Which travel insurance is best when holiday involves alcohol?

Tunstallstoven

Hi all (again!)

Following on from my thread about travel insurance and terrorism, I also have a question about alcohol Or should I say :beer:

From what I've read, pretty much all policies exclude claims arising where "x amount" of alcohol is involved. But that "x amount" can vary quite a lot, both in terms of quantity and in terms of how well defined or vague it is.

I went with Alpha insurance last year which specifies an exclusion if there were to be over the equivalent of 4 pints of beer/4 glasses of 175ml wine in your blood. From memory, that was quite a liberal amount compared to a few others I tried at the time. But before booking with them again, I wondered if anyone knows of any travel insurers who are even more kinder/liberal (or vague, if that's better)?

Many thanks

Max

elsien

They don't all necessarily specify an amount, as the effect can vary between people. Some will have a clause about if your judgement has been impaired. So even if you just have a couple of pints, if you then decide to jump off the hotel balcony into a pool then expect not go be covered.

leylandsunaddict

I've never had a policy specify an amount because alcohol has different affects on different people. It's often not as straightforward as just setting an limit.

When my son had an accident on holiday the insurance company asked the hospital if they deemed he was under the influence, or words to that effect.

Tunstallstoven

Many thanks for the replies. Going by what you've said, I'm thinking that the Alpha exclusion criteria might be the best to go for yet. Here's exactly what it says:

"a blood alcohol level that exceeds 0.19% approximately four pints or four 175ml glasses of wine"

bigadaj

Carlsberg?

Tunstallstoven

bigadaj wrote: »

Carlsberg?

Most likely... Maybe... Could be.... Perhaps... Possibly...

EssexExile

Seagull27 wrote: »

Many thanks for the replies. Going by what you've said, I'm thinking that the Alpha exclusion criteria might be the best to go for yet. Here's exactly what it says:

"a blood alcohol level that exceeds 0.19% approximately four pints or four 175ml glasses of wine"

Who's going to do the measuring?

Tunstallstoven

Doctors I'd guess....

leylandsunaddict

I think it's worse to state a 'limit' than not to. About 4 pints or 4 glass of wine. 4 pints of what? 4 glasses of what strength? Drunk over what period? For what weight of person? Generally with a blood alcohol of 0.19 your speech will be slurred and your balance, visions and reactions will be impaired. Can you see an insurance company paying out if someone in that state has an accident or does something stupid and injures themselves? I can't.

shaun_from_Africa

EssexExile wrote: »

Who's going to do the measuring?

I would have thought that if you were taken to hospital or had to see a doctor following an accident and the staff there thought that you had a reasonable amount of alcohol in your system, they would measure this before they decide on the treatment and this measurement would probably go on your records.
The last thing they would want to do is to send someone for surgery or issue certain medications if the patient was over a certain alcohol limit.

Tunstallstoven

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

Can you see an insurance company paying out if someone in that state has an accident or does something stupid and injures themselves? I can't.

I suppose that comes down to what their policy states. And I'd prefer to have an idea of an "allowance" than a general term like "under the influence of alcohol".

I think this article makes very interesting reading on the subject and highlights the importance of insurers being clear in their wordings:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/120/120-alcohol-exclusions.html