Cancel for any Reason Travel Insurance

MrSerling

I take it no UK insurers provide this additional cover, even at additional cost.

I have had issues where close friends have taken ill or passed away just prior to going on holiday. Insurances cancellation cover, at best, covers the impacts of a close relative, but they do not take into account where friends can be as close, or closer, than immediate family members.

There are many other instances that might not be covered by "standard" cancellation cover.

The frustration is that this seems to be a "standard" additional cover in other countries. Does UK legislation forbid it.......or are UK insurers just "closing shop" on it as an offer?

Conversely, does anyone know of an insurer that offers it?

DullGreyGuy

No legislation forbids it

In the UK insurance is a highly commoditised distress purchase and as a consequence 95%+ of people buy on price. An insurer is free to add more novel features but its likely to add cost to the policy and that means you are going to be further down the list on Confused.com so who's going to buy from you? No one is even going to click on your price to go to your site to enable you to then try and sell the extra benefits you're offering. As a consequence we see a race to the bottom with companies stripping features rather than adding them to get a cheaper price. 

Hoenir

The obvous question from the insurers perspective is pricing the risk, i.e. already known factors.  Where do you draw the line as to the relationship between the insured and the deceased. Everything is insurable at a cost. Underwriting isn't just a question of sticking a finger in the air and taking a punt. 

DullGreyGuy

Hoenir said:
Everything is insurable at a cost. 

Unfortunately its not, the two insurers who used to offer drink driving insurance (basically paid for taxis etc were you to lose your licence for drink driving) was forced to stop

MrSerling

Of course if insurers include it as an additional offer, then it need not affect their "basic scoring" placement on comparison sites. 
Obviously there will be a cost premium to this, but as far as "where you draw the line on relationships", that is manageable. Just presume an "average" situation and price accordingly for all the same eventualities, i.e. known illnesses, likelihood etc. It shouldn't be too different and its up to the buyer what the relationship is and how much they are willing to pay for it.
As people get older, sadly it becomes common that lifelong close friends die.....and there is absolutely no quarter consideration given for that.
There are other circiumstances too, that if someone is willing to pay cover for, there should be access to it....even say work pressures/priorities changing and you can no longer get/take the time away.
As for it being difficult to "stick a finger in the air".....the insurers in other countries seem to have managed to come up with a formula, because they offer CFAR cover.
It seems UK insurers are just "sticking together" to me.......unless, as I say, anyone can identify a provider that does offer this as a premium extra.

user1977

What is “any reason”? What would stop somebody just changing their mind and claiming? If you want that level of flexibility then you really need to book travel/accommodation which allows you to cancel.

DullGreyGuy

user1977 said:

What is “any reason”? What would stop somebody just changing their mind and claiming? If you want that level of flexibility then you really need to book travel/accommodation which allows you to cancel.

With CFAR you can however you are normally only insured for 50-75% of the trip value and you normally have to have bought the policy very close to when you booked the trip so you can't buy it a week before you go because you've gotten a better offer to do something else and you will still lose a reasonable amount of money so may not make the decision lightly.

MrSerling

user1977 said:

What is “any reason”? What would stop somebody just changing their mind and claiming? If you want that level of flexibility then you really need to book travel/accommodation which allows you to cancel.

That is exactly what is available in other countries....if you just change your mind. As DullGreyGuy says, you get a reduced payout up to 75%, but my point stands that this is a reasonably attractive and useful option in some circumstances

MrSerling

Anyway, I presume no one has heard of this additional option from any UK insurers. Poor.

MrSerling

If you want that level of flexibility then you really need to book travel/accommodation which allows you to cancel.

and you can't do that easily with package holidays, cruises etc. Where often the price is significant enough that even 50%-75% recovered is preferrable to losing the lot

DullGreyGuy

MrSerling said:

Anyway, I presume no one has heard of this additional option from any UK insurers. Poor.

I've never heard of it but there is nothing in principle stopping insurers from offering it. 

It could be that there are some out there that do offer it but its finding someone, probably an intermediary, that happens to have the right contract with the right MGA etc which becomes a needle in the haystack exercise. 

Having had to try and get some travel insurance recently for a difficult to place risk I finally got a quote over the phone with www.macbethscott.co.uk from AHU... no idea who else is using them because everyone else I spoke to simply said they couldn't quote. 

Personally used to it, it's a major problem each year getting my Professional Indemnity insurance but normally get there in the end. The cost may not to be your liking though given its going to be a niche product.