AIBU to ask why people don’t take out travel insurance when booking a holiday?

[Frannyhy]

I’m an Airbnb host. Guest due tomorrow has had to cancel. I won’t refund her, and I’ve just heard that Airbnb have agreed with me after she went to them for help.

She’s going to lose around £600. I’ll normally refund if I can rebook, but I won’t this time because the lady rang me and swore at me when I told her to take the matter through Airbnb.

So to those of you who don’t think travel insurance is necessary, why not?

I've always had travel insurance going abroad and have had to use it for emergency surgery, my hospital stay and families hotel and changing flights (in the one trip).

I've never taken out travel insurance in the uk though do pay a few £ for the add on cover that always seems to have been offered when booking accommodation/ entrance tickets/ travel etc online.

But the reasons the insurance premium is so high for your dad is that the insurance company have calculated that he is at a very high risk of needing expensive medical care! Even a small fall could put him in hospital needing surgery for a broken hip. If he has the readily available savings to cover many thousands of pounds paid upfront for a private room, surgery, possibly intensive care, additional accommodation for your mum, flights for relatives , medical evacuation, or worst case scenario the repatriation of his body, then he has the money to get insurance and save you all the worry.

Btw, if your mum takes out insurance and “isn’t” honest with the insurer , well I don’t need to spell it out, you know what would happen.

I wouldn’t bother for a U.K. break because my household insurance covers theft of eg a handbag and contents and medical cover is the same as at home…

Overseas, yes, at point of booking (although this year our annual policy provider withdrew from the market so I had a scramble to book cover for an already booked holiday).

UsingChangeofName as I posted earlier -the £500 (or whatever it was ) was made up of iPhone (£350), kindle (£100), passport (£100), Driving licence (£30) - cost of the bag itself was probably £20! I think most people would have some or all of those things in their bag on holiday?

Because I don't have very much money, basically. The holiday itself will already have been a stretch to me, and I can't justify spending more on insurance against something that probably won't happen.

I've never had insurance for a UK break. Honestly wouldn't have occurred to me. But I will look into it for cancellations etc, going forward.

I do ALWAYS have it if I'm going out of the country though.

I think no UK insurance is fine, but not having it for a trip abroad for medical purposes alone is a big risk.

Granted medical issues do not happen often, but the costs if they do can be astronomical.

Travel insurance for a standard 7 or 14 day trip usually is not expensive.

Mine paid out on a UK break that cost over £3k when I came down with covid. Well worth it.

Out of curiosity, got a quick quote on Tesco website for a family of four going to Greece in August for one week, no medical conditions. Depending on the level of cover, the quote varied between around £30 and £70.

If you holiday more than once a year (especially abroad), don't buy one-off trip insurance. Buy an annual travel policy for the family. Should work out to be more cost effective and gives peace of mind.

When ds1 started travelling around the world, the first thing I reminded him was that he absolutely had to get travel insurance. I explained what could happen if he didn't and that I would not be able to pay to help him if he became unstuck and that he'd end up trapped in some country and having to work there to pay off the debt (don't know if that actually happens). I would not be remortgaging my house to raise money.

Also - OP didnt state UK - they said So to those of you who don’t think travel insurance is necessary, why not?

Not knowing what you don't know, I think.

That said I have a general "rule" for insurance:

If my potential loss is limited to what I have put in, I'll decide whether to get insurance or take the risk myself. Hotel bookings, home contents, mobile phones, and so on would fall into this category. Sometimes the cost of the premiums, combined with fear that the insurer will wriggle out of paying a claim anyway, would encourage me not to bother.

But if my potential loss is outside my control then I need insurance. So travel insurance to cover medical costs outside the UK, the third-party cover on car insurance (which the law requires anyway), liability insurance if I was self-employed, that kind of stuff.

We always have an annual policy, not so much for UK breaks but for medical care if abroad.

My mum died suddenly abroad, had a air ambulance, a brief hospital stay and then her body had to be repatriated.

All this was covered by her insurance but I dread to think how much that would have cost us. I know this is an extreme example but please take out insurance if you are going abroad!

You need to make it very clear to them how incredibly stupid this is (if they are travelling abroad).
If they are wealthy enough to not be phased by paying out the cost of a house to cover ambulance, treatment, repatriation etc when one of them has a fall or anything like a heart attack or a fall, then they can afford travel insurance. If they aren't, then who do they think is going to pay those costs ?

Your parents are either selfish, foolish or both. The reason their insurance quotes are high is because there is a good chance that they’ll incur costs due to medical issues. Who do they expect to sort out the mess if either of them needs hospital treatment abroad? I assume they won’t be happy to die in agony on the street and be buried abroad so would seek medical treatment/ repatriation if required. They may have assets (a house that can be sold) that would cover the cost of treatment but hospitals may not be happy with a vague IOU in many months time.

Not declaring a medical condition is just plain stupid. I think a lot of people think "oh if I don't declare my high blood pressure what's the worse that can happen? If they find out they won't cover anything blood pressure related." But of course actually the worst that could happen is that they void the entire policy. Ok, if your claim is for a stolen handbag you may well get away with it as they're unlikely to start delving into your medical history. But if you have a medical claim, even if it is totally unrelated to your pre existing health then your past history will almost certainly come to light and if you have lied on the application the insurers have no obligation to honour any part of the policy. I very vaguely know someone this happened to in fact and he was left facing a huge bill after a car crash abroad because he hadn't revealed something to the insurers. It was totally irrelevant to the crash and probably would have added a fairly trivial amount to the premium but it proved to be a false economy indeed.

@bridgetjonesmassivepants Sorry for your loss. Must have been a horrible experience.

@MrsAvocet I agree about declaring stuff, and missing stuff can void the policy. We had the situation a few weeks ago that dh was recommended an X-ray by a private osteopath. Their letter hadn’t even reached the doctors for the referral. I told the travel insurers who nearly voided the policy as it was an ‘outstanding scan’. Fortunately, they covered us, but it made me worry about what I may have missed out.

On average the insurance company profits by insurance and the customer loses out. So I typically only insure against things which would be financially disastrous for me, e.g. house fire, medical emergency outside the EU.

I tend to book my holidays quite last minute anyway, the chance that I'll have to cancel is low, so for me the benefit of insurance is not worth the cost.

Riverslee, thank you. Yes, it was a horrible shock but it was ten years ago now. My mum would have been horrified at all the fuss.

You really need to. I've seen so many Justgicibg threads for people who think it OK to travel without travel insurance and something happens to them.
If you're in good health it's quite cheap, but if you have any medical issues then you're crazy not to buy it.

Meant to say Just giving.