holiday company demanding full payment

peachyprice

katejo wrote: »

But would he have been covered if he had had an annual policy due to expire on July 31 (to be replaced by the new one on Aug 1st ) ?

My current annual is valid until feb 2014 . If I now wanted to book a trip for next march , would I have to pay again now for a new annual policy? If I were to develop a serious illness in jan 2014 , would the insurer refuse to refund for a holiday due to take place in March ?

No, they wouldn't (shouldn't, unless it's a particularly pants policy)

Your annual policy isn't just to cover the 'holiday' it's to cover the money you have spent during the time the policy is in effect. This is what a lot of people have a problem understanding, and why they think it's OK to take out insurance a couple of weeks before they travel. They think travel insurance is only to cover the 7/14 days holiday, it's isn't just for that period, it's for the period from the time your money leaves your account right up until the time you get back

katejo

peachyprice wrote: »

No, they wouldn't (shouldn't, unless it's a particularly pants policy)

Your annual policy isn't just to cover the 'holiday' it's to cover the money you have spent during the time the policy is in effect. This is what a lot of people have a problem understanding, and why they think it's OK to take out insurance a couple of weeks before they travel. They think travel insurance is only to cover the 7/14 days holiday, it's isn't just for that period, it's for the period from the time your money leaves your account right up until the time you get back

I am aware of the need to have insurance from the day you book but since insurers do seem to wriggle out of as much as possible .....!

peachyprice

katejo wrote: »

I am aware of the need to have insurance from the day you book but since insurers do seem to wriggle out of as much as possible .....!

I gathered you do but I'm honestly shocked at the number of people who don't.

katejo

peachyprice wrote: »

I gathered you do but I'm honestly shocked at the number of people who don't.

That example of the guy who booked his honeymoon trip and paid for the insurance in June (with a starting date in august) is exactly the type of mistake I was thinking of at the beginning of this discussion.

When others insisted that I was wrong, my reply did not
intend to say that they were completely incorrect but just that there were examples of this type of error. I was using my Ipod so a full explanation of my point was too long to type.

I do have 1 question though re. my current European annual policy.
Imagine that i decide to book a trip outside of Europe for next March/April. Why am i required to upgrade my policy to a World one NOW and not next February when it is due for renewal? If the price of the trip isn't anymore than a similar European one and only cancellation charges are involved (not expensive medical ones). I would end up having to pay the upgrade now and then for a full year of a world policy in February just for one trip.
Very unlikely that I would do 2 trips outside of Europe in 1 year but single trip policies are not usually worth it.

mcfisco

katejo wrote: »

I do have 1 question though re. my current European annual policy.
Imagine that i decide to book a trip outside of Europe for next March/April. Why am i required to upgrade my policy to a World one NOW and not next February when it is due for renewal? If the price of the trip isn't anymore than a similar European one and only cancellation charges are involved (not expensive medical ones). I would end up having to pay the upgrade now and then for a full year of a world policy in February just for one trip.
Very unlikely that I would do 2 trips outside of Europe in 1 year but single trip policies are not usually worth it.

Because the loss risk is an average not specifically what you pay for it. It's a shared risk.
Whilst you may only be paying a few hundred for your flight others will be paying much more and the overall average for worldwide will be higher.
That's why they don't ask you how much you're paying when you take out a policy

katejo

In that case I will make sure that I don't book any world trip until my European policy is about to expire!

spud_work

What if, for example, the following happens; (this is purely hypothetical BTW)

Annual travel policy from Jan 1 2012 to Dec 31st 2012 with company A
Annual travel policy from Jan 1 2013 to Dec 31st 2013 with company B (due to shopping around at renewal)

Holiday for August 2013 booked in October 2012 and then I have something that I need to claim for that would mean cancelling the holiday.

Is the claim made against company A whose policy was in place when flights, car hire, deposits etc. were paid for or company B whose policy is in force at the moment?

luci

Company A if that is the policy that is in force at the time of being diagnosed.

peachyprice

Depends when you cancel, if prior 11.59 on 31st December policy A, after 00.00 on 1st Jan policy B.

katejo

If you are taken ill and rushed to hospital before dec 31 but only know that you will have to cancel a trip 2 weeks later due to a later diagnosis , which insurer should pay up . Or perhaps the illness isn't that serious but the 2nd insurer refuses to cover you because you have had a stay in hospital .