Sean Widdess, LowestRates.ca’s Head of Strategic Partnerships, recently discovered the perk of having purchase protection. His wife, Lisa, and her friend, Sabrina, had their shopping bags stolen out of their vehicle earlier this year. The pair had been out shopping in Kelowna and ended up spending several hundred dollars each at a local mall. Sabrina used around $500 in gift cards, while Lisa put $350 on their MBNA World Elite Mastercard. “After a whole day out shopping, they decided they wanted to go out for dinner. So they go in [leaving their stuff in Sabrina’s car], they have a great dinner, they drink their wine, they’re laughing, they have a great time. So when they come back to the car, they notice the door was open a little bit,” Sean explained. “They look in and all of the stuff was stolen. Every single piece was stolen.” Retail parking lots are a favourite spot for thieves to get their hands on new loot, especially during busy shopping seasons like back-to-school and the winter holidays. Even outside of shopping centres, unattended goods in cars are an easy target for someone looking for a quick score and sometimes the aftermath can be tricky to deal with. Purchase protection can make that process a lot easier, however. After reporting the theft to the police, Sean found out he could file a claim to his credit card company for most of the stolen goods. The one exception is on perishable items, which Lisa had indeed purchased some of. They were however able to claim back $270 of the $350 spent, with the only real necessary legwork being that they had to go back to all those stores and get reprinted receipts. On the other hand, her friend was not so lucky. Sabrina contacted her auto insurance company, but because her deductible was $500, she would end up spending about the same amount of money that she’d get back. Plus, she was afraid an insurance claim might raise her premium. While she didn’t get everything she had back, Lisa was able to buy most of her stolen merchandise again at no additional cost, which is a lot more than can be said for her friend.