How Not to Claim on Your Travel Insurance
- By Patrick Chong
- Published 02/28/2009
- Finances
- Unrated
Patrick Chong
Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of Journey’s Travel. Their commercial travel insurance website, Insuremore, offers cheap holiday insurance and a quick and easy online claims feature.
View all articles by Patrick Chong
Most people buy their cheap holiday insurance at the last minute before they go away, don’t bother to read the small print, and then forget about it for the duration of the trip. In many cases this isn’t a problem, as the majority of holidays pass without a hitch, but when the times comes for making a claim many travellers are woefully under prepared.
If you go about making a claim the wrong way, at the best you’ll face delays and hassle as you try to put it right – and you might even find your claim rejected out of hand. Here’s a quick guide on how NOT to claim on your holiday insurance…
Leave Your Policy Documents At Home
People often shell out for cheap holiday insurance, then leave all their documents at home when they go on holiday. Often this leaves them powerless when something goes wrong, unaware of how to even begin to make a claim, what number to call, what details to take, and so on. Make sure you take at least two copies of your policy documents – and store them separately!
Lie Extravagantly
Plenty of people think it is a victimless crime to lie on their travel insurance, but this is far from true. False claims push up the premium for everyone, and with travel insurance claims being thoroughly investigated in each case, the chances of getting away with it are slim. If you are caught out, not only will your claim be voided, you could even
face charges of fraud. So if your purse goes missing, don’t be tempted to exaggerate the value of its contents!
Present No Paperwork
If you make a claim on your travel insurance, you’ll need to back it up with the paperwork to prove it. A police report in the case of theft is a good start, but not enough – you’ll have to prove you actually had the item in the first place. Make sure you have receipts for all valuable items, and if you have to pay for anything you might be entitled to make a claim on; hospital bills, unexpected travel costs and hotel bills in case of emergency, and so on. If you don’t have the paperwork to back up your story, your claim is likely to be rejected.
Ignore the Terms and Conditions
Before you make a claim on your holiday insurance, make sure you’ve gone through the small print to be certain that you are entitled to claim. Make sure you understand the excess that you’ll have to pay, and are aware of any exclusions that are in place. For instance, there are particular circumstances under which you will be allowed to claim for cancellation expenses in most holiday insurance policies.
Wait Months Before You Claim
So you’ve got the paperwork for a claim, you’ve checked the terms and conditions . Claim quickly – the time allowed to claim varies from one travel insurance policy to another, but is sometimes as little as thirty days. Once you are ready to make a claim, don’t delay, or all your efforts could be in vain…
If you go about making a claim the wrong way, at the best you’ll face delays and hassle as you try to put it right – and you might even find your claim rejected out of hand. Here’s a quick guide on how NOT to claim on your holiday insurance…
Leave Your Policy Documents At Home
People often shell out for cheap holiday insurance, then leave all their documents at home when they go on holiday. Often this leaves them powerless when something goes wrong, unaware of how to even begin to make a claim, what number to call, what details to take, and so on. Make sure you take at least two copies of your policy documents – and store them separately!
Lie Extravagantly
Plenty of people think it is a victimless crime to lie on their travel insurance, but this is far from true. False claims push up the premium for everyone, and with travel insurance claims being thoroughly investigated in each case, the chances of getting away with it are slim. If you are caught out, not only will your claim be voided, you could even
Present No Paperwork
If you make a claim on your travel insurance, you’ll need to back it up with the paperwork to prove it. A police report in the case of theft is a good start, but not enough – you’ll have to prove you actually had the item in the first place. Make sure you have receipts for all valuable items, and if you have to pay for anything you might be entitled to make a claim on; hospital bills, unexpected travel costs and hotel bills in case of emergency, and so on. If you don’t have the paperwork to back up your story, your claim is likely to be rejected.
Ignore the Terms and Conditions
Before you make a claim on your holiday insurance, make sure you’ve gone through the small print to be certain that you are entitled to claim. Make sure you understand the excess that you’ll have to pay, and are aware of any exclusions that are in place. For instance, there are particular circumstances under which you will be allowed to claim for cancellation expenses in most holiday insurance policies.
Wait Months Before You Claim
So you’ve got the paperwork for a claim, you’ve checked the terms and conditions . Claim quickly – the time allowed to claim varies from one travel insurance policy to another, but is sometimes as little as thirty days. Once you are ready to make a claim, don’t delay, or all your efforts could be in vain…