Travel insurance claim

[Lamps]

I am about to start the process of trying to claim from my travel insurance for my travel expenses.

I was on holiday in the USA for a couple of weeks when my cousin and close friend tragically died in a car accident. It cost me over €900 to get home at short notice, i also had an internal flight worth €250 that i needed to cancel.

The definition of close family does not seem to include cousin on my policy, so im pretty worried that it will be refused because of this and it appears the travel insurance compamnies will do anything to get out of a payout.
But am I covered for close friend?
Anyone have any tips on dealing with travel insurance companies, as i here they are a nightmare to deal with. Im under a lot of stress at the moment and dont know if I can deal with this, is it worth pursuing seeign as cousin is not listed?

 

[nai]

From recent experience they will apply the law to the letter as per the wording of the policy.

We had cause to claim from ours recently and that was our experience.

 

[oldnick]

It's difficult enough to get an insurance company to pay for something that is included in the policy never mind something that is clearly not.

 

[horusd]

What is the close family definition according to the policy document? I doubt if 'close friend' would cut it at all, it is far to vague. There may be some haggle room, but I would imagine it will be very limited. Have you spoken to the insurer?

 

[redchariot]

Most insurance companies do not treat uncles, aunts or cousins as close family and therefore this would not be covered; each travel insurance company has differences in their clauses so you will have to check the definitions section in your own policy for close family but it is quite unlikely. Sorry