Money Moral Dilemma: My friend won't buy travel insurance - what should I do?

crispy_duck

Primrose wrote: »

Ask your friend to sign a declaration before you go that if anything happens he/she won't ask you to loan them money, bail them out or in any way fund them for losses or injuries sustained.

Of course you could tell them that the stress of travelling with somebody who appears to be relying on somebody else to bail them out is going to ruin your holiday so you would rather pull out !

Ask yourself, how easy will it be to walk away if they're robbed of their passport or credit cards, or end up being hospitalised and needing funds to pay the bills? Or needing to be air ambulances home. If you can't afford to do this or don'tt want the moral financial responsibility of having to pay for their recklessness, don't go!

Have you read the original post? The friend isn't planning not to buy insurance at all, just to buy it closer to the departure date.

suki1964

dougthejag wrote: »

Pleased that, for once, folk are treating this seriously and not alleging "fake dilemma". I disagree with general replies. If your friend does take out insurance at last minute, and holiday goes ahead, fair enough. However if he/she doesn't and is hospitalised on holiday, it is inevitable that you will be left to sort out the practical consequences.

Erm they are always fake dilemmas, written and sent out in the email to encourage new foot fall - more revenue

What will it be up to the hypothetical OP to be sorting everything out when it all goes tits up for the friend?

happyinflorida

From the way this is worded I'm guessing you're worried that the holiday might need cancelling if your travelling companion is unable to go for some reason, like illness or breaking a leg or something similar and you both have to cancel - you wouldn't get your money back due to that happening.

You needed to have this conversation before booking as it's showing your friend isn't sensible enough to do this - as Martin is always stressing, it's really important to take out insurance immediately or even before booking a holiday.

Keep on and on at your friend, maybe even finding them a good deal to go for and shoving it under their nose, until they take it out.



Tell your travelling companion that if they have an accident or get ill before you go away and this results in the holiday having to be cancelled, if they haven't got insurance, then you will both lose all your money - say you want your money to be refunded by them in full unless they agree to take out insurance immediately.


good luck!

pippinpuss

Some banks (mine included) actually include holiday insurance in their package. Maybe they are checking it out before buying somewhere else. Of course H.I. Is best taken out the same day as booking holiday. Just hope there is no catastrophe that forces OP to go alone.

Pollycat

pippinpuss wrote: »

Some banks (mine included) actually include holiday insurance in their package. Maybe they are checking it out before buying somewhere else. Of course H.I. Is best taken out the same day as booking holiday. Just hope there is no catastrophe that forces OP to go alone.

If your bank provides holiday insurance as part of your account with them, why wouldn't you take that?
Lots of people do.
And why wouldn't the author of the dilemma tell their friend that is what they are doing?

Timpu

Haven't read all posts due to time but this happened to me, except my friend did not tell me they had skipped on travel insurance until the end of the holiday. I was livid. I knew she expected me to sort out the consequences of her stupidity, should anything go wrong. She very quickly became a non-friend. It's not what friends do to each other. Travel insurance can be acquired cheaply after all.

Primrose

I would have been furious too I'd somebody had done that to me. That,s selfishness in the extreme. I knew an 80+ year old gentleman who went abroad on holiday with his children without insurance, fully expecting them to sort things out if anything went wrong. Luckily it didn't but I would never had risked it.

amandamac59

Surely this is his/their problem, if the holiday has to be cancelled you'll get your money back they won't.....they are the one out of pocket??

roddydogs

Would they really get their money back, just because they didnt want to travel alone?

fibonarchie

My travelling companion has not taken out travel insurance, despite our trip having been booked and paid for. He says he will nearer the travel date. I have stressed the importance of doing it now, so he's covered for cancellation, but he is unfazed. What should I do?

As long as he's got it before you both set off I wouldn't worry. It's up to him as to whether he's covered for cancellation or not.