# Travel insurance is generally a waste of time!



## ubiquitous (27 May 2008)

_Split by moderator from Q&A thread in insurance forum. Please note the title was chosen by moderator, not ubiquitous!_

Travel insurance is generally a waste of time in relation to compensation for lost belongings etc. Its main purpose is to pay for emergency medical treatment while abroad and to facilitate repatriation home in the event of death or serious injury. If travel insurance companies were more honest with people, they would admit this, but then again as consumers we are suckers for gimmicks, even useless gimmicks.


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## oldtimer (27 May 2008)

*Re: Problems making a claim with getcover.ie*

I certainly agree with ubiquitous. I take out travel insurance to cover illness while on holiday in the event of anything serious healthwise, accident etc. I have no confidence in making any other kind of claim. I reckon all travel insurance companies will do anything for a 'get-out' clause.


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## bacchus (28 May 2008)

*Re: Problems making a claim with getcover.ie*



MugsGame said:


> Yes, and VHI (and some credit cards) cover for these situations, which is why I never buy travel insurance.


 
True, but up to a certain limit afaik, €50k? 

Travel insurance also covers you for cancellation, curtailment, missed departure, delay, personal liability, etc...
You MUST have a travel insurance if you go package holidays, so no choice there.


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## paddywhacker (28 May 2008)

*Re: Problems making a claim with getcover.ie*

I had a situation recently where I booked a longhaul holiday online through a UK travel agent to leave from the UK as there is a much greater choice of destinations and it's an easy hop across on one of the low-cost options. But I needed to make a claim for missed departure and in the small print it states that my insurance only covers me for holidays 'departing from Ireland' and when I rang the claims dept they told me I wasn't covered for leaving from the UK. I'd taken such holidays many times before, having no idea that I wasn't covered for anything!


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## MugsGame (28 May 2008)

*Re: Problems making a claim with getcover.ie*



bacchus said:


> True, but up to a certain limit afaik, €50k?



My [broken link removed] includes


> Cover for in-patient hospital costs of up to €65,000.
> We'll arrange for an air ambulance home for further treatment if medically necessary.



which I think is plenty. 



> Travel insurance also covers you for cancellation, curtailment, missed departure, delay, personal liability, etc...



I don't have personal liability insurance at home, so why do I need it abroad? The other risks carry excesses and terms and conditions designed to prevent claims. I'm quite happy to "self-insure" for these, or buy travel using a [broken link removed] for them. For important or long trips (e.g. honeymoon, round the world cruise), proper travel insurance to cover these risks might be more worthwhile. 

Plenty of people will disagree and feel more comfortable with the insurance regardless, and that's fine. 



> You MUST have a travel insurance if you go package holidays, so no choice there.



I'll grant that package providers like to insist on it, but I've never had to.


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## rmelly (28 May 2008)

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that in the midst of the Heathrow Terminal 5 problems for BA, some insurers weren't paying out for claims as they considered it to be a 'pre-existing' problem. 

Apparently they were quick enough to reverse the decision, but just goes to show...


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## bacchus (28 May 2008)

*Re: Problems making a claim with getcover.ie*



MugsGame said:


> I'll grant that package providers like to insist on it, but I've never had to.


 
What is it recently? 
I was shopping around for our summer holidays over the past few weeks (the likes of panorama/budget travel/first choice/stein,etc..), and they all mentionned that travel insurance is a MUST.
Used to be optional in the past (say 3+years ago).


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## ClubMan (28 May 2008)

ubiquitous said:


> Travel insurance is generally a waste of time in relation to compensation for lost belongings etc. Its main purpose is to pay for emergency medical treatment while abroad and to facilitate repatriation home in the event of death or serious injury.


I agree. And on a more general point it often makes no sense to insure for relatively small risks that one can probably cover for yourself.


> If travel insurance companies were more honest with people, they would admit this, but then again as consumers we are suckers for gimmicks, even useless gimmicks.


If people read the terms & conditions of insurance policies and other agreements before they signed on the dotted line then it might help.


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## MugsGame (28 May 2008)

> What is it recently?



Fair enough, it was a few years ago. I booked a last minute deal and was told I MUST produce travel insurance. I refused. If I ran into this today and they insisted I would have no qualms producing a fake policy document to satisfy their rediculous stipulation. A devious person might even buy their travel insurance online, show the cert to the package holiday company, then cancel the insurance within the cooling off period (obviously before travel commenced, and with no intention to attempt to claim on the policy.).


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## MugsGame (28 May 2008)

> when I rang the claims dept they told me I wasn't covered for leaving from the UK. I'd taken such holidays many times before, having no idea that I wasn't covered for anything!



If you left Ireland as part of the same trip (i.e. to connect with the package flight), I think you have a strong case that you were covered. It doesn't matter that you bought parts of the trip (including travel outside Ireland) separately, they are still part of your holiday that started from Ireland.


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## paddywhacker (28 May 2008)

That was my argument but it's in the small print that you are only covered for trips that depart from Ireland and they consider the package holiday (hotel & flights from UK) as the start of the trip, not the low-cost flights. Problem is the same stipuation seems to apply with most of the providers,which means I'm not as much inclined to leave from the UK, which a pain as trips to Mexico, Indo, Carribean etc are much better value and have way more choice than trying to go from here.


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## MugsGame (28 May 2008)

They may have used that argument to deny the claim but I don't think it would stand-up if you complained to the Ombudsman. Probably not worth the hassle unless the sum is large. Insurance companies shirking their responsibilities is another reason I rarely take out travel insurance. Most risks aren't worth the hassle of claiming.

Update: I've just noticed your claim was for "missed departure". If you were claiming for a missed connection, I think they may have a point and this is a fair exclusion. However, I don't think having a connection in the UK would invalidate other elements of the policy, such as accident cover.


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## mickman (29 May 2008)

u need travel insurance for the US. i wudnt bother with it for europe etc


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## ClubMan (29 May 2008)

mickman said:


> u need travel insurance for the US. i wudnt bother with it for europe etc


You mean *anywhere *other than _US_? Sounds risky to me.


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## csirl (29 May 2008)

As a general rule, you should not take out insurance on anything for which the cost would not materially alter your finances.

It is worthwhile taking out travel insurance for medical cover (if you dont already have it in VHI etc.) as most people could not afford to hire an air ambulance. However, taking out insurance against a flight delay where you might have to buy a couple of meals while waiting or even over a couple of hundred quids worth of clothes in a suitcase is not good value.


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## ramble (19 Jun 2008)

Relying on VHI for a holiday outside europe (E111 covers you in EU) is not sensible.  €65,000 is not a lot for medical in patient costs if you are involved in an accident.  Although VHI will pay for an air ambulance they will only fly you if there is a bed here to take you.  So if you are very ill with say head injuries you can only come back to ireland when you have arranged a bed in Beaumont.  Now as we all know the only way into a public hospital in ireland (can't get brain surgery done privately) is through A&E or off a list following a consultants referral.  No decent foreign hospital is going to release a stable patient to an air ambulance with no hospital bed at the other end.  

Insurance will usually also pay for a relative to stay with you in a foreign country, even in europe this could be very important.  You get run over by a bus, Mrs patient has to go home on the plane because she has to get back to work/has no money left for hotel for 3 months etc.  So you are ill and alone and on top of a personal mess you also have a financial one. 
This happens, pay your €20 for medical insurance on holiday.


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## aircobra19 (19 Jun 2008)

I know someone whos medical expenses in the US came to over 1 million, which was the limit of their policy. 

That said I had great difficulty claiming from a travel insurance policy the only time I tried. Was ultimately unsuccessful.


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## WaterSprite (19 Jun 2008)

I've claimed for theft (occurred in Costa Rica) - a load of stuff was nicked, but nothing particularly valuable.  If you added it all up it was prob about €300-worth of stuff.  Claim went through no problem.  The multi-trip policies are so cheap now, I think you'd be mad to travel without insurance, esp if you have any sort of fancy camera/iPod.  I suppose it depends on where you travel - if you are in the Four Seasons in Barcelona, you're stuff is probably safe enough, but if you're in a hostel in Managua, prob best to have all your portable gizmos covered.

Sprite


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## setanta1 (31 Jul 2008)

Quote from the 2007 Annual Report of the Financial Ombudsman:
“Travel insurance claims constitute a large percentage of complaints I have received since 2006. In 2007 387 travel insurance complaints were received.”


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## csirl (31 Jul 2008)

> Relying on VHI for a holiday outside europe (E111 covers you in EU) is not sensible. €65,000 is not a lot for medical in patient costs if you are involved in an accident. Although VHI will pay for an air ambulance they will only fly you if there is a bed here to take you. So if you are very ill with say head injuries you can only come back to ireland when you have arranged a bed in Beaumont. Now as we all know the only way into a public hospital in ireland (can't get brain surgery done privately) is through A&E or off a list following a consultants referral. No decent foreign hospital is going to release a stable patient to an air ambulance with no hospital bed at the other end.


 
You forget that if you have VHI you wont be going to a public ward, so a bed at the other end wont be a problem. Even if you cant get the eventual surgery done immediately, if you require hospitalisation you will be hospitalised.



> (can't get brain surgery done privately)


 
Are you sure? No doubt if you are rich enough, you can just pay a brain surgeon to do whatever you need in a fully private hospital. There are Irish brain surgeons who do private work, though maybe not in Irish public hospitals - I have a first cousin who is one.


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## Mumha (13 Aug 2008)

We have VHI World Assist and also pay for the Aer Lingus Annual Family insurance (Elvia). We've had two issues in Spain over the last few years, firstly, my wife had to have her appendix out (a week in hospital), and then our bably son got pneumonia (another week in hospital). VHI World Assist (Eurocross) were utterly fantastic, I couldn't praise them highly enough. Right from the start they got involved and arranged to automatically pick up the tab, and dealt with Elvia on our behalf. In fact, VHIWA click in first, Elvia won't get involved until they have to. Elvia were ok-ish to deal with but after the event you have to submit ott documentation to get money back.


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