Trip ins for rented points?

[crzy4mickey]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this questions so please move is necessary...

We are renting points for the first time. We have always booked room only so if we had to cancel for some reason we were able to do so with little penalty but now that we are renting points I am nervous about cancellation. We never had to cancel before but you never know. Has anyone ever bought trip insurance when renting points? We did, however, rent points from a friend so can she cancel if there was an emergency or would she lose those points? We would not expect her to pay us back if we did have to cancel and she lost the points but if she got the points back or could reschedule that would be fine.

If you did use trip insurance, who did you use?

Thanks for your help!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

so can she cancel if there was an emergency or would she lose those points?

The unhelpful answer is "it depends." Every point has a Use Year. They have to be used by the last date of that use year. There is a deadline to bank them (into the next use year). If your reservation is late in the use year, a cancel will leave your friend unable to use or bank the points and they will be lost. So it's all about timing on both the points and the reservation and the cancel. It is very often hard to reschedule a trip on DVC.

 

[crzy4mickey]

her "use year" ends 9/30 and we are going November so I think she had to borrow against the next year.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

She may have used her October 2017 UY points. If you cancel a November trip, they will be bankable before the following summer. If she borrowed 2018 points, they stay in the 2017 UY and cannot be banked.

 

[Sandisw]

I think that you should make sure that you talk to your friend about her thoughts on canceling and what the expectation is. If she borrowed points for you to book, then they will be stuck in the UY of the vacation. If you cancel less than 31 days out, those points are put into holding which means they have the restriction of only being available for bookings within 60 days or less of arrival, and also then expire in the UY of travel.

Depending on what you both are comfortable with in terms of this, then you can decide if travel insurance is a good idea and how it would work in this case. Most DVC owners who rent have a no refund policy but seeing that you are friends, you may be able to work out a different situation. But, I think it is important that you talk to her ahead of time so there are no surprise or assumptions on the off chance you did need to cancel or change.

 

[Marionnette]

her "use year" ends 9/30 and we are going November so I think she had to borrow against the next year.

Not necessarily. She may have banked her 2016 points into her 2017 UY and she could be using them for your reservation. She may also be using some or all of her 2017 points and could have also borrowed 2018 points.

 

[crzy4mickey]

We are going to talk to her when she comes back from Disney and discuss our options. I would never expect money back if she can't use the points or if she lost them. We would rebook if we had that option but it might not until 2018. So if we lost the money we paid for the point rental would trip insurance cover that? I have no idea what company would even be a good place to start because I never used trip insurance. Park tickets are not activated until we enter a park and we booked with SW so we would get a credit for the air. It would just have to cover the lost money on the point rental. Any suggestions on trip insurance companies I could start there and ask them some questions.

 

[crzy4mickey]

she said she had to borrow from next year's use year. did not have banked points but I will clarify that with her.

 

[Marionnette]

We are going to talk to her when she comes back from Disney and discuss our options. I would never expect money back if she can't use the points or if she lost them. We would rebook if we had that option but it might not until 2018. So if we lost the money we paid for the point rental would trip insurance cover that? I have no idea what company would even be a good place to start because I never used trip insurance. Park tickets are not activated until we enter a park and we booked with SW so we would get a credit for the air. It would just have to cover the lost money on the point rental. Any suggestions on trip insurance companies I could start there and ask them some questions.

The problem is that if you should have to cancel, the insurance company is going to want proof that you have actually suffered a loss. Do you have a contract with your friend? Does it spell out the particulars regarding what you spent, what you were getting in return for your money and what would happen if you should need to cancel? Some insurance policies will not cover timeshare rentals. Agencies like David's do not offer trip insurance but they do provide links to companies that do. That might be a good place to start your search for a policy to cover you.

 

[supersnoop]

Trip insurance for points that you rented from a friend would be a huge fraud risk. I can't imagine you'd find someone to insure that type of transaction.

 

[crzy4mickey]

Trip insurance for points that you rented from a friend would be a huge fraud risk. I can't imagine you'd find someone to insure that type of transaction.

ok that's why I posted the question here because I really have no idea how trip insurance works. I was thinking I would have to show proof of what we paid like a contract. is that why you say it would be fraud?

 

[supersnoop]

ok that's why I posted the question here because I really have no idea how trip insurance works. I was thinking I would have to show proof of what we paid like a contract. is that why you say it would be fraud?

Fraud is way too easy in this scenario. I'm going to change you $2,000 for points, and you go buy trip insurance for $200. Then cancel the trip, I keep the points, and we split the insurance payout. Hence, not many companies would insure person-to-person transactions, especially when they aren't arms-length transactions.

 

[crzy4mickey]

I guess I'm just too honest or naïve, didn't even think of that. I won't even bother looking into trip ins. I hope this entire conversation goes unwarranted. But was just curious. Thank you all for your input/help.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And if there's no contract, even between friends, that's a violation of your friend's DVC agreement. If the points are rented, not gifted, a contract is required.

 

[crzy4mickey]

She is calling DVC today to figure this out...She did say she would write up a contract for the agreement but I haven't seen her yet in person. I will sign a contract to protect all of us.

 

[supersnoop]

She is calling DVC today to figure this out...She did say she would write up a contract for the agreement but I haven't seen her yet in person. I will sign a contract to protect all of us.

The folks on the phone have been known to give out some bad information. We recently heard about one who said that renting wasn't allowed. But it is allowed and protected in the master public offering statement (POS).