New Travel Insurance discussion area

dacouch

Do the A&L give you the option to top up your European Cover to include your other trips, if they do this should be economical and the cover with them is pretty good

anguilla

I just checked with Fortis and it was another £65 - so not the cheapest in the world but they have a good rating on the board for US cover

lmac_3

Need help please. Am looking for travel insurance for 8 month stay in Damscus to cover my £700 laptop and £400 camera. Single item limit on cheap policies is max. £200. Has anyone found a way to do this cheaply?

BeeV_2

We recently almost had a problem with annual travel insurance. Had an annual policy, so were covered when booked holiday, but the holiday was out of the period of cover (booked holiday for April 09 at end of 08, insurance year ran out in March 09). Between booking the holiday & when we went, one member of the party developed a medical condition, so was still covered for cancellation until the end of March, but not after that. When you come to renew your annual policy at the end of March, the medical condition was treated as a pre-existing one, so wasn't covered in the new cover year. If we had cancelled before the end of march, we would have been covered, but if we cancelled in the new policy year, before we went away at the end of April, we wouldn't be covered. Seems a bit unfair!

Are there any annual policies that will cover you as long as you have continuous cover, is it just better to do individual policies (was more expensive for us going to the USA) or are there any other ways around this?

dacouch

You should find this helpful, its from the Ombudsman's site and are his guidance notes on cases similar to yours. Your Insurers have to abide by his guidance / rulings. (Please click on the link to read the case studies as well

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]annual travel insurance: changes in medical circumstances after the policyholder has booked a holiday[/FONT]

Customers who have annual travel insurance policies often take several holidays a year and may book these some months in advance, never giving a thought to whether their policy will still cover them if they later become ill and have to cancel their trip.
However, as these policies are annual contracts, at the time of renewal customers are required to tell their insurer of any change in their health since the policy started, or was last renewed. In accordance with the regulatory guidelines and/or good industry practice, insurers should include a clear reminder about this on their renewal documents. However, they are not obliged to offer the renewed cover on the existing terms for the next year of insurance.
A problem can arise if, in good faith, a customer books a holiday that starts after the policy renewal date but then has a change in their health. When the time comes to renew the policy, the customer may properly inform the insurer about their new medical condition, only to be told that – from the date of the renewal – the firm will not provide cover for any claims arising from that condition.
The condition may not necessarily result in a claim and – as the holiday is often still some months away – the customer may not know at the time of the renewal whether the condition will affect their travel plans. Most travel policies only provide cover for cancellation that is medically necessary, which would usually be decided much closer to the time. Technically, therefore, the customer may not have the option of cancelling the holiday and putting in a claim before their valid cover expires.
The effect of this is that the customer is left to:

run the risk of being liable for cancellation costs (or even medical expenses abroad) without insurance cover; or

cancel the holiday prematurely (and possibly quite unnecessarily) and bear the cost of this. We consider it neither fair nor reasonable that customers with annual travel policies should be placed in this difficult position.
If the customers had realised this situation could arise, they might well have taken out a single-trip policy instead. Such policies normally provide cover for medical conditions identified from the point at which a specific holiday is sold right up until its end.
We have therefore come to the view that – when the firm informs customers in this predicament that it cannot provide future cover – it should also give them the option of cancelling the holiday and claiming under the valid policy, even though cancellation may not be medically necessary at that stage.
Customers may, of course, choose to continue with their holiday plans – in the hope that their illness will not lead to cancellation or curtailment, or entail medical expenses abroad. However, they will at least then be aware of the implications of their decision and can freely choose whether or not to run the risk.
We also see cases where the problem only comes to light after the customer has attempted to claim for the cost of cancelling the holiday because it has become medically necessary. If the insurer has properly brought the need to disclose any change in their medical circumstances to the customer’s attention, but the customer has failed to do so, then – technically – the insurer may be entitled to avoid the policy (treat it as though it never existed) as a result of the customer’s non-disclosure. In practice, however, most insurers simply decline to pay the claim – on the grounds that the policy contains an exclusion clause relating to pre-existing medical conditions.
In this sort of situation, and provided there is no evidence of bad faith (deliberate non-disclosure) on the customer’s part, we would still expect insurers to offer to pay an amount equivalent to the costs of cancelling the holiday at the time the policy was renewed. (As it gets closer to the planned date of departure, cancellation becomes more expensive.)

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/49/annual-travel-insurance.htm

SamBee

Does anyone have any experience or comments on the OUL worldwide policy recommended on the MSE article? It comes up as the second cheapest on Moneysupermarket (and is cheaper now), and it all looks fine as far as I can tell, but does anyone have any further advice?

Hoostan

Hi

I am planning a trip away to Australia and NZ possibly going to some other places on the way back. I want to stay for a year - around 6 months in each country.

Looking at moneysupermarket there is an annual option and a backpackers option. the backpackers is around £90+ more expensive. does anyone know the difference and whether I can get away with the cheaper one?

thanks

Leigh-Anne_60

Annual policies will usually have a maximum trip duration of say 30,45 or 60 days per trip. Backpacking for your specifiic trip duration is the cover you need

System

[QUOTE=Summer01;24066405]I have used TPS insurance admin service limited for years now :-
http://www.ukul.com/structure_TPS.html

For cover which includes Europe & Peronal Property & Money Cover last year was £52.64 for multi trip per year.

Renewal this year will be £59.54 this year. It's for two people - would you say this is a good price or is it worth looking around? [/QUOTE]

I've just called TPS to ask what the cost is inc Mexico and it's £88.93 and the Post Office is £126

Has anyone else used Longhawk/TPS? I'm wondering whether to switch to another Insurance Company to save on costs, however want a good policy..

System

Benefits Alliance is £75 for a couple (annual / worldwide) below are the policy details. Am thinking of either getting this one or the Post Office one.


Annual Multi Trip

SectionCoverExcessAPersonal AccidentNilLoss of one or more eyes or limbs£25,000Permanent Total Disablement£25,000Death£10,000BHospital Benefit£20 per 24 hours - NilUp to £600 (outside UK)Return to Home£3,500£50 per person,£100 perfamilyCEmergency medical Expenses£5,000,000£50 per(Outside UK)person, £100 per familyFuneral and Repatriation Expenses£2,000 within UKTravel and Accomodation Expenses£1,000 (outside UK)DLoss of Deposit, Cancellation or Curtailment£50 per£5,000 for Cancellation and Curtailmentperson, £100 per family£5,000 for additional expenses followingCurtailment£25 per person, £50 per family for Loss of Deposit£50 per person,£100 per family for all claims arising from a medical condition.ECatastrophe Benefit£750NilFDelayed TravelHoliday Abandonment£5,000£50 per person, £100 perfamilyDelayed Travel Benefit£400NilGMissed Departure£600 (UK and European Holidays)Nil£1,000 (outside UK and Europe)KDelayed Baggage£125 per 24 hours up to £250nilLPassport / Driving Licence Indemnity£500NilMPersonal Liability£2,000,000NilNLegal Expenses£25,000Nil

Golf Cover - If applicable.SectionCoverExcessOGolf CoverGolf Equipment£1,500£50 per person,£100 per familyGolf Hire£20 per 24 hours (Up to £200)NilNon-refundable Golfing FeesUp to £300 (£75 per fee)£50 per person, £100 perfamily

Personal Property & Personal Money - If applicable.SectionCoverExcessHPersonal Property£1,750£50 per person, £100 per familySingle Article Limit £300 (£100 for Children)Valuables limit £200 (£100 for Children)Spectacles and prescription sunglasses £75IPersonal Money£500 (£250 for Children)£50 perperson, £100 per familyCash Limit £250 (£50 for Children)

Winter Sports - If applicable.SectionCoverExcessJOptional Leisure Only Wintersports£1,300Owned Wintersports Equipment£350 for owned equipment or £50 per person or £100 per family£250 for hired equipmentHired Wintersports Equipment£20 per day up to £200 in totalNilSki Pack£150£50 per person or £100 per familyPiste Closure£20 per day up to £200NilDelay Due to Avalanche£200£50 per person or £100 per family