Travel Insurance

Becles

I did a mystery shop in a travel agents and the lady had me all confused about travel insurance.

I had to say I already had insurance with the bank.

She said she couldn't give me a holiday quote without insurance so she did a quote for me and my fictitious family of two adults, a 10 year old and an 8 year old. One quote was just insurance with an excess to pay on a claim, then the second quote was more expensive with excess waiver meaning there would be no excess to pay.

Then she started talking about how much better this was than the bank insurance as I would have a lot of excesses to pay on that as they charge per item rather than per claim. She said that suppose both the children got food poisoning and needed to see a doctor and the excess was £50. I'd have four separate claims for 2 x doctor consultations and 2 x treatment, so I would have to pay the first £200 of the claim.

Then she told me the bank insurance wasn't really that good at all, and it's just a very basic policy that doesn't really cover you enough as it's just a way of the bank making more money out of you.

Does it really work like that or was she just telling me porkies to sell her insurance?

Incapuppy

All policies are different and you can quite often tailor them to suit your requirements.

AFAIK buying your travel insurance via a travel agent these days is a huge mistake as it's usually available much cheaper elsewhere.

We've used the travel insurance supplied with Nat West Gold Bank Account before and it's been perfectly good for our needs.

luci

How could she tell how good or bad your bank policy is? Has she read it? How does she know the excess is per incident and not per claim?

It was a sales pitch pure and simple as they get high commission on insurance sales.

Hope you have marked your mystery shop accordingly.

Pollycat

Becles wrote: »

She said she couldn't give me a holiday quote without insurance so she did a quote for me and my fictitious family of two adults, a 10 year old and an 8 year old. .

Is this really true?

What about those people who already have annual insurance?
Is she saying that you have to buy insurance in with the holiday?
If you have annual insurance, wouldn't that mean you were insured twice?

So is she rejecting potential customers who already have annual insurance in place?

She (and presumably the shop she works in that allows her to say this) sounds a bit 'iffy'.

Becles

She said she can't sell a holiday without insurance and as I didn't have any insurance on me to show her, she said she had to do holiday quotes with insurance on.

She did say it could be removed when I came back to book the holiday if I decided to take the risk and just use my bank policy.

Just seemed like a real hard sell on the insurance and she used a load of jargon and had me all confused, so I was curious as to how it all should work

Pollycat

Becles wrote: »

She said she can't sell a holiday without insurance and as I didn't have any insurance on me to show her, she said she had to do holiday quotes with insurance on.

She did say it could be removed when I came back to book the holiday if I decided to take the risk and just use my bank policy.

Just seemed like a real hard sell on the insurance and she used a load of jargon and had me all confused, so I was curious as to how it all should work

I'd really like someone who is 'in the know' (maybe Delwyn?) to tell us if this is likely to be true.
Maybe she meant that the way the system was set up and the way they do quotes means that, in the absence of insurance documentaion, she has to quote including the shop's own policy.

If I popped into a high streeet TA, I'd certainly not think to take my annual policy with me, especially if it was a spur of the moment thing if I'd seen a deal I was interested in.

What would have happened if you'd wanted to book the holiday and didn't have your own insurance?

Are you even forced to take out insurance on a package holiday?

Beccles - was it a high street travel agent? Can you say which one?
I'm tempted to go in and ask for a quote on a holiday for me and my fictitious family just to see what they say.

[Deleted User]

Lots of holidays I have seen will not let you book unless you have the equivalent insurance to them or better and at some time before you go you let them have the number

Incapuppy

Whereas plenty of companies are clearly not bothered and are clearly not duty bound to enforce it given the high rate of numpties who choose to travel abroad without insurance for the sake of saving a few quid.

Incidentally I've never had to provide proof of travel insurance when booking.

stephb34

Did she say "sell" or "quote"

The difference being maybe their shop isn't allowed to quote holidays without giving a price for the insurance, but if she was selling you a holiday they can't force you to take their insurance unless they're going to give it you for free.
Normally our mystery shoppers mark you down if you don't offer insurance, car parking, currency, park tickets etc.

Becles

It was quote - she said she couldn't quote without insurance even though I'd said I didn't want it as I had the bank policy. She did say if I went back to buy the holiday and I wanted to use my bank insurance she would take her insurance off the quote.

She spent more time discussing why her insurance was better than bank insurance than she spent explaining the actual holiday

I'd rather not say which chain it was as I know some mystery shopping companies watch the mystery shopping thread so I'm a bit paranoid!

zagfles

shrimper1 wrote: »

Lots of holidays I have seen will not let you book unless you have the equivalent insurance to them or better and at some time before you go you let them have the number

Yes, but they never check IME. I have medical cover though work and always give then that policy number/emergency number if they ask, but it's not full travel insurance (medical only), never had a problem.