Travel Insurance Cancelled by Insurance Company 5 days Before Holiday

Pete_O

Hi All, First time post for me and looking for advice.

In early March this year I booked a holiday with Jet2 for my wife and I and took out a single trip travel insurance policy with Admiral.  The travel Insurance policy was with medical conditions for my wife.  I try and keep myself reasonably fit through cycling mostly now but a lot of running in the past.  Therefore, when I took out the policy, I had no medical conditions to declare.

However, over the past few weeks I have been suffering with some quite strong abdominal pains.  My GP is not sure what is causing them at the moment so has ordered a scan of my abdomen and detailed blood tests.  He is quite confident that it isn’t anything serious as the pains only seem to occur in the early hours of the morning.  I told him I was due to go on holiday and he said I would be fine to travel.

So, being honest and just to be safe as our holiday was/is only days away, I called Admiral to see if I could amend the policy and declare a medical condition for myself.  They initially told that, as I was now on a waiting list, they could no longer insure me but gave me the option to remove myself from the policy and just have the insurance for my wife.  I told them I was willing to accept this and they started to make the changes.  Then after 5 – 10 minutes of waiting they corrected themselves and told me that as the policy was in my name they would have to cancel the whole policy.  I asked if the policy could be transferred to wife’s name and I was told No!

I have to admit I was rather annoyed but not surprised by their decision.  I queried with Admiral that, as my holiday had yet to take place and given that they were cancelling my policy, I should be entitled to a refund. They said I would be entitled to a pro-rata refund and after a further 5 – 10 minute delay told me the amount of the refund, which equates to a mere 16% of the price of the policy!

So, I understand that because I am now on a waiting list the policy was cancelled – I don’t really have a problem with that.  But the amount of the refund is shocking and a bit of an insult in my view.

My question is, is this refund amount normal or should I get more?  If more, how do I go about getting Admiral to increase it?

I should add that I have already initiated a complaint with Admiral but am not holding my breath for a positive outcome.

Any advice and help the experienced and learned people on here can give me would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Peter_O

marcia_

 You bought the policy in march? If so16% appears really low for 2 months worth of cover.  During covid i got a refund for insurance i had for 6 months for a holiday that obviously didn't happen due to covid. I got £50% 

Grumpy_chap

Why did you contact the insurer and what did you tell them?  Precisely and in detail?

Did they understand things the same way as you intended them to understand?

You see, what I read is:

• Booked holiday in March and took out travel insurance in March to cover holiday in June.
• Insurance was with declared medical conditions for your wife, but none for yourself (as you had no medical conditions at the date of inception).
• You suffered some medical issues, the GP says you are fine to travel.  If you were not find to travel, this would be an insured event.
  
• Does the policy wording require you to contact the insurer in this situation?  A new medical condition, not affecting fitness to travel and not resulting in a claim?
• You now contacted the insurer.  I suspect they interpreted your declaration as a change to the medical declaration that should have been in force from the date of inception.
• Anyway, the refund is low probably because the bulk of the cost of the policy is admin rather than actual cover.
• Your choices now are to go on holiday without travel insurance.  Or not go on holiday (and unable to recover the costs).  Or take out another single trip policy to cover with both your and your wife's medical conditions declared?

I am sure our resident expert will be along shortly to advise any further options.

Pete_O said:

Hi All, First time post for me and looking for advice.

In early March this year I booked a holiday with Jet2 for my wife and I and took out a single trip travel insurance policy with Admiral.  The travel Insurance policy was with medical conditions for my wife.  I try and keep myself reasonably fit through cycling mostly now but a lot of running in the past.  Therefore, when I took out the policy, I had no medical conditions to declare.

However, over the past few weeks I have been suffering with some quite strong abdominal pains.  My GP is not sure what is causing them at the moment so has ordered a scan of my abdomen and detailed blood tests.  He is quite confident that it isn’t anything serious as the pains only seem to occur in the early hours of the morning.  I told him I was due to go on holiday and he said I would be fine to travel.

So, being honest and just to be safe as our holiday was/is only days away, I called Admiral to see if I could amend the policy and declare a medical condition for myself.  They initially told that, as I was now on a waiting list, they could no longer insure me but gave me the option to remove myself from the policy and just have the insurance for my wife.  I told them I was willing to accept this and they started to make the changes.  Then after 5 – 10 minutes of waiting they corrected themselves and told me that as the policy was in my name they would have to cancel the whole policy.  I asked if the policy could be transferred to wife’s name and I was told No!

I have to admit I was rather annoyed but not surprised by their decision.  I queried with Admiral that, as my holiday had yet to take place and given that they were cancelling my policy, I should be entitled to a refund. They said I would be entitled to a pro-rata refund and after a further 5 – 10 minute delay told me the amount of the refund, which equates to a mere 16% of the price of the policy!

So, I understand that because I am now on a waiting list the policy was cancelled – I don’t really have a problem with that.  But the amount of the refund is shocking and a bit of an insult in my view.

My question is, is this refund amount normal or should I get more?  If more, how do I go about getting Admiral to increase it?

I should add that I have already initiated a complaint with Admiral but am not holding my breath for a positive outcome.

Any advice and help the experienced and learned people on here can give me would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Peter_O

Voyager2002

This was a single trip policy? And the holiday had not yet started?In which case there are two possible ways to understand your story:
1. They told you that you could no longer be insured; as a result you cancelled your holiday; they paid out all the cancellation costs (amounting to most of the premium that you had paid);
2. The policy was cancelled by them and there was no claim. In this case you should receive back every penny that you paid.

Pete_O

Thanks for your replies.  To try and answer some of your questions:

• I haven't cancelled the holiday.  I have taken out another single trip policy with All Clear and declared my abdominal pain the cause of which is as yet undiagnosed by my GP, and that I'm on a waiting list for a scan.
• When I contacted Admiral, I gave them the date I first saw my GP about the pain (late April).  I made it very clear to Admiral that this condition started after I took out the policy.
• Admiral never asked me if I was now going to cancel the holiday.  I commented that with 5 days left before our holiday starts I now had to find Travel Insurance from another company.
• Admiral actually then gave me a telephone number for Moneyhelper from which I got the contact details for BIBA and from there to All Clear.
• The reason I contacted Admiral to tell them of my condition is because of the wording in the policy, which states.

New medical conditions or changes to your health

After you have paid for your policy, you must tell us immediately if there is a change in your health (such as you getting medical advice for new symptoms, being diagnosed with a new medical condition, your prescribed medication changing, being prescribed new medication, being admitted to hospital, or being referred for tests, investigations or treatment), whether or not you have any trips booked.

Whilst writing this reply I have had a call from Admiral with the results of my complaint about the pittance of a refund. Admiral's reason for the small amount is because cover on the policy started in early March and was due to end on May 22nd, therefore, the majority of the period of cover has passed!  The fact that we have not been on the trip yet has very little or no effect apparently.  Unbelievable.  

When I get back from holiday I'm going to do some research so that i can ensure that I never use Admiral or any other company that is part of or comes under the EUI Ltd banner.

Thanks for your replies so far

Peter_O

Grumpy_chap

I was just thinking about the amount of the refund.

You took out single trip cover in March.
You travel on the single trip in May.
The period covered by the insurance is 15 weeks (or thereabouts).
The insurance cancellation was processed with 3 weeks (or thereabouts) of the insurance period remaining.
Pro-rata that would be 20% refund.
You have been offered 16% refund.  Is that after any admin charge has been applied?

I think the reference to the proportional cover stated by @marcia_ was related to annual policy (?)

The policy you had with Admiral had already provided cover for a period - in the event you came back from the GP and advised not to travel, you would then be able to claim the cancellation costs from Admiral.

Voyager2002

Pete_O said:

Whilst writing this reply I have had a call from Admiral with the results of my complaint about the pittance of a refund. Admiral's reason for the small amount is because cover on the policy started in early March and was due to end on May 22nd, therefore, the majority of the period of cover has passed!  The fact that we have not been on the trip yet has very little or no effect apparently.  Unbelievable. 

I think they are applying rules for an Annual policy to a single-trip policy.

Their argument that the majority of the period of cover had already passed would make perfect sense, were this an annual policy. However, it is a single trip policy: you paid for cover for a particular holiday, as well as cancellation cover (only) for the time before the holiday.

See if they respond to this argument, and let us know if you have any joy. (My home insurance is with Admiral, and if they stick to this decision I shall not be renewing with them.)

marcia_

 No mine was single trip cover. 

Grumpy_chap

Voyager2002 said:

Their argument that the majority of the period of cover had already passed would make perfect sense, were this an annual policy. However, it is a single trip policy: you paid for cover for a particular holiday, as well as cancellation cover (only) for the time before the holiday.

I think it might still make sense, unfortunately.

The largest part of the insurance payout risk is very probably related to medical claims.
The most likely reason for a trip to be cancelled prior to travel is also very probably medical matters.

Payout for cancellation by supplier failure, or needing alternative accommodation / flight or lost luggage are all probable very small parts of the insured risk exposure.  Plus, in these events, there are possibly other parties from whom the costs of any claim may be recovered, or may have been met anyway thus avoiding an insurance claim.

Voyager2002

Grumpy_chap said:

Voyager2002 said:

Their argument that the majority of the period of cover had already passed would make perfect sense, were this an annual policy. However, it is a single trip policy: you paid for cover for a particular holiday, as well as cancellation cover (only) for the time before the holiday.

I think it might still make sense, unfortunately.

The largest part of the insurance payout risk is very probably related to medical claims.
The most likely reason for a trip to be cancelled prior to travel is also very probably medical matters.

Payout for cancellation by supplier failure, or needing alternative accommodation / flight or lost luggage are all probable very small parts of the insured risk exposure.  Plus, in these events, there are possibly other parties from whom the costs of any claim may be recovered, or may have been met anyway thus avoiding an insurance claim.

The premium for a single trip policy reflects the total risk for that policy, rather than the risk for one of its components. The risk associated with cancellation cover is small when compared with the risks of theft, medical incidents, accident and so forth during the actual holiday. We can see this, because the premium does not go down if insurance is taken out just before departure rather than many months in advance, confirming that the marginal cost of an additional month of cancellation cover is too small to be priced.

In any event, the insurer decided to cancel the policy, and there were no claims, so a full refund would be appropriate.

saajan_12

Pete_O said:

New medical conditions or changes to your health

After you have paid for your policy, you must tell us immediately if there is a change in your health (such as you getting medical advice for new symptoms, being diagnosed with a new medical condition, your prescribed medication changing, being prescribed new medication, being admitted to hospital, or being referred for tests, investigations or treatment), whether or not you have any trips booked.

The whole premise doesnt' make sense.. you had a policy which was correctly obtained by declaring all the medical conditions at inception. Anyone can develop medical conditions in the future, which would be part of their risk assessment. Whatever happened after you bought the policy should be covered (subject to the agreed coverage) so even if your health changes, surely you should still be covered both for unrelated issues and related issues? 

The quote above states they want to be informed, but doesn't mention a right to unilatterally cancel the insurance nor to charge you for the pleasure.. To put you back in the same condition, surely they owe you a full refund plus any difference in premium for a new policy where you have to declare the condition..?