Travel Insurance 'scam'

[susieh]

Just posting this warning cos we were caught out on our last trip to Disney in 2006.

If you book your holiday yourself (ie do not book it as a package) then the cancellation part of your travel insurance ceases as soon as you leave home.

This means that should anything happen that changes your plans then unless you pack in the whole trip and come home then any losses incurred due to cancelled accommodation or trips or cruises etc are not covered.

Our experience was when my husband contracted a 24 hr tummy bug the day we were due to go on a 4 night cruise in the middle of our trip. We knew he would get over it quickly but obviously we could not go on a ship with him being sick and needing the loo every 30 mins (we couldnt even get to the ship!). So we added 4 nights stay to the hotel we were in and stayed put for the cruise duration then continued with the rest of the plans. We thought the cost of those 4 nights or the cost of the cruise would be covered by insurance (we had a doctors note saying he could not go on the cruise). The insurance would not pay out one penny.

I have no idea how you can get round this problem - we often do split stays and have a fixed transfer in the middle which will never be covered by travel insurance. I have asked several companies if they do a policy which would help but they all give me the same answer - NO

 

[aaronandterri]

surely a annual travel policy would cover all the diffrent trips?????

 

[paulh]

we use an annual and have clamed no prob. have done our trips diy
Paulh

 

[Merylj]

Àll our trips are DIY, our DVC stays aren`t covered as I`ve asked. I also asked if cruises were covered and they said yes - as I`d remembered your previous post (apologies if it wasn`t you)
In all honesty its the health insurance I`m most interested in and the flights.
I`m always wary with insurances - though the only claim we have ever made was settled quickly without problem.

 

[susieh]

Medical cover and loss of property or any clauses like that still apply. It is specifically the cancellation cover that does not apply once you start a 'trip'. The importance is how the insurance company defines the word trip.

Once you leave home (ie fly off to Orlando or wherever) then you cannot claim anything under cancellation cover unless you curtail the whole trip. So in our case they paid for Steve's medical treatment but would not pay for us having to cancel part of the holiday. If we had chosen to return home when he was ill they would have paid for that.

Our policy was an Annual policy with Norwich Union - not exactly a back-street operation!

 

[paulh]

were with insureandgo backed by AIG. Not douting youve had problems
Paulh

 

[Netty]

WE ALSO ALWAYS HAVE AN ON GOING ANNUAL POLICY
If however you decide to have insurance that covers your holiday duration only then its wise to have that cover run a few weeks before you go away and not on the day you leave or the day before your hols!
A annual policy isn't much more dearer either, worth looking around. we pay about £66 i think, now for 3 of us, as we stay with the same company we get a reduction (incentive) to stay with them.

http://www.direct-travel.co.uk/

 

[Merylj]

It is a very good point you raise, as you`re saying the insurers just look at the whole trip and not one in segments, which could prove costly should anything go wrong.
I bet alot of people have been caught out by that loophole.

 

[susieh]

It is a very good point you raise, as you`re saying the insurers just look at the whole trip and not one in segments, which could prove costly should anything go wrong.
I bet alot of people have been caught out by that loophole.

That is exactly what I mean. And apparently it is something that ALL the insurance companies do. We tried in vain to find one that would do either a single trip policy which covered our plans or an annual policy that did so. Last year we went to Hawaii and after 4 days in Honolulu we had a 7 day cruise - we just had to take the risk that nothing would happen to stop us going on the cruise - if it had we would have been £2500 out of pocket with no way of recovering the cost.