Travel Insurance - Known events before final balance paid

Notinthisforthemoney

I have contacted my Travel insurance to check i have cover for an upcoming trip if I needed to cancel.

They have said that because it’s a known event at time of final payment I wouldn’t be covered if I chose to go.

policy states that :

We will not cover

There is no cover in relation to any event, incident or circumstances if, at the time you

opened your account or a trip was booked (whichever is later), any insured person knew, or

could reasonably be expected to have known that:

To me that suggests that it should be known events at time of booking and not known events at time of final payment.

So I do not think that the travel insurance provider is correct. Perhaps I shouldn’t have called and made them aware, but it’s an expensive holiday and I want to ensure that I don’t lose a significant amount of money (terminal illness of close family member who is not travelling).

Has anyone got any advice? Are the insurance company just chancing it in the hope that I cancel before I pay final balance.

many thanks in advance

Notinthisforthemoney

should add that this is travel insurance from Nationwide Flex account so insurance was already in place at time of booking holiday.

sheramber

Was the illness known before booking?

Claims relating to Non travelling persons usually require confirmation regarding the medical condition when booking.

Sometimes it is confirmation from their doctor that condition did not exist when booking, or that deterioration of a condition was unexpected.

Your policy document may tell you what is required.

Notinthisforthemoney

They have accepted now that the policy wording of their document means that it refers to know condition at time of booking. And they have accepted that seriousness of condition was not known at time of booking (been completely honest about GP visits, referrals etc before booking).

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6664390/travel-insurance-known-events-before-final-balance-paid

Just to clarify - it is the final payment for the holiday that needs to be made, not the final payment for the travel insurance? (Some insurance policies are paid montly even though annual policy.)

Usually, in the case of an event arising that is an "insured peril", the individual is required to mitigate the potential losses.

That can be a nuanced position as, in the case of final payment for travel, does not paying mean the liability remains and the travel operator could pursue debt recovery? Does the travel company offer a route for cancellation and does that reduce the scale of the potential loss?

Is the event that has occurred (diagnosis of a close family relative with terminal illness) covered as an "insured peril"?

Is the individual a "close family member" by whatever terms are defined for that category in the insurance policy?

Is "diagnosed with terminal illness" covered by the insurance, or is cover only applicable in the event of the death of the close family member?

Without wishing to pry - what does "terminal illness" actually mean in this case? I mean timescales. In some cases an individual can be diagnosed with a "terminal illness" and indicated as a few weeks. In other cases, "terminal illness" can mean a few years, but still far less than normal life expectancy. In some cases, the timescales are defied against the odds.

Was the individual that has been diagnosed with the "terminal illness" under medical investigation or otherwise unwell at the inception date of the policy?

born_again

Have you contacted holiday co to see if given the situation they will allow you to change the dates of the holiday, rather than hoping Ins will payout?

Notinthisforthemoney

It’s sorted - covered by insurance. It’s not definite I will pay final balance - will see how things are then and the likeliness we will get to go. The last thing I want to do is make an insurance claim. I was just trying to get everything lined up before we had to cancel for the small chance we couldn’t go.

And the wording of their policy did not reflect the information I was getting. They have now agreed that my interpretation of the policy document was correct.

For some other questions

diagnosis is months and not years. It wasn’t mentioned by any medical professional before booking.

We can’t move holiday as our annual leave is difficult to arrange and we need to go in school holidays. I think I would incur more costs moving holiday than cancelling and losing deposit (Jet2 does not require a large deposit).

Archergirl

Hope you manage to go on your holiday and all is well.

Our ins is with Nationwide Flexplus and we have found them to be very helpful when we have needed to claim

Take care x