in 2009