Why I never bother with travel insurance

Nobjocki

Soubrette wrote: »

Out of interest - do you have a self insure pot of money? Or contingency plans if something does go wrong?

Or are you just hoping that an expensive adverse event will never happen to you?

I have enough money to cover every single eventuality which might occur on my foreign travels.
I also have a Platinum Amex card which offers excellent travel insurance.
But even when I didn't have one I considered travel insurance and indeed most insurance a complete and utter waste of money.
So let me ask you a question.
Do you do the Lottery ?
And why are those miniscule odds of winning better than than my miniscule odds of not needing to claim on travel insurance ?

Life is all about percentages and statistics baby

Moomum

I always get insurance, never ever used it until last year in Florida. I got tonsilitis which ended with a hopsital stay, steroid shots, antibiotics and then OH got pharyngitis and required steroid tablets and antibiotics. Bill was $6000!! We paid £150 excess and the policy was £46 for a year for whole family!

lynzpower

Nobjocki wrote: »

I have enough money to cover every single eventuality which might occur on my foreign travels.
I also have a Platinum Amex card which offers excellent travel insurance.
But even when I didn't have one I considered travel insurance and indeed most insurance a complete and utter waste of money.
So let me ask you a question.
Do you do the Lottery ?
And why are those miniscule odds of winning better than than my miniscule odds of not needing to claim on travel insurance ?

Life is all about percentages and statistics baby

So you do actually have travel insurance?

Soubrette

Nobjocki wrote: »

I have enough money to cover every single eventuality which might occur on my foreign travels.
I also have a Platinum Amex card which offers excellent travel insurance.
But even when I didn't have one I considered travel insurance and indeed most insurance a complete and utter waste of money.
So let me ask you a question.
Do you do the Lottery ?
And why are those miniscule odds of winning better than than my miniscule odds of not needing to claim on travel insurance ?

Life is all about percentages and statistics baby

No I don't do the lottery I'd rather keep my £1 a week as the chance of winning something worthwhile in my lifetime is low - so I'll keep my pound and build on it

Unlike you though I don't have access to a large amount of credit (or a card that actually offers travel insurance :cool:) so I have a pot of self insurance money as there is a difference between gambling a small amount of money in the hope of gaining more money (where what you would lose is limited to your inital stake) and gambling a small amount of money and hoping you don't lose an unknowable and possibly extremely large wodge of cash.

I don't do much insurance myself, travel and buildings is pretty much the only things I consider essential (oh yes and car insurance) and if I were rich enough then I wouldn't bother with those either . I have the largest excess I can on my car insurance (compulsory but I'd also have that too because of the third party liability, I have fully comp only because it's cheaper than 3rd party *rolleyes*).

The last statement I agree with, I don't believe that no adverse event will ever happen to me in my lifetime but I do believe that I have enough saved money, caution and contingency plans in place that I don't need half of what other people would consider essential.

I am hoping though that my contingency fund will continue to grow and eventually become my retirement fund (as I've always worked low paid jobs for small amounts of time, even though I've always joined the pension fund of my employers - my actual pension pot looks decidedly meagre )

However, if I'm extremely unlucky and several massive events deplete my self insurance pot - rest assured I'll be biting the bullet and taking out paid for insurance (and looking at a crap retirement but I know the risks and can mitigate them if things go wrong).

I think it would be great if someone with more time and energy than me could actually write an article showing the costs of using insurance companies to insure compared to self insuring or taking the chance if you have a large amount of credit. Things like looking up payments out to premiums in, the likelihood of an event occuring etc, I think all this would be interesting and to the average buyer of insurance, a bit of an eye opener.

Nobjocki

lynzpower wrote: »

So you do actually have travel insurance?

No.
I have the means to claim on insurance as a by-product of having a Platinum Amex card.
If the card didn't come with it I still wouldn't bother with it.
As I said in my post I spent all my life before that never taking out travel insurance.
But it's one of those humdinger facts of life that the more money you have the more free stuff you get given.

duchy

So you are advocating that others (who don't have a card with built in insurance and thus likely fewer financial resources) should take out no insurance. Yet you have that safety net yourself?

A hypocrite more than a fool apparently

Nobjocki

duchy wrote: »

So you are advocating that others (who don't have a card with built in insurance and thus likely fewer financial resources) should take out no insurance. Yet you have that safety net yourself?

A hypocrite more than a fool apparently

I'm not advocating anything to others except the free will to make up their own minds.
If they feel more secure with travel insurance they should buy it.
All I'm suggesting is that they shouldn't believe the travel insurance companies hype that it is a dire necessity.
It isn't.
It is mostly a con to boost their profits.
A two week holiday on the Coast Brava carries no more risk than two weeks in Blackpool.
You really do have more chance of winning the lottery than coming a cropper on your sunbed.

davidlizard

I estimate the cost of my family holiday for 3 or so weeks in Greece to be around £2500 all in, which includes flights, accommodation, ferries, food and drink, bus fares, beer, sun tan lotion, attractions, activities - i.e. absolutely everything.

I typically expect to pay around £15-£30 for suitable travel insurance.

The insurance costs me less than 1% of the entire holiday costs. This is right down in the noise of overall holiday expenses. For the vast majority, travel insurance does not need to be any more than a couple of percent of the cost of the holiday. Its not as if we are taking a major expense.

If I want to start money saving on my holiday, there are a pile of things I can do which will save me more money than avoiding travel insurance, for example - sleeping at the airport rather than getting a hotel when we arrive, buying sun tan lotion in the UK, buying fizzy drinks in large bottles and transferring it to small bottles, taking my own beach umbrella, and so on.

For such a small amount of money, is it really worth risking house and possessions (and the kids inheritance!). You could have commonsense in spades, and wrap yourself and family in bubblewrap for the duration of the holiday, but that does not prevent a cook with bad personal hygiene sharing a nasty disease with you.

dacouch

For the record I have had clients who have claimed £300k+ on a travel policy in the U.S and one that claimed £60k + in Europe and I have handled a relatively small amount of travel policies

Pollycat

Nobjocki wrote: »

This thread has simply turned into the mundane talking to the dull - like a conversation between two nodding dogs in the back of a safe car.

By not taking out any insurance of any kind except car insurance ( and that's only because I am legally obliged to ) for the past 25 years I reckon I've saved myself the best part of £20,000.

That's 20 big ones in my butt pocket.

I am that money saving expert.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I doubt that Martin would agree with that statement.

Do come back to us and tell us how far your '20 big ones in your butt pocket' goes when something goes wrong with your 200 year old house or on one of your exotic holidays.