Travel insurance renewal issue re. pre existing conditions

katejo

I have been with Avanti for 2 years and was due to renew this week. I  had blocked auto renewal because I wasn't ready to renew. Last year Avanti allowed me to renew without completing the medical form with pre existing conditions all over again. This year I needed to make a couple of minor amendments to the conditions declared but, when I tried to do it, their online forms insisted that I had to re-enter everything from scratch. I rang to query this and someone took note of my changes but then said I would  still have to do it all over again. Why is this required? Why can't I transfer the info to the new policy? If I had allowed them to auto renew, my details would have carried over. I am now looking at other insurers. I don't have any outstanding bookings so not issues with continuity of cover.

elsien

Other than being slightly annoying, is there a reason you can’t just stick the information back in?

sheramber

katejo said:

I have been with Avanti for 2 years and was due to renew this week. I  had blocked auto renewal because I wasn't ready to renew. Last year Avanti allowed me to renew without completing the medical form with pre existing conditions all over again. This year I needed to make a couple of minor amendments to the conditions declared but, when I tried to do it, their online forms insisted that I had to re-enter everything from scratch. I rang to query this and someone took note of my changes but then said I would  still have to do it all over again. Why is this required? Why can't I transfer the info to the new policy? If I had allowed them to auto renew, my details would have carried over. I am now looking at other insurers. I don't have any outstanding bookings so not issues with continuity of cover.

You will have to include all pre existing conditions on any new application so why not with Avanti?   

Ayr_Rage

If you had allowed the automatic renewal even though you were obliged to notify any changes, even minor, you may have found that in the event of a claim and those undeclared minor changes coming to light you may have found your insurance was voided.

Always declare any changes and if that means having to complete the complete screening so be it.

katejo

Ayr_Rage said:

If you had allowed the automatic renewal even though you were obliged to notify any changes, even minor, you may have found that in the event of a claim and those undeclared minor changes coming to light you may have found your insurance was voided.

Always declare any changes and if that means having to complete the complete screening so be it.

I was never intending to omit changes. I just find it an absolute pain to keep repeating the same questions when there is no change. I just wanted to remove one item which was no longer relevant and add 1 new one. 

katejo

elsien said:

Other than being slightly annoying, is there a reason you can’t just stick the information back in?

Because it is so tedious to do and it is easy to do an accidental omission. I should be able to log onto the medical part, make necessary changes and then confirm that they are correct. Yes I know I will have to do it for a new insurer but that's not the point..

eskbanker

katejo said:

I have been with Avanti for 2 years and was due to renew this week. I  had blocked auto renewal because I wasn't ready to renew.

[...]

If I had allowed them to auto renew, my details would have carried over.

Just to be clear, even though you didn't auto-renew, did you actually let cover lapse on the renewal date or has that not passed yet?  If it lapses then I can imagine that you wouldn't be permitted to go through a renewal process and would effectively have to start again as a new customer.

katejo

eskbanker said:

katejo said:

I have been with Avanti for 2 years and was due to renew this week. I  had blocked auto renewal because I wasn't ready to renew.

[...]

If I had allowed them to auto renew, my details would have carried over.

Just to be clear, even though you didn't auto-renew, did you actually let cover lapse on the renewal date or has that not passed yet?  If it lapses then I can imagine that you wouldn't be permitted to go through a renewal process and would effectively have to start again as a new customer.

I tried to renew BEFORE it lapsed. I rang to add amendments because it wouldn't let me do them myself online. They appeared to accept my changes but then said I would have to do the screening again from scratch. I was at work then so didn't have time. I have now let it lapse so will have to start from scratch again.