DVC Insurance - help!

[jbrockwell5081]

We have recently become members of DVC SS and have just booked our first vacation next Christmas (yay ).

Now here comes the problem....

We were given "the leaflet" to book insurance for our points through Travel Guard. I have just phoned them, and they say because I live in the UK, they can't issue me any insurance....aaaaaahhh.

Can anyone help me find insurance to cover against my points in the same way they would? Is there anyone else out there in the UK or US that will cover me?

Thanks guys
Jacqui

 

[paulh]

we just use normal uk travel insurence
Paulh

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
I made enquiries with several UK insurance companies when I first joined DVC and none would offer any cover as no cash had actually changed hands. I wasn't aware that the company DVC sends information about wasn't available to UK residents and seems odd that they send it. Might be worth checking with DVC themselves to see if they are aware of this. I personally haven't tried to use them as they seemed expensive and we just "risk " the points and hope if we did ever have to cancel that we might be able to re-arrange the booking for a future date.

Mick.

 

[vernon]

Jacqui , I'm not convinced that any extra insurance is really of any value to UK DVC members. My reasoning is that if you have to cancel your holiday at the last minute, it's almost certain that will be at least a day before the start of your DVC booking, as such you shouldn't "lose" those points, although they would go into a holding account with limitations on their use. I think any insurance company could, make the argument you haven't actually lost anything by cancelling your holiday as you can still use those points at a later date. Even if you can't travel it is still possible that you could rent out those points and make a profit ( or no loss) on the deal. It would require some pretty unusual set of circumstances ( right at the end of your use year) for you to lose the use of those points completely, and in that case I'm sure you would be covered by your "regular" holiday insurance, although I'd expect it will take some arguments to get them to pay out.

Like Mick I thought the insurance they offer through DVC is relatively expensive and for Brits I don't think it offers much, even if it were available.

 

[ColoradoBelle1]

I agree with Vernon 100%.
I can see where you might be concerned with the airline ticket...I always buy nonrefundable to save on the price of the airline ticket and then just pay the $100 cancellation fee if I have to reschedule...and so far have come out ahead without any insurance.
THe only time I think insurance might be worth it, is if you are at a time of life when your health is an issue AND if you are cruising. (Losing a cruise is a hefty expense.) But insofar as insuring your vaca at a DVC...the risk of loss isn't worth the cost of insurance IMHO.

But it never hurts to tell DVC that UK people aren't 'eligible' and to ask why.
Have a magical day
Colorado Belle

 

[Sue's Mum]

I have used their insurance for insuring our points. As it happens, I ended up by renting out the points and so didn't need the insurance anyway and didn't lose any money either.

 

[Halo]

We had to cancel our planned trip this Easter due to DW's pregnancy (baby #3 due in July and DW has high blood pressure complications). We have BA Travel Insurance and found that they do not cover timeshare points so your concern is well established. Fortunately we have been able to sell the points on as going later in the year (before end-Nov) would not be an option. I sold them via this noticeboard with no problems, but it would have been simpler to claim on insurance. I do not know why they cannot just treat it as a cash booking at the resort.

We were also using a BA Amex Companion Voucher for our flight and found that BA's own insurance didn't cover this either. We were not impressed with either BA or Amex.

 

[jbrockwell5081]

For info,
I have today spoken with MS about another matter, but asked about this insurance. Apparently Travel Guard stopped covering people from the UK on 1st February, but MS with Travel Guard are looking in to "another service" that would be more appropriate and cost effective for us Brits.
Jacqui