Mandatory travel insurance - can this be right?

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onekeano

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My daughter is heading to Greece on a post Leaving Cert trip with 8 others next week. They booked this back in October last year and paid in installments with the last payment in May 2006.

One of the girls went into the agent today with six "evidence of insurance" documents and was told by the travel agent that they could not issue any of the tickets / paperwork until all nine people could prove they had insurance.

Can this be right? Can they withhold tickets from people who have paid in full and proved they have travel insurance?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Roy
 
Not sure.
Have heard of where you have to have insurance, sufficient funds etc. to enter a country as part of a visa, don't think that would apply to Greece though.

In any case, I would think it imprudent to travel without insurance. Have a look at 123.ie for example, you can get a single trip 10 day cover for €19. Should be able to do it online, print off your receipt and pop back to the travel agents on Monday?
 
The same thing happened to our daughter post Leaving Cert. She and her friends were going to Spain. She rang me from town, very upset, the travel agent had refused to give the tickets. I rang the travel agent immediately, said this holiday was paid for on my credit card which meant she was automatically insured and insisted they issue her ticket. They did.

I don't know what the game is but they tried to give me some spiel about it now being the law etc.etc. I know of no law that states your daughter cannot have her ticket simply because others, totally unrelated to her, do not have insurance.

At the time, it annoyed me because I thought the travel agent was simply trying to get them to buy their insurance package which was much more expensive than anywhere else. I'd ring them if I were you. At least you'll be able to find out exactly what's being said.
 
Thanks LW - I'll call them in the morning and see what the hell is going on.

Tiger - my daughter has the insurance in place so no need for extra insurance.

thanks
Roy
 
There is no mandatory travel insurance. The only insurance that one must have is if they drive a mechanically propelled vehicle on a public road.

Sounds like the travel agent is trying to cover their ass in case something happens and you have no travel insurance, or is trying to intimidate you into purchasing their policy.

Normally if you decline their insurance they get you to sign a form to confirm that they offered you insurance and that you know the risk of travelling uninsured.
 
"Can they withhold tickets from people who have paid in full and proved they have travel insurance?
I believe a travel company can make it part of their terms and conditions that it is a requirement to have insurance. For example this is from Sunworld:

"9. INSURANCE It is a condition of this contract that the Consumer is covered by a travel insurance policy acceptable to the Organiser"
If all 9 persons are on the 1 booking, then probably all 9 need to provide evidence of insurance.
 
They might have you there onekeano. Ask if this was explained fully. It's a nightmare trying to organise 9 people to produce insurance on the same day, especially leaving cert. students who are still on a high after results!!
 
Thanks folks, no joy so far. Rang the office but if kept ringing out - seems like their offices do not open on Sunday.

Called their online number and asked if they could help. I was told "that's our policy" so I asked when that was stipulated in the paperwork and response was "I don't know but it would have been fully explained to them when they were booking". I explained that as this was likely to end up being deicided by a judge it might help if they could tell me now where this requirement was specifically documented. Response was "eh..... you'd have to speak to the manager of that branch - so give him a call in the morning".

Question is just imagine if one of the group can't go, or if their was a falling out among the group (thankfully there isn't but with nine girls and four days to go:) and one decided to refuse to produce the insurance cert........... does that mean that all of the other eight who had paid in full and produced their insurance paperwork would lose everything? Surely not?

Roy
 
You'll get this sorted on Monday. If, as the OP said, this was a clause in their booking contract, I seriously doubt that it was explained fully and in plain English to the girls. Your daughter may have to approach her friends with regard to insurance i.e. why they don't have it yet. This is a hassle with such a large group but perhaps if she put it out there that the travel agent will refuse to issue tickets, they'll produce their insurance.

Going to a solicitor is all well and good but they travel in 4 days? Try the Ombudsman if there's no joy with the travel agent. At the very least, I would insist that MY daughter and perhaps a friend got their tickets.

Good Luck
 
I seem to recall that the only relaxation of insurance in holiday packages was that it was no longer compulsary to take the insurane offered by the travel agent/tour operater. For some reason I think the tour operators have compulsary insurance rules on package holidays so they wont get stuck taking holiday makers home if they company/airline they are using collapses.I dont know this for certain just a feeling I came across this somewhere. But it definitely doesnt apply to Ryanair/Aer Lingus/ Expedia etc booked breaks for some reason. This I do know 'cause you have to be real careful on these sites to make sure you untick the insurance box.
 
The problem is that if you have your own insurance/ bought it elsewhere the tour operator/travel agents impose an adminsistration fee which in some cases makes buying your own insurance dearer than taking out theirs. They win everytime.
 
Have had this happen on a few occasions when booking package holidays thro different agents, where they say you need to travel insurance before you can get tickets issued. Got seperate travel insurance through VHI as i thought they were trying to get more commission. It will more than likely be stated on the confirmation document that one of them would have gotten when booking, and would probably have had to be signed. That aside i would reccommend all 9 get insurance as can save a lot of money in case of any accidents, which tend to occur a lot on leaving cert holidays, speaking from experience!!!!!
 
If they are being booked as a group do they need 9 different travel insurance policies with 9 different lots of commission being paid? If the travel agent is treating them as a group rather than as individuals, despite the fact that they are paying singly or are they paying as a group? then a "group policy" might have been worth investigating.
 
We booked our Holiday to Egypt with Budget travel and already had our yearly Insurance so they just said to call in again with a copy of our insurance for their records. No big deal plus over the years i never went with Travel agents insurance would just get my own yearly one and never came across any objections with not going with Travel agents.
 
But is it legal for them to require travel insurance? I find the practice objectionable and have managed to avoid it in the past when I've disputed it.

VHI wil cover repatriation or emergency medical care in many cases and some people get limited "free" travel insurance when they pay with their credit card. I prefer putting the equivalent of the premiums into a personal "sink" fund, as the hassle of chasing up any claim would usually be worth more than the payout. The exception might be adventure sport/skiing/diving holidays, where there is actually a "real" risk to be insured against!
 
MugsGame said:
But is it legal for them to require travel insurance?
Click to expand...
[broken link removed] suggest that it is quite legal for them to require insurance under the booking contract:
Essential Information for the Consumer

If it is not already in the brochure certain other information must be given to the consumer before the conclusion of the contract (coloured highlighting is mine):
  • passport and visa requirements
  • health formalities
  • contingency arrangements for repatriation and security of money paid over in the event of insolvency of the organiser
  • insurance requirements - if having insurance is compulsory, the consumer must be told this along with the minimum level of cover needed. The consumer cannot be forced to take out the organiser's or retailer's insurance. Where insurance is optional the tour operator must, if he has information which would help the consumer to decide to insure or not, give it to the consumer.
Click to expand...
VHI wil cover repatriation or emergency medical care in many cases and some people get limited "free" travel insurance when they pay with their credit card. I prefer putting the equivalent of the premiums into a personal "sink" fund, as the hassle of chasing up any claim would usually be worth more than the payout. The exception might be adventure sport/skiing/diving holidays, where there is actually a "real" risk to be insured against!
Click to expand...
Don't forget that most travel insurance policies will cover other risks such as legal costs, personal liability etc. which could result in massive bills.
 
I have never once had to show my own insurance.
I always have my own VHI insurance anyway, and when I book they tell me to come back in and show the insurance before I travel. Not once have I shown it, and never has it been a problem.
Strange really.
 
Thank you for the relevant OCDA link. In my case they'd already debited my credit card before the contract term was shown to me, so I successfully argued that it didn't apply to me.

most travel insurance policies will cover other risks such as legal costs, personal liability etc. which could result in massive bills.
Click to expand...

Are these a "real" risk though? What cover do you have for these while at home in Ireland?
 
Re: Mandatory travel insurance - can this be right? - Update

Spoke with the manager of the shop concerned and asked what would happen if one of the group did not produce the insurance cert. ie. would they refuse to provide tickets etc to the entire group. She stated that THEY WOULD GIVE THE GROUP THEIR TICKETS BUT THEY WERE TRYING TO PRESSURISE THOSE WHO COMPLIED WITH THE INSURANCE REQUEST TO GET THE OTHERS TO COMPLY. She said to "tell her to come in on Wednesday and I'll give her the tickets then.

When I told her that my daughter was working all day every day in a care centre she said "well maybe YOU call in on Wednesday to collect them", which I felt was equally ridiculous given that she is just playing a game by refusing to issue them last weekend.

I can understand to a degree that they could get some hassle from parents whose kids refuse to take insurance but subsequently have an accident and this being the case maybe they should refuse to issue tickets to those clients. But to take a stupid stance of putting those who comply with the request to a lot of hassle and frustration beggars belief.

Certainly reminds me of one of the main reasons why I don't deal with agents for the last 10 years or so and just do everything online myself.

Roy
 
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