Insurance claims - experiences?

nafe12

About to buy insurance, but lots of reviews of the various insurers just cover the policy purchase, not the claim.

Just wondering if anyone could share their positive/negative claim experiences with a particular provider, to at least help narrow the field.
Thanks!

nafe12

PS spent ages trying to decide -- I don't think I'm too fussy, basically

a) Reasonable amount and/or excess for lost passport and missed departure (the most likely claim)
b) With wintersports, covers the hire of equipment
c) A reasonable alcohol policy (i.e. disclaiming only abuse/irresponsibility).

budgetflyer

Our through our bank acc has been brilliant (Halifax/ BoS )
They fully paid out all my expenses after the ash cloud, and then the following year when we had a lot of stuff stolen from our apt in India.
They also cover us despite my wife having a pre existing medical condition.

Voyager2002

I claimed a couple of years ago against an American Express annual policy. The claims experience was better than average (not brilliant); the actual cover was again better than most policies on sale, as the brand name might lead one to expect. Since I had "earned" quite a lot of cash-back when I took it out (through TopCashBack) it ended up being very reasonably priced. One negative was that it was set to auto-renew, but cancelling that at the end of the year was quick and easy.

InsideInsurance

nafe12 wrote: »

About to buy insurance, but lots of reviews of the various insurers just cover the policy purchase, not the claim.

A review of the product probably is the best to go by in most cases.

Many negative opinions come from people buying budget products which therefore have a lot of limitations (which is how they cheaper) and then complain when one of those limitation prohibits/ reduces their claim.

Secondly, travel insurance is predominately about medical expenses, particularly outside of Europe. Secondly its about cancellation of the holiday itself. Way out in third place but the most complained about is about covering your items. For that however you will get much better cover from your home insurance's Personal Possessions section than any travel policy.

victor2

nafe12 wrote: »

About to buy insurance, but lots of reviews of the various insurers just cover the policy purchase, not the claim.

Just wondering if anyone could share their positive/negative claim experiences with a particular provider, to at least help narrow the field.
Thanks!

We have used BUPA travel insurance for a good number of years. Not the cheapest, certainly not the most expensive, but we have claimed twice and had nothing but help and prompt settlement. One claim was for complete cancellation of a trip due to an accident before the holiday hospitalising me. Second was when my wife's brother's wife passed away not long before we were scheduled to leave (to visit her abroad). We had to cancel and rebook earlier flights. Airline (big one with red people ) refused to help as it didn't involve a blood relative of either of the passengers. BUPA had no problem with that and just required a copy of the death certificate to backup the claim.

Still use them, and they cover an existing medical condition I now have. Always easy to contact and very helpful in our experience.

nafe12

budgetflyer wrote: »

Our through our bank acc has been brilliant (Halifax/ BoS )

Tahnks - Any idea with who the insurers are?

InsideInsurance

BoS is by Axa
Halifax is by Great Lakes/First Assist

Axa is behind a massive array of policies but there are many intermediaries with delegated authority and so both product quality and service can vary massively

nafe12

InsideInsurance wrote: »

BoS is by Axa
Halifax is by Great Lakes/First Assist

Axa is behind a massive array of policies but there are many intermediaries with delegated authority and so both product quality and service can vary massively

I see. In your experience, is the service generally better if you deal directly with the underwriter?

InsideInsurance

nafe12 wrote: »

I see. In your experience, is the service generally better if you deal directly with the underwriter?

Not particularly, some intermediaries can add decent value to the whole process, the problems can be that identifying these.

To give a bit of a long example, a prior client used to be an intermediary for a travel insurance insurer and with their delegated authority they did a series of white labels offerings with other parties. Their standard wholesale price for a policy was, for illustration purposes, £10 but of cause the end client could charge customers whatever they wanted.

In addition to changing some of the product terms, eg increasing the limits or reducing the excesses, the client could also pay a higher wholesale price to get their customer preferential treatment (eg their calls were answered sooner, their claims processed quicker, a small amount of goodwill given - so if the customer was delayed 8hrs 55 minutes they got paid for 9hrs delay rather than the 8hrs the wording said they should etc)

Now of cause the client is in control of the end pricing and so some would buy the policy at £10 and charge their customers £25, others would buy the enhanced service and so pay £12 a policy but charge their customer £20

There was a general correlation between the brand proposition and if extra service was bought (and to what level) but there were some noticeable discrepancies plus of cause there were a lot of brands without a really well known proposition (budget/ luxury etc) and so you'd be hard pressed to know how service would be.

Price isnt always a perfect indication, though it is a reasonable guide, because if this is your main product you need to make a reasonable profit. If this is just a token sideline then you may be willing to sell at little more than cost price because you make your main profit elsewhere.

nafe12

Thanks...

Damn, it seems like I need a broker.