Annual Travel Insurance - Renewal, Accident, Cancellation Contract Help

[WithNoPaddle]

Could anyone help me please with an issue I have with my annual travel insurance renewing 2 days after an accident. Cover is with a large, well know, insurer.

Timeline.

1st May: Holiday final payment due.
10th May: Ring up insurance company to renew my annual policy, have a couple of medical updates, all agreed. It is on auto renew.

12th May. Have accident, treated in hospital. Told I can't drive and probably can't fly. Doctor says happy to review the No Fly when I return to the hospital, will depend on how I recover.

14th May : Travel insurance auto renews.

16th May: Ring Travel Insurance to ask what information I need from hospital to either cancel or fly. Holiday is on June 2nd.

Told I'm not covered as accident happened before the renewal, only covered if I pay a significant (hundreds of pounds) increase in premium. Apparently I am lucky that I can pay the increase, some injuries would be uninsurable.

But I booked before the accident, had insurance in place only to find it is worthless. If I had booked a single trip then I would have been covered.

This is the T&C's

For annual multi-trip cover
Cancellation cover begins on the cover start date shown on
your schedule or the date you booked your trip, whichever is
later, and ends when you start your trip.
For all other sections, cover starts at the beginning of your
trip and finishes at the end of your trip.
All cover ends on the cover end date shown on your policy
unless you can’t finish your trip as planned because of death,
injury or illness or there is a delay to the public transport
system that can’t be avoided, in which case we’ll extend cover
free of charge until you can reasonably finish your trip.

Is this right, because it makes annual travel insurance worthless.

TLDR:

Is annual travel insurance worthless if holiday is booked for the following policy year?

Thanks

[Post edited by MNHQ at OP's request to clarify dates]

On your timeline the accident (14th) happened two days after renewal (12th) so that doesn’t make sense.

There’s an error here somewhere with the insurer as cover was available at time of booking through the expired policy and during time of accident through the auto renewal.

Sorry, accident was AFTER renewal. Was trying to put in all the details.

12th May had accident

14th May renewal

You've just said that the renewal was later? Which way round was it?

They agree that it auto renewed, but that I'm not covered without paying a massive premium as the accident happened before the renewal and I didn't tell them about it before renewal.

(For two reasons. Firstly I had rung up to confirm renewal so hadn't given it further thought, and secondly I wasn't in any fit state to think about travel insurance just after my accident)

They are correct as the autonewal date is the 14th and your accident was 12th BUT as you had insurance before the 14th you ought to be able to claim on that I would have thought.

Renewal two days after accident. If it was Twi days before I would be covered with no increase in premium. My policy does not require in year updates.

Well yeah you should be covered under the original policy I would have thought as you were covered by that at the time.of the accident.

That's what I thought, but only with massive premium hike.

If I had paid for a single policy I would have been covered.

I'm glad you think the same, after the phone call with insurers was beginning to think I misunderstood it all.

I bought annual insurance as I thought it was the best way to make sure I was covered.

My policy does not require in year updates

I'm afraid this is wrong.

I have been able to identify the insurer involved from the snippet of their terms that you have reproduced. The relevant term is:

"If you have an annual multi-trip policy you must tell us of any changes to anyone’s medical conditions or health before your policy renews. We may not be able to provide cover for any pre-existing medical conditions at renewal and changes may make a difference to the premium. If we can’t continue to cover your medical conditions and you have a trip booked, you can make a cancellation claim."

There was a change before the policy renewed when you had an accident. You failed to inform them of this. Given that your doctor says you can't fly or drive, this is clearly a relevant issue. From their perspective, you are now a much higher risk than they expected. They are therefore entitled to ask for an increased premium. If you don't wish to pay this, you may be able to cancel.

You file a claim as you are going to be covered by the one of two contract provided you meet the T&C.

So file a claim and let the insurace company make a final decision. Then follow the formal complaint process.

You would then ask the ombudsman (and maybe the FCA)

You need to look at the old policy first:

Timeline.
OLD contract
1st May: Holiday final payment due.
10th May: Ring up insurance company to renew my annual policy, have a couple of medical updates, all agreed. It is on auto renew.

NEW contract

12th May : Travel insurance auto renews.

Is this date the correct date for the start of the new contract?

14th May. Have accident, treated in hospital. Told I can't drive and probably can't fly. Doctor says happy to review the No Fly when I return to the hospital, will depend on how I recover.

16th May: Ring Travel Insurance to ask what information I need from hospital to either cancel or fly.

Holiday is on June 2nd.

Has the old policy the same terms as the new contract?

Cancellation cover begins on
(a) the cover start date shown on your schedule
or
(b) the date you booked your trip,
whichever is later, and ends when you start your trip.

So you need to look at "your schedule" and see how the cover date is calculated.

It's not, I mean 'in year' as in during the whole year. I agree at renewal 'before renewal' I have to tell them, which is why I rang and updated medical issues. It is just a shame that it didn't renew after that conversation.

But how can it be right that I was insured under my previous policy at the time of the accident and now I can't cancel the holiday without paying a large premium.

If your old contract ended after the accident then you did need to inform the insurance company of the medical details for the new contract.

Its a basic principle of insurance that you have to disclose any relevant facts so a pre-existing condition will allow the insurance company to reject the claim under the new policy.

You need to check what the old policy covered.

I have nothing but sympathy. We were stung by travel insurance finding a loophole. It’s basically pointless ime but I still dutifully pay it. My parents are still waiting for their flight costs from March. Both covered, paid extra due to mum’s hospital admission in January, both then diagnosed with cancer end of February… still no payout. I wish you luck - does house insurance have legal cover?

Has the old policy the same terms as the new contract?

Cancellation cover begins on
(a) the cover start date shown on your schedule
or
(b) the date you booked your trip,
whichever is later, and ends when you start your trip.

*So you need to look at "your schedule" and see how the cover date is calculated."

@AnSolas so as far as I understand. My insurance was 13.05.24-13.05.25 renewed on 14.05.25. same company, same terms. Trip was booked in December 2024.

With same company, they are saying I'm not covered despite having valid insurance at the time of my accident.

Thanks, sorry to read your post. Hope your parents get it sorted soon.

I've always paid and always bought premium cover, informed them of everything and now looks like they are trying to extort more money out of me despite being covered on the old policy.

OP has clarified that the accident was 2 days before the policy auto-renewed - the accident was on the 12th and renewal on the 14th, not the other way round. That is crucial. It means that, under the terms of the policy, she was required to tell her insurers about this accident before renewal went through. She did not do so.

Note that the cover is for trips taken (or booked to be taken) during the period of the policy. The old policy does not cover her for cancelling this trip. The question is whether the new policy should cover her.

My personal view is that it is understandable that OP did not inform her insurers of the accident. She may therefore have a case that her insurers are being unreasonable. If I were her, I would follow the insurer's complaints procedure and, if that fails, refer it to the ombudsman. That wouldn't cost anything. There is no guarantee of success, but it may result in her getting the compensation she was expecting.

Thanks @prh47bridge I've just paid the excessive increase in premium, and I guess I should be thankful that they have covered it, which means if I have to cancel that I will now be covered. I feel I did everything reasonable to inform my insurers of changes, I will follow their complaints policy.

But this part of your post

Note that the cover is for trips taken (or booked to be taken) during the period of the policy.

Is interesting/depressing (!) so annual cover is ultimately pointless for holidays booked in advance. I thought the point was to have holiday insurance at the time of booking, but in reality as the holiday was after renewal I didn't .

It is only pointless in something like the unfortunate circumstances that happened here. If the accident had been two days later, you would clearly have been covered without any additional premium. And I think it is possible the ombudsman would decide in your favour if you pursue this (which I think you should - it won't cost you anything and might get your money back).

Good luck and I hope you make a full recovery.

Thank you.

Pointless as it appears I didn't have cancellation cover on the 12th despite my policy being valid. If it had been something more serious they wouldn't have covered me for cancellation despite it happening during the previous policy year.

I understand what you are saying but the reason I am encouraging you to pursue this is that I think the ombudsman may decide your insurer has behaved unreasonably and tell them to refund the additional premium you have paid as well as paying up for the cancellation.

Thanks, I will update as I drives me mad when no update. Thanks

so as far as I understand. My insurance was 13.05.24-13.05.25 renewed on 14.05.25. same company, same terms. Trip was booked in December 2024.

13.05.24-13.05.25
For insurance cover Cancellation Cover is a period of time.

You have been sold a number of insurance policy in a bundle. The whole package is called "trip" insurance. The same idea as your car insurance has 3rd party and fire and theft and replacement window cover and car rental and replacement car cover etc.

Cancellation cover begins on
(a) the Cover Start Date shown on your schedule
or
(b) the date you booked your trip,
whichever is later,
(C) and ends when you start your trip.

So eg the time span ends when you exit your home locking the door and head off On Holiday

The Cover Start Date (a) is a specific date which "only" applies to the cancellation term. It will be a calculated date of if X happens the date is Z.
(a) dd mm yy tbc
(b) dd Dec 2024
(c) 02 Jun 2025 @ hh:mm:ss

For all other sections,
cover starts at the beginning of your
trip and finishes at the end of your trip.

Note holiday interruption and accident cover span different periods of time which span begins the second after you lock the door and head off On Holiday.

Or (c) 02 Jun 2025 @ hh:mm:ss + 1 second

The 12th accident is within the old contract.
Now did the doctor say no driving/flying within the dates too?

The old policy has cancellation cover?
So if the T&C say that the date you booked and/or made a final payment is the primary factor for providing cover and the event which prevent the holiday happened within the term then you claim under the old policy.

You need to read the policy and work out the cover date per (a) and if its before or after (b) and what the event is.

Once you work out if it says the date you had your accident or when you got the no drive/fly instruction or cancel the booking is the event you can work out if you are likely get a payment for cancelling the holiday.

Cancellation is different to cover for accidents or incidents during the holiday those covers stopped on the 13th.

14.05.25
You did not have valid On Holiday insurance on the renewal date. Failure to update the company voided the insurance cover.

The only way you could be covered for not disclosing is if you created an extra verbal term during the phone call on the 10th. This is highly unlikely to have happened as you did not think an event would happen in the time between the 10th and the 14th.

The company can offer a new policy but the cancellation bit is likely not valid for your prebooked holiday as it will not cover known condition so you need to be very clear on what is or is nor insured if you are flying "against medical" advice.

And if you have been told that you are not allowed fly on the 2 jun you should not have been sold a generic policy with the normal T&C to cover these dates as that is likely to fall under misselling rules.