Travel insurance

[Guest Guest14361]

Going to the UK for 3 weeks aswell as 2 week cruise in the med, obviously flying via Singapore into London, my question is re travel insurance, the UK is reciprocal with Australia, but will need insurance for Asian soil, European soil and American soil (ship is American) and it will also cover the car hire. What is everyone's reccomendations of ones they have used and even claimed with, and the dreaded words.....pre existing condition..... I know I have insurance with my credit card booking, but it's only for this trip, but thinking a yearly one for multi trips is more economical.

[NicF]

I've just taken out travel insurance with Southern Cross travel insurance for my next trip to the UK. Obviously I haven't had to claim anything yet but they provided a good amount of cover for things like cancellation and repatriation and they had some clear documentation about what they do cover and what they don't. I used both comparethemarket.com.au and http://www.canstar.com.au/travel-insurance/ to look at the different options and find a good price.

[cliffy]

We used Covermore who needed a lot of information about my husbands pre existing and were not cheap. But, we did need to make a substantial claim for hospitalisation and medical treatment in Europe and because we had been totally honest with our application, they paid up, even though he had previously had the same problem. Such a relief!

With credit card cover, you are limited if one of you has pre existing, and they would not cover us.

Edited January 19, 2015 by cliffy

[Guest Guest14361]

Thanks so far, pre existing is a minefield, even if you are on high blood pressure tablets and cholesterol tablets and under control for years these are pre existing, was a case recently where a guy had insurance but didn't mention his pre existing, and got stuck overseas his parents remortgaged their house for a 100k to get him home.

[Keith & Linda]

Hi Nobby, We always travel with just our credit card insurance, we had to use it once, even had to have the plane turn around, it was only on the taxiway though, this was in Zurich, some initial glitches but all sorted pretty quickly. As with all insurances there will be pre existing conditions clauses and each provider will look at things differently. I will have a check on my card insurance and get back. But it is always best to disclose everything as, like your example above it could null and void the whole insurance even if not condition related.

Not quite sure by what you mean regarding covering car hire as this is normally dealt with the car hire anyhow.

Also same regarding the American ship when you are going to the Med, most ships are registered in some far off foreign land/island anyhow, and if off ship medical treatment is required then they will drop you at the nearest port of call whatever that country may be, on board treatment may be free or is generally claimable on your normal travel insurance.

Cheers Keith.

[Guest Guest14361]

Hi Nobby, We always travel with just our credit card insurance, we had to use it once, even had to have the plane turn around, it was only on the taxiway though, this was in Zurich, some initial glitches but all sorted pretty quickly. As with all insurances there will be pre existing conditions clauses and each provider will look at things differently. I will have a check on my card insurance and get back. But it is always best to disclose everything as, like your example above it could null and void the whole insurance even if not condition related.

Not quite sure by what you mean regarding covering car hire as this is normally dealt with the car hire anyhow.

Also same regarding the American ship when you are going to the Med, most ships are registered in some far off foreign land/island anyhow, and if off ship medical treatment is required then they will drop you at the nearest port of.

 

 

Re the car hire, think there's no need to take out the car hire companies excess, as the travel ins will be ok, with the ships medical it's not free believe me, never had to use it, but have heard it's expensive, even seen a helicopter evac, must have cost heaps that one. Just looking at all angles, cover more seem to be good, they are answering my Questions

[Keith & Linda]

Again be aware of excess cover on travel insurance, some stipulate they will cover the excess so long as you have taken up all insurances offered by the car hire company.

(dreaded small print!)

We have had a friend with us on a cruise, initially she just thought she sprained her foot but had actually broken it. She was treated and cared for at no charge by the ship. Also when the ship bug went around there was, as far as I am aware, no charges for treatment. But normal travel insurance would cover most events anyhow regardless of ship ownership or country of registration.

At present we are more than satisfied with the Credit card insurance for our travels around the world, over the last twelve years or so of using it I reckon we have had a couple of holidays out of the savings.

As we usually have a car for 5 - 6 weeks in the uk then the cost in taking out the zero excess option is about the same as the excess, so we look at it as a potential saving as opposed to a definite cost. For some reason Pheasants seem to like my hire cars, twice I have had to pay 200-300 pounds for repair and once they did not even bother and said it's OK. this 200 - 300 pounds was actually less than the excess and insurance costs to cover such events.

I have just booked a car for our trip in May, the extra insurance cover was for more than the hire itself, standard excess is something like $1800, with zero excess cost some $1200, so I am quite happy to take that risk amount.

Ultimately we all need to be happy and content with our own choices to suit our own needs and peace of mind.

Cheers

[OKMorris]

hello

 

i won't give a recommendation on insurance as everyone is different and it can be a minefield and I am not trained on all policies nor do I know ur entire situation so cannot give you a specific one to go with other than to say make sure the medical and cancellation costs are adequate and cover you from the time u book the trip not from the day you depart.

 

also for the cruise even thought the ship is American you are not classed as being on "American soil" so you can insure yourself on a European policy or a UK policy (pick whichever region you are overall spending more time in) and this will be much cheaper than quoting a worldwide policy to include the U.S. which you do not need. quick tip if I am travelling through Europe as well as visiting the UK I always make sure, if feasible, the I am 1 extra day n the UK compared to elsewhere and then you can do a travel policy that covers the whole trip for all countries but specify "time most spent" as england and this will save up to $100 on the policy

 

i have never come across a cruise ship where the medical treatment is free only ones where they will take the payment straight from the isurance company rather than u paying anything up front but even then this is rare so maybe your lady was a lucky one!!!

[Keith & Linda]

hello

i have never come across a cruise ship where the medical treatment is free only ones where they will take the payment straight from the isurance company rather than u paying anything up front but even then this is rare so maybe your lady was a lucky one!!!

 

Well she did actually injure it on the ship, on the sloping imitation grass whilst walking around the little putting green, so maybe that has a bearing on treatment costs, and she also did end up getting a 50% discount on her next cruise. But I am still quite sure the ship bug treatment to the few hundred affected was free.

[Keith & Linda]

Re the car hire, think there's no need to take out the car hire companies excess, as the travel ins will be ok, with the ships medical it's not free believe me, never had to use it, but have heard it's expensive, even seen a helicopter evac, must have cost heaps that one. Just looking at all angles, cover more seem to be good, they are answering my Questions

 

I checked my credit card travel insurance, Pre existing conditions ( that is any condition you know or are been treated for) are not covered unless you inform them and they are willing to cover them on payment of an admin fee, so not unlike most travel insurances there.

Regarding excess on car hire, then they will pay the excess providing 'as part of the hire agreement you have taken out comprehensive insurance', though there was no definition of comprehensive, this is now worded differently to previous clauses on this matter. So it now becomes cloudy as to exactly what exactly does 'comprehensive' mean? I know on my own car insurance is comprehensive (or is it called 'Fully Comprehensive') and I still have excess to pay. In general, with a reputable car hire company the basic cover is more than just 3rd party injury, so could this then be classed as comprehensive? and herein lies the problems with insurances - the grey areas, and do you know what? you can be sure the insurer will decide the meaning in their favour!.

Let us all know what you end up doing there Nobby.

Cheers Keith.