Beware! Virgin Travel Insurance does NOT cover Tesco Deals

researcher

I was surprised to find that when I called Virgin Travel Insurnace to confirm they would cover a holiday part paid for with Tesco Deals that despite them accepting Deals as payment they do NOT cover them in their insurance. The Deals value would be excluded.

richardw

If the deals value is high, perhaps get tesco insurance as additional cover.

Incapuppy

Why would you take out two policies for the same holiday?

Do a forum search for 'travel insurance tesco clubcard' and you will find a couple of options.

richardw

Do you already have the Virgin Travel Insurance?

HXDave

when you say they would not cover the holiday, exactly what part of the holiday?

do you mean that if you paid £600 in vouchers & £400 in cash and you then cancelled, they would only cover you for the £400 paid in cash?

researcher

HXDave wrote: »

when you say they would not cover the holiday, exactly what part of the holiday?

do you mean that if you paid £600 in vouchers & £400 in cash and you then cancelled, they would only cover you for the £400 paid in cash?

Yes - exactly that.

Sorry I wasn't clear. Up until now you could pay £700 per person with Deals - it is that which will not be covered. So if for example a couple paid £2000 in total and had to cancel they would only be repaid £600 and lose £1400.

I am actually shopping around for an annual policy - and have looked in detail at what Martin and others have said on this site. But whichever policy I decide on must cover Deals as I have a holiday booked for next year using them and one later this month that doesn't.

dzug1

I think - but am not 100% sure - that Tesco's own policy is the only one that covers clubcard deals in full

blue_monkey_2

I thought everyone knew that tbh, it does say in the T&C when they come and you should check the insurance policy to ensure they are covered and Tesco, AFAIK, are the only ones that will allow them on there as part of a payment.

If you have used £4000 in deals you have only actually used vouchers with a face value of £1000 (before he change) so no insurance company - including Tesco - is going to refund £4000, you'll only get the face value back - after any excess due of course.

Tesco Insurance is the only way to go when using vouchers IMO.

blue_monkey_2

Incapuppy wrote: »

Why would you take out two policies for the same holiday?

Do a forum search for 'travel insurance tesco clubcard' and you will find a couple of options.

Because you may already have an annual policy and want cover for the deals you have just used?

I actually think that you cannot have 2 Insurance policies for the same thing so if I was saving £2,800 on a holiday I would be cancelling my Annual Policy and getting a Tesco Policy that did cover the vouchers.

davetrousers

I used travelinsuranceweb, for a (Cosmos/Monarch) holiday paid for using Tesco Points. It said that if the holiday was paid for using deals then the value of the deals would be covered. Can't remember exact wording.

I took the view that the main reason for travel insurance was health care and repatriation. And that I would take the risk on the tour operator not going bust. But that's just me.

HXDave

researcher, thanks for clarifying. in all fairness, the amount paid using vouchers are not, effectively, a cost to you, and therefore you will find the majority of insurance companies would not pay for these. It's exactly the same as a discount given by a tour operator / travel agent. say for example you got a holiday for £1000, and the nice kind agent gave you a 10% (£100) discount, you would only pay £900. if you then cancelled and lost all your holiday money, the insurance would only pay for the amount that you had actually paid IN LEGAL TENDER (ie sterling - £900.00).

This is also the same in the case of the ATOL protection bond operated by the CAA. if your tour operator goes bust and you are covered, they will only pay for the amount that you actually paid in legal currency, and not the amount of any vouchers you may have used.

But like mentioned above, you may be able to find someone who will cover this, but also check that the rest of the policy covers for what you need.

Blue-monkey, there is nothing wrong with having more than 1 insurance policy to cover for a holiday, however it must be noted that in the event of a claim, you must advise each insurance company that the claim could be covered by the other policy, and then they will start argueing about who's responsibility it is to pay out, thus possibly delaying what could be a straight forward claim.