Nationwide FlexPlus travel insurance - per person excess?

ronaldo7

Hi all,

I have a Nationwide FlexPlus account and have recently tried to make a claim on the travel insurance.

I was travelling with my girlfriend and the EuroStar was cancelled meaning that I lost out on my hotel in France (which was non refundable.)

After making a claim I was told that the excess was £50 per person and that I would need to pay £100 as there was two of us travelling.

My FlexPlus account is a sole account, it is not connected with my girlfriend in any way so why should I be paying an excess for her? I pay for the insurance to cover ME and only ME. So why would I pay an excess for someone else?

It doesn't seem right to me, is this normal for travel insurance? Is there anything I can do about it?

Cheers

Voyager2002

I think that you are right...

I take it that she is not insured under your policy. Did you make the hotel booking? One could argue that you paid for a hotel room that you were unable to use, and that she was simply your guest, so only one excess would apply.

The usual situation the insurers face would be a couple, both of whom were insured, in which case there would be two "excesses" deducted from the settlement, so perhaps they were confused by your claim.

As always, write with a polite explanation of why you think they were wrong, and if necessary send a separate letter to the complaints department.

ronaldo7

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I think that you are right...

I take it that she is not insured under your policy. Did you make the hotel booking? One could argue that you paid for a hotel room that you were unable to use, and that she was simply your guest, so only one excess would apply.

The usual situation the insurers face would be a couple, both of whom were insured, in which case there would be two "excesses" deducted from the settlement, so perhaps they were confused by your claim.

As always, write with a polite explanation of why you think they were wrong, and if necessary send a separate letter to the complaints department.

Thanks for your reply.

She is not insured under my policy. I have checked the policy and it says it insures my partner and children - she is neither.

I did pay for the hotel room, she was simply a guest. In which case I should expect to only pay one excess.

Also, my travel costs to London and back, can I claim them as an out of pocket expense? The insurance company told me no as I had used the tickets. I had only used them in order to get on the Eurostar which was cancelled, surely then they became an out of pocket expense as a result of the cancellation?

Cheers

InsideInsurance

If only half the occupants of the room are insured then you can probably only claim for half the lost reservation fee with your g/friend having to claim off of her policy for her proportion of it. Potentially having to pay 2 excesses but getting all the monies back may well be the more economical result

ronaldo7

InsideInsurance wrote: »

If only half the occupants of the room are insured then you can probably only claim for half the lost reservation fee with your g/friend having to claim off of her policy for her proportion of it. Potentially having to pay 2 excesses but getting all the monies back may well be the more economical result

Thanks for your reply.

The room was booked in my name and paid in full using my card. It was therefore my room. Whether I had a guest or not is irrelevant, I should be compensated for the cost of the whole room.

Would you agree with that?

Cheers

InsideInsurance

ronaldo7 wrote: »

The room was booked in my name and paid in full using my card. It was therefore my room. Whether I had a guest or not is irrelevant, I should be compensated for the cost of the whole room.

If that were the case then most people would only buy insurance for 1 and just say that person paid for the whole party and that all the luggage was theirs too etc.

Though medical expenses are by far the biggest payouts, its cancellation and luggage that 99% of people are concerned about.

You do seem to be trying to point out how insignificant your girlfriend is in your life. :cool:

ronaldo7

InsideInsurance wrote: »

If that were the case then most people would only buy insurance for 1 and just say that person paid for the whole party and that all the luggage was theirs too etc.

Though medical expenses are by far the biggest payouts, its cancellation and luggage that 99% of people are concerned about.

You do seem to be trying to point out how insignificant your girlfriend is in your life. :cool:

My insurance policy covers me, not my girlfriend, not my neighbour, not the 15,000 other people affected by the Eurotunnel closure...It only covers me.

So yes you're right, in regards to an insurance claim on my policy, my girlfriend (and everyone else) are 100% insignificant. :T

As such, asking me to pay an excess for her is preposterous.

Moving on to your example, I do see your point. However, is it up to the insurance company to stipulate who was staying in my room with me? What if my girlfriend was staying somewhere else? What if she was meeting friends in France or travelling around Europe? My point is, why does it matter what my girlfriend was doing at all? We have already established, she is irrelevant to my insurance policy.

For the purpose of this insurance claim, my girlfriend is just another passenger and I don't see why this should affect my claim in any way.

dacouch

What did you tell the Insurers when they asked you or when you completed the claim form regarding who was your party?

Did you refer to "Us" or my "Guest"

InsideInsurance

ronaldo7 wrote: »

As such, asking me to pay an excess for her is preposterous.

Moving on to your example, I do see your point. However, is it up to the insurance company to stipulate who was staying in my room with me? What if my girlfriend was staying somewhere else? What if she was meeting friends in France or travelling around Europe? My point is, why does it matter what my girlfriend was doing at all? We have already established, she is irrelevant to my insurance policy.

For the purpose of this insurance claim, my girlfriend is just another passenger and I don't see why this should affect my claim in any way.

Agreed they shouldnt be asking for you to pay an excess for her as she doesnt benefit from the policy however they should only be offering to cover 50% of the hotel costs with the other 50% being claimed off of her insurance and her insurers deducting whatever her excess is from the policy.

The fact that you are claiming you are giving her use of the room as a gift rather than having her pay 50% of it is irrelevant just as if you'd invited another couple along as a present to them and booked a second room but received no money from them you wouldnt have been able to claim for both rooms under your policy.

For any bills that are not invoiced by traveler then they will be considered to be split equally across each traveler that makes up the party. In the normal circumstances all travelers are covered by a single policy so this issue is invisible. As previously said, if this were not the case then people would only ever buy one policy, have them book everything and then say the fact others joined them was irrelevant as you are.

Quentin

ronaldo7 wrote: »

My insurance policy covers me, not my girlfriend, not my neighbour, not the 15,000 other people affected by the Eurotunnel closure...It only covers me.

If you had bothered to read your policy before posting you would have seen that this is incorrect


They have interpreted your gf to be your "partner" which seems to be to your advantage - she is being covered FOC!

ronaldo7

Quentin wrote: »

If you had bothered to read your policy before posting you would have seen that this is incorrect


They have interpreted your gf to be your "partner" which seems to be to your advantage - she is being covered FOC!

If you had bothered to read the rest of the thread you would have seen that I have already checked my policy - see post number 3:

"She is not insured under my policy. I have checked the policy and it says it insures my partner and children - she is neither."

It depends on the definition of 'partner', to which I would assume they mean married partner (husband/wife). Otherwise how else would they define 'partner'? If I travelled with my best mate's cousin's brother called Bob, would he also be my partner?

Also covering her FOC is not an advantage for me as I would be paying a £50 excess for her. It's an advantage for the insurance company, I wonder why they are so generous about who they cover?