Travel insurance claim refused

cdtinsley1

Hi,

First time poster here.

We had recently booked to travel overseas to Spain on 5th May for my Wife, my Child and I. We had purchased travel insurance on 10th April, this was a Multi trip policy to cover another holiday we have later in the year as well as this one to Spain. Unfortunately my child had a serious accident and they ended up in hospital, whilst in hospital we were advised that they should not travel as they would be carrying on with outpatient treatment and that they should avoid too much direct sunlight. After receiving this guidance we cancelled the holiday on 28th April. The travel company would not give us a refund as we were cancelling too close to the date travel, in fact they charged us a £100 amendment fee, it would have been cheaper for us to have not turned up.

We submitted a claim which included evidence of the cancelled holiday and a medical certificate from the GP stating we could not travel. Additionally the policy states that we have cancellation cover up to £3000.

We have be told by the insurance provider that were not covered for this as we cancelled the holiday on 28th April prior to the insurance policy starting on 5th May. On review of our policy documentation it does say that the policy starts 05/05/2023 and ends 05/05/2024.

Is someone able to offer advice here? We feel that we should be able to claim as the holiday was covered by the insurance dates (we have evidence of this) and therefore should still be covered by the policy, despite us cancelling prior to the policy beginning

Thank you for taking time to read this
 

DullGreyGuy

This is the difference between single trip and annual travel insurance:

Single - declare the dates of the holiday, the policy starts immediately and ends at the end of the holiday

Annual - state the date you want it to start on, ends exactly 12 months later

Many people buy annual insurance each year and shop around and so need to be able to defer the start date so it adjoins the end date of their existing cover. Unfortunately you didnt have other insurance and so should have selected it to start the day or day after you bought it but didnt.

As such the insurers are correct in declining the claim, your only chance of appeal is to retrace your steps through the purchase process (I assume it was done on line) and see if it was misleading when it asked what date you wanted... unfortunately having read the above you may suddenly find it is much clearer than it was in the excitement of buying it the first time.

lisyloo

You're wrong in what you feel I'm afraid.
The incident occured on 28/4 and you were uninsured when it occured as your policy did not start until 5/5.
Sorry but you won't get anywhere with complaints as this is clear cut.
You need to be insured from the point of booking in case anything (like this) happens after booking.

Sorry

TELLIT01

Being charged an amendment fee would suggest that you tour operator was giving the OP an opportunity to change the dates, not simply cancelling travel completely.

Smithcom

@DullGreyGuy's comments, as per usual, are spot-on.

Unless you have been provided with inaccurate guidance, unfortunately, you have made the mistake of believing that Travel Insurance claims can only occur during the period of travel.

This loss occurred before the travel date.

If you think about it logically, if cover were to commence from the holiday purchase date (which could be many months in advance), then for a further 12 months, you would be receiving more than 12 months cover, which is not conducive to an annual travel insurance contract.    This can only happen in respect of a specific-holiday policy. 

Sorry could not give you a sunnier outcome

SC
 

lisyloo

TELLIT01 said:

Being charged an amendment fee would suggest that you tour operator was giving the OP an opportunity to change the dates, not simply cancelling travel completely.

I don't read it that way (but I could be wrong).
I would speculate the amendment fee was for the change in circumstances i.e. ongoing outpatient treatment.