AIBU to remind people to take out travel insurance

[LoniceraJaponica]

before going on holiday.
Travel insurance doesn't just cover mishaps while you are away, but also covers anything that might happen before you go away that prevents you from going on holiday.

How and why do people not understand this?

[NigellasGuest]

I lost one earring in a hotel pool. The insurance company were going to pay out, on condition that i gave them the other earring. I preferred to forgo the insurance payout in order to keep the single earring for sentimental reasons.

[GatheringHerBrows]

Thanks, I'll do that 🙂.

[LoniceraJaponica]

You would need to check with them Gathering

[GatheringHerBrows]

Thanks OP, I admit I don't really know a lot about travel insurance! If you travel internationally for work, would your workplace already have this covered?

[bruffin]

Be careful with bank account insurance, you still have to declare healthproblems or you might not be covered.

[BatsAreCool]

m0therofdragons I remember banks saying you must have life insurance when taking out a mortgage back in the old days but actually there is no legal reason to do so. Therefore your PIL and BIL have done nothing wrong and lots of people don't have it. In their case if one of them had died with a mortgage either the other person (assuming joint tenants) would have had to pay it or sell the house if they couldn't.

Life insurance doesn't have to be tied to a mortgage. Whilst some people have it so it decreases the payout as the mortgage shrinks as that is cheaper, lots of polices are a simply a payout of lump sum which is what I have as I don't have mortgage.

[MrsStrowman]

We have an annual policy with our bank account, don't have to worry about it then.

[bruffin]

When ds was 18 i nagged him to takeout travel insurance. He was so pleased he did as his gf developed a clot on her lung 2 days before holiday and it was cancelled. He got all his money back.

[m0therofdragons]

@FoodieToo we actually had similar when flight was cancelled and we had to hire a car and drive small dc 20 hours across America. We'd checked over the phone we were covered for weather cancellations but there was a loophole with tenuous wording to get out of paying out the £1600 we had to pay to hire the car! I'd still always have it for health despite that experience.

[m0therofdragons]

I've just found out my pil and bil have never had life insurance despite having mortgages. I'm genuinely shocked as I didn't think you could get a mortgage without. Turns out that you can. I'm judging them!

[MrsTerryPratchett]

The only time we don’t get travel insurance is when we come back to the UK

I have travel insurance when I travel anywhere I'm not a resident. If you aren't a resident, get insurance. Don't assume the NHS can pick up the bill. And what about repatriation?

[Koalablue]

I have two family members that had to claim. One is a uk resident who became ill on arriving in Greece. Had to spend ages in hospital and then a private jet home.
Second one lives in Aus and got ill on a cruise. Ages in hospital. No issue with either claiming.
I wouldnt travel without it. Our insurers arnt as picky about what must be declaired either. (Im in Aus)
Our last trip to the states cost just over $500 for 5 people including one who has a heart issue. This also included luggage insurance and car hire insurance too.

[NewToCats]

Had to claim on insurance. Phoned insurer to warn them before visiting hospital and that was the only thing I had to do. They were in touch with the hospital and settled all the bills directly. So simple. Thank goodness.

[TheDuchessOfSex]

@foodie2 I’m sorry to hear that, how frustrating!

I’ve fortunately only ever needed to claim on my travel insurance once. I lost my glasses on the way to the airport to go on holiday (which was genuinely when it happened), I somehow misplaced them while wearing my prescription sunglasses. The insurance company told me I needed a police report . The police basically told me to get stuffed. The insurance company countered by saying ok, we’ll pay out this time without a police report but don’t let it happen again. All very strange but they paid me most of the replacement cost of my glasses so I was happy.

[Hadenoughofallthis]

We always have winter sports cover for skiing each year. That's mainly to cover any potential airlift off the mountain, although apparently one would need to be compos mentos enough to phone them for authorisation first.

It says it covers loss of skis, but will not pay out for theft if they were left unattended. Hardly likely to be stolen when they're attached to your feet, however. And I had a pair snap once, which is apparently well-nigh impossible, but was initially charged an excess by the shop of hundreds of Euros. Managed to get that overturned but still.
Read the small print!!

[skyesayshi]

Luckily I got back everything apart from the insurance premium. It was stressful though as I booked insurance at time of booking trip so it was French..... all correspondence was French. I didn’t understand what they wanted even after translation!

They did pay in full but took two moths. Next time I’m booking insurance with a UK company right after booking the trip!

[FoodieToo]

I often wonder when I read these threads how many people have actually tried to claim on travel insurance.
I have had lots of different policies but I would urge people to read the terms and conditions really carefully.

We had a claim a few years ago and got back almost nothing despite losing 3k worth of gear and our passports. Loss of passport is not covered unless it is actually stolen from your person, there are clauses everywhere that you couldn't even imagine and they will try almost everything to get out of paying.

We had another small claim this year and again only managed to get back the bare minimum.

Be very wary of free policies, multi- trip polices and very cheap policies. Chances are you will be due nothing. Also pay for a policy which has no excess.

Do not blindly assume that travel insurance is travel insurance and you will be covered for anything that happens. Highly likely you will be covered for any of it by the time they have finished with their terms and conditions!

[Mascarponeandwine]

Trouble is if the insurance company can link your non-insured conditions to the reason for the claim, they can refuse to pay out. Tripped fell and broke a limb - that’ll be because your anxiety causes insomnia and you were so tired it contributed to the accident. Chest infection - ah your asthma is a factor to how bad it is, so not covered. Etc etc. I suppose it depends how much you trust your insurance company though.

[gettingbacktoresearch]

Annoyingly my bank wanted an extra £280 for our recent 4 day trip to Jersey to cover mine and DHs medical conditions which are all very well controlled by medication. I didn’t go for it this time and just kept the basic cover for emergencies but for a longer long haul trip I would spend time finding a specialist insurance provider.... the conditions are only asthma, hypothyroidism for me and depression for DH btw.....

[NettleTea]

my kid has a medical condition. It means our insurance is sometimes in the £100s BUT when we had to come home very suddenly to ensure she got into hospital with her team here in the UK, they paid up without question for the emergency flights, missed home flights and rest of holiday.

[implantsandaDyson]

Having been in the situation of having to organise a repatriation of a body a few years ago I can't over emphasise the heartbreak of then having to tell a suddenly bereaved relative that there was no travel insurance taken out. Sure he was only nipping away for a few days, he did it a couple of times a year, wasn't a big drinker, wasn't planning on driving, no sports dangerous or otherwise being played, relatively young. Just a simple, stupid road accident.

[lalalalyra]

Maisypops
I can never work out whether that is arrogance, stupidity or the dangerous combination of both.

I think people simply don't think.

A friend of mine never bothered with travel insurance as she "had a credit card". Then her new partner insisted on it. Thankfully because on a trip away a group of lads staying in the same complex accidentally knocked a bottle of vodka off their balcony and it cracked her on the head - ambulance, stitches, scan (can't mind if it was MRI or CT, but it was expensive) and a night in hospital for concussion observation. Would have been a heck of a credit card bill!!

[AroundTheWorldIn80Days]

Yanbu. I just read a thread earlier where someone possibl had to cancel their expensive trip but hadn’t gotten around to sorting travel insurance yet. I always make sure I have travel insurance set up before paying the final balance or even the deposit if not willing to sacrifice that. If one of your kids comes down with chickenpox or you break your arm before you go or for many other scenarios you would then be able to claim for cancellation. Getting it the day before you go is no good for that! Defo not worth the risk once you’re away. We were away earlier this year and on the final day of our 2 week holiday my 2 year old stuck a pebble right up her nose and then once that was sorted fell on a rock and cracked her head open. Luckily it was all sorted by the hotel doctor and no insurance was needed but we would have been stupid not to have had any.

[AllTakenSoRubbishUsername]

Twice in my experience travel insurance has been an absolute necessity (huge huge problems if had not been taken out). You would be totally mad not to take out TI.

[Toomanycats99]

I used to work for a medical emergency assistance company - I would never go away without it.

People don't think!