Claim on annual travel insurance that expires before holiday Help?

sandstorm871

Hello,

I have a top-level annual, family travel insurance policy, covering worldwide travel, that runs April to April every year.

So the current policy expires (or auto-renews I'm unsure) at the end of March, nearly 60 days in the future of this initial post.

My wife has been having some hip pain for the last couple of months and fortunately has private medical insurance. She has been advised that the hip problem will most likely need an operation to resolve the problem but is undergoing some tests at the moment.

Here comes the problem.
We have a ski holiday booked eight days after the annual policy expires (or auto-renews I'm unsure), which my wife is 99% certain she won't be able to go on.
I don't want to contact the insurance yet, as don't know where I stand with this?
I would always have taken out new annual insurance or allowed it to renew though I can't renew this policy in advance until at least 21 days before it expires.
I also can't take out any new policy to start too far in the future.

So should I be contacting the insurance company now?
I'm assuming as the flights, accommodation, etc are not insured as they are after the date of the policy expiration, even though I cant renew or take out a policy in the future?

Confused??

TIA,
Andy

daveyjp

There is a material change in circumstances so you can't buy any insurance without revealing these new facts.

Your current policy should cover cancellation now.

Call your current company for advice.

TELLIT01

Only your insurance company can provide a definite answer about renewing the policy, but your current one will not cover any claim made after its end date.

sandstorm871

Your current policy should cover cancellation now.

Even though the cancellation of flight, accommodation, ski pass, etc will be 8 days after this current policy expires?

I'll contact insurance tomorrow, just hate dealing with them as their ultimate aim always seems to not satisfy a claim
Were in limbo, as my wife has only seen a specialist at Bupa at the moment, but they have advised not to ski and operation will be needed. Test s& op will come in the next few days/weeks

sandstorm871

Only your insurance company can provide a definite answer about renewing the policy, but your current one will not cover any claim made after its end date.

That's my dilemma, I'm insured now, but the holiday is 8 days after the expiration.
Even when we booked the holiday several months ago, we couldn't have auto-renewed the annual insurance, as the system won't allow this until 21 days before?
I'll have to contact them tomorrow to seek their advice, but always assume their out to not settle on claims.

NoodleDoodleMan

That's my dilemma, I'm insured now, but the holiday is 8 days after the expiration

Maybe I'm dense - but that means you won't be covered.

daveyjp

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

Maybe I'm dense - but that means you won't be covered.

If you don't know, don't guess.

sandstorm871

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

Maybe I'm dense - but that means you won't be covered.

This is exactly why I started this thread.
I am insured with Annual insurance, which runs for a couple more months yet
I can't renew it early and couldn't take out more insurance before my wife knew of her problems, because I was already insured and would have allowed the annual insurance to renew itself?

maman

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

Maybe I'm dense - but that means you won't be covered.

Obviously you won't be covered on the holiday unless you renew/ take out a new policy.

Only your present company can tell you but you should be covered up to when the policy expires. BUT it depends whether your policy states that you should inform them of changes. It doesn't mean necessarily that you won't be covered but not informing them now could be a loophole they could use. I think what mattters is that your wife didn't know about the hip problem when you took the policy out and didn't disclose it.

Ask your insurance company.

cubegame

This area has been covered by the financial ombudsman service.

See https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/2837/49.pdf

It is a situation we were faced with about 9 years ago. On that occasion the insurer offered to renew our cover for an additional premium of somewhere in the region of £2000 or to pay for the cancellation.

Needless to say, we cancelled.

sandstorm871

cubegame wrote: »

This area has been covered by the financial ombudsman service.

Thanks for the link, I feel better, speaking to the insurance tomorrow armed with that info