If you're like most people, you don't relish spending money on insurance. Sure, you need it, but it's not bright and shiny, you can't drive it, and no one is going to admire it. So it's all the more galling when you find out you've purchased insurance that you don't need. “Fear sells a lot of insurance,” says Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy group of which Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, is a founding member. “A good rule of thumb is to purchase insurance only from an insurance provider. And buy policies that are comprehensive.”

Insurance should cover catastrophic losses that you'd be hard-pressed to cover on your own. So what do you need? A term-life policy to cover your contribution to the family's expenses; a comprehensive health policy (or membership in a managed-care plan); disability coverage to provide income when you can't work; and homeowners and auto insurance to replace lost property. If you've got those, you don't need the following 10 policies.

1

Mortgage life insurance. This policy, generally purchased from a lender, will pay off your mortgage if you die. The cost can be three to five times as much as comparable term-life insurance for a benefit whose value declines as the mortgage is paid down. Instead: Rely on term life.

2

Credit-card-loss protection. It pays off losses if your card is stolen and the thief goes on a spending spree. Plans cost $7 to $15 a month. But federal law limits your loss to $50 per card. Instead: Put credit-card numbers in a safe place, and report lost cards ASAP.

3

Car-rental insurance. For $10 to $25 a day, it covers damages to cars and people if you are in an accident while driving one of the rental agency's vehicles. Check to see if your credit card or your own auto policy will offer full coverage on a rental vehicle says Sandy Praeger, insurance commissioner for Kansas. Instead: If you're already fully covered, don't bother.

4

Flight insurance. Specialty travel-insurance companies sell life-insurance policies that pay a benefit if you die (or are dismembered) in a plane crash. Depending on the amount of insurance you buy, you pay $15 to $60 per flight. Instead: Skip it. Term life will cover you if you die in a plane crash, and health insurance should cover medical expenses.

5

Cancer insurance. Marketed by specialty-insurance companies, these plans supplement health insurance for cancer-care costs. Annual premiums range from $200 to $3,000. Despite their high cost, the policies may not cover outpatient care. Instead: Chances are that your existing health insurance already covers cancer expenses, so forget about it.

6

Credit-life insurance. Credit-card companies, banks, and other organizations that finance a purchase or lend money offer policies that repay a loan if you die. According to the Consumer Credit Insurance Association, the average rate across the nation for credit insurance is 50 cents per $100 of coverage. This means a consumer pays $30 a year to insure a $6,000 loan. That's a lot of money when a healthy, nonsmoking man of 40 can buy $100,000 of 10-year level term coverage for as low as $100 a year. Instead: Make sure you have enough term life to cover loan payments.

7

Credit disability insurance. This policy will pay minimum installments on a loan, typically up to 36 months, if you are disabled according to the terms of your policy. A policy may cost $21 per $1,000 of coverage. Instead: Make sure that your disability plan will cover your expenses, including any loan payments.

8

Credit-card balance insurance. Credit-card companies market this policy which makes minumum payments on a credit card, if you are ill, disabled, or lose your job. Monthly premiums are based on the card's balance. For instance, at 90 cents per $100 and a balance of $3,000, you'd be stuck for $27. At that balance level your yearly premium would be $324. Instead: Create an emergency fund that will cover 3 to 6 months of your expenses.

9

Accidental-death insurance. Your heirs collect a benefit if you die in an accident. Cost runs about $600 a year. Only about 5 percent of those who die each year do so in accidents, however. Instead: Stick with term-life insurance, which pays regardless of cause of death.

10

Identity-theft insurance. Sold by banks, credit-card issuers, and specialty insurers, it covers the cost of repairing your credit and sometimes attorney's fees. Policies cost $20 to $180 a year for up to $25,000 in coverage, which does not include unauthorized charges or funds siphoned from accounts. Instead: Check your credit reports regularly. You can now get a free annual credit report from each of the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).