Travel insurance - Excess

rkumar_3

Can any one advice? I took an annual family insurance though Travel Insurance Web ( went through Martin's article) and got a good deal. The excess mentioned in the web page was £50. When I made a claim they came back with a reply saying that the excess is £50 per person. So for a family insurance ( 2 adults + 1 child) it is £150!. I am being very naive here as I have never claimed any travel insurance in the past . Is it normally the case? If that is the case why don't they make it explicitly clear that the excess is £50 per person? Some how it seems unfair that they have just mentioned the excess as £50 . I thought it was £50 per claim.
Is there any thing that I can do?

scope

I was going to buy insurance for an upcoming trip, but as the excess was per person it would cost me more for the excess than the tickets cost in the first place, and as you are covered in most of europe when it comes to illness, etc, I didnt bother in the end.. The only way I will end up loosing is if my luggage go missing. Im taking my chance.

hansi

Most travel insurance companies state that the excess is per claim, per incident and per person. It is a bit of a rip off I agree. I have a current cancellation claim outstanding for a late cancellation due to my wife's illness,and I am waiting to see if they're going to charge the £50 as it is technically only one claim, or whether they will charge £100 because iIhad to cancel as well.. You just can't win

hansi

scope wrote:

I was going to buy insurance for an upcoming trip, but as the excess was per person it would cost me more for the excess than the tickets cost in the first place, and as you are covered in most of europe when it comes to illness, etc, I didnt bother in the end.. The only way I will end up loosing is if my luggage go missing. Im taking my chance.

If you're relying on the EHIC treatment, I hope that you don't get seriously ill as I don't think you'll be covered, ie repatriation etc.

lisyloo

as you are covered in most of europe when it comes to illness, etc, I didnt bother in the end..

I think it's unwise to rely on this.
Many countries run a different system to the UK.
So for example in many countries you will have to pay for an ambulance.

Repatriation is also not covered and chartering an air ambulance is not cheap !!

Neither would providing a translator or a nurse to fly back home with you.

Please take note and get some insurance !!

nadnad

yeah please get some insurance - its as little as £12 per person these days!! check out moneysupermarket.co.uk

scope

OK, you've convinced me. Now lets see if quidco can track my fee, which should half the insurance for me.

maclean2

Hi - quite often travel insurers offer "excess buyout" which reduces the excess to nil.Marks and Spencers do this at a fairly nominal price for single trip as well as on annual policies.


HTH

Astaroth

likewise with most insurance you can increase the excess to reduce the premiums - not as common with travel insurance unless you have certain medical conditions which massively load the premiums.

Personally dont tend to take out travel insurance as a combination of home insurance and medical insurance covers most my needs