Multiple Travel Insurance Policies

nofixedabode

Hi all,

I have been browsing this forum for a very long time and finally signed up! I am hoping someone can advise regarding my travel insurance policy(s) situation.

Whats the procedure with having 2+ travel insurance policies? Will there be any problems in claiming? I should add I do not intend to claim twice for a lost passport for example, but if there is a fixed payout for a certain event, e.g. £30 per 12 hours for a travel delay, I think I can claim that twice.

To add context:

- I am studying abroad in the EU, outside of the UK
- My medical history has 'panic attacks' diagnosed on it

I have a free policy with Nationwide Flexaccount (however deep in the terms and conditions it states I need to have opened the account from in the UK, I applied online outside of the UK), so I think I need to cancel that as it's effectively worthless. Nationwide said panic attacks were fine as I am not taking medication.

- I paid for another (AMEX) cheap annual policy the day before I left the UK, primarily to insure my suitcases when I take them back in September should they go missing during my flight back etc. I did not declare panic attacks on this policy as I do not need the medical cover.

I am flying to America soon and need cover for America (the above two policies are European only), do I need to cancel the above 2 as America polices tend to cover Europe aswell, or seeing as I paid for them can I let them continue and claim for an event such as travel delay etc on all 3 (when flying Europe), but only claim for actual loss against one?

I am aware on claim forms they ask 'do you have any other policies you can claim on?'. The problem is when I put in my panic attacks, it excludes a lot of the cheaper policies despite me not taking any medication for it, and not even getting the panic attacks so much anymore. Perhaps I will call AMEX on my return and see if they will include it - then I can sleep easy!

Thanks all!

Quentin

Having multiple travel insurance won't cause any problems. (You can have as many as you want!)


In the event of a claim that is covered by more than one of the policies, then the insurers will sort it out between them.


Should you need to make any claim that is covered by more than one of your policies, then make your claim against the one with the lowest excess.

nofixedabode

Thanks for the info - it was this article from Go Compare which made me have doubts (and i still do) - can anyone else weigh in on this situation? xxx.gocompare.com/travel-insurance/double-cover

"Why shouldn't I double up on insurance?

Most insurance policies have 'contribution clauses' which state that, if cover is provided by another insurance product and a claim is made, each respective insurer would only pay their share of the claim.

The companies would then calculate a proportionate amount of excess for both policies. This also means that the customer would be making two claims"

Is the above really true?!

Quentin

That article is pointing out to anyone considering doubling up in order to be able to make multiple claims for a loss off each insurer that they won't get away with it.

As the insurers would only each pay a share.

As pointed out to you in #2