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Travel

Travel Insurance Hike

(3 Posts)
cmcpne Mon 16-Mar-20 17:35:57

I’m in a quandary whether or not to renew our annual travel insurance policy with Aviva. I’ve today got the renewal through due April 10 and it’s increased by £330 with no change in our circumstances e.g. pre-existing conditions etc since the last renewal. The problem is we have two holidays booked for the coming year one in May to Abu Dhabi and one in July to Austria. Now I’m fairly sure neither of these are very likely to go ahead in particular the May holiday but reading what I can online as they are both “ packaged” holidays we would get refunded from the companies anyway. One is Travelbag and the other is Tui so just can’t decide if the renewal will be a waste of money. We have Travel Disruption cover on the insurance so the pandemic isn’t excluded from cover but am I likely to be claiming from the insurers or the companies I ask myself. We paid by credit card for both trips so might even have right to redress from them although I have heard pandemic isn’t covered by cc.
If there is anyone out there who has an gems of wisdom or advice I would welcome it ( well we would welcome it a DH as confused and undecided as I am )

jeanie99 Tue 17-Mar-20 04:14:32

I've realized with travel insurance companies their conditions can be very different from company to company.
Not only that but usually you can have several options within one company.
We are at the stage where our policy runs out in August and have one holiday booked for 2021 so not covered.
I am at the moment claiming for a flight because of the virus on our annual insurance and clearly when I try and book from August the price will go up.
If you are on a package holiday, UK back to UK booked with the same company if the government doesn't allow you to travel or the company are cancelling you will get your money back. If you cancel the chances are you will not receive a refund, best to wait.
If you have booked flights and hotel separately this can be more difficult only your insurance company can make a decision on that.
I've received refunds for flights when the flight was cancelled. Refund for cruise cancellation.
You need to speak with your insurance company they are the people you will give you the facts of what you signed up for with them.
Definitely buy insurance though and read the small print.
Clearly insurance costs will rise but shop around prices can vary.

Stella14 Wed 18-Mar-20 11:46:33

Unless the Government states that we shouldn’t travel abroad or the destination country has closed borders, we are not entitled either to claim off insurance, or have a refund from the travel company. The government have done this for 30-days. Maybe they will extend this. It would make life much easier, wouldn’t it?

Hubby and I had a trip to South Africa booked for May with Trailfinders. The final balance due date was getting close. I didn’t want to have to lose more than the (significant) deposit, so I rang with a view to cancelling. It turned out that they were allowing people to push forward the date of a trip, with no admin charge. We pushed it back to 29th October. I’m not confident it will be able to go ahead then either as things are going, but if we are still in the thick of this thing, I’m guessing they will allow the dates to be pushed again.

Since addressing this with Trailfinders, I have been told that other travel company are also allowing booked trips to be pushed forward, so hopefully you can do the same with both if your holidays. I think this is hitting travel companies so hard that they are reluctant to lose any bookings, so they are being as helpful as possible.

As for whether or not to pay your insurance. It’s a tough one. Remember that if either of you became ill for the dates of travel, you could make a claim to cancel. I can’t advise you. I’d also be in a dilemma about that one!