Travel insurance claim refused...

rob oyle said:
She cancelled the flight on the 26 June when she got back from the hospital and when she went to claim on her insurance, they said that since the timing of the cancellation fell outside the policy, they wouldn't be covering her.
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Goodness me this is so tricky. It seems to me she therefore should not have cancelled prior to the 28th June to be covered. 28th June being the start date of cover.

Let's say the policy starts on 1st June. She could then cancel any day in June to be covered, but she could not cancel in May. That what it seems to mean that these annual policies are about.

I guess it makes sense. Let's take her booking a holiday next year 2016, in July. But breaks her leg in June, within the annual period of the insurance. Would she be covered then I wonder.
 
Leo said:
Many travel policies here are underwritten by ACE, their terms & conditions are available [broken link removed]. They advise when taking out a single trip policy, that the policy should start at the time of booking the trip, or the date you take out the policy, not just before you travel. Only events that result in the curtailment or cancellation of a trip that occur within the policy period are covered.
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Leo, my reading of the ACE t&cs suggests that an event that occurs after the policy is bought or taken out which leads to cancellation is covered, para 1.4
1.4 WHEN COVER OPERATES FOR A HOLIDAY
i. Insurance cover for Cancellation under
Part III Section 1 – Cancellation, Curtailment and Rearrangement
begins when a
Holiday is booked, if this Policy is in force at the time of booking, or when you purchase this
Policy. (my italics and underlining)
 
Slim said:
Leo, my reading of the ACE t&cs suggests that an event that occurs after the policy is bought or taken out which leads to cancellation is covered, para 1.4
1.4 WHEN COVER OPERATES FOR A HOLIDAY
i. Insurance cover for Cancellation under
Part III Section 1 – Cancellation, Curtailment and Rearrangement
begins when a
Holiday is booked, if this Policy is in force at the time of booking, or when you purchase this
Policy. (my italics and underlining)
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But the policy wasnt purchased until 28th June as stated by OP.
 
Bronte said:
Goodness me this is so tricky. It seems to me she therefore should not have cancelled prior to the 28th June to be covered. 28th June being the start date of cover.

.
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Incorrect. Its not the date that you cancel the trip, its the date in this case the accident occured that caused the cancellation. And they would look for confirmation from the doctor, etc.
 
I think is as clear as can be, she is not covered. The policy should have been taken out from the time the holiday was booked to ensure cover from that date, I have never come across anyone asking for the policy to start the day before the trip. The only thing that might have been handy here was if the agent selling the policy pointed out that there will be no cover until the start date of the policy, I imagine any experienced seller would have mentioned this.
 
Gerard 123, you can't cite a section for choosing when you take out cover. A policy has to be in force and if you are asked online what date you would like to put cover in force from, that is the date cover operates from. Its an annual policy so there is no confusion as to whether it means the travel dates. Its clearly the date you intend cover to start.

OP also states that he chose the day before she was travelling so he was aware you could chose a commencement date of cover that wasnt the date travel begins on. You may go ahead and accept to take out a travel policy but its not "purchased" until the date you choose to effect cover from. You are reading it from a point of searching for ambiguity which isn't there. The purchase date is the date you ask for cover to begin from.
 
Gerard123, you can take it that I am only too familiar with how terms and conditions work. However there is no cover in force until you purchase a policy. And the policy only commences on a certain date. So T & C's are not relevant here.

What you are stating is not legal fact. Its akin to an item wrongly priced in a shop, and it being an offer to treat and not a contract.

If you look at the very first post you can see for yourself that the OP said it was an annual policy.

I'm not offering a view. I'm offering fact. The operative date of cover is the date selected, and that is the purchase date.

Take a look at this screen shot from Blue Insurance as an example. It's quite specific.

upload_2015-9-16_15-8-55.pngupload_2015-9-16_15-8-55.png
 
Gerard123 said:
The policy link provided by Leo on the previous page makes a clear distinction between the date of purchase from which cancellation is covered, and the cover period for other claims which in this case is 28th. Under that policy cancellation is covered from date of purchase.
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The date of purchase applies to single trip policies only, not annual.
 
Gerard123, you need to be more thorough in your reading of these things. Leo posted a link to Ace due to them writing a large volume of business. The OP never said who mothers annual policy was with. So there is no goal posts being changed here.

But just to pander to you,
Period of insurance is defined as: For annual multi-trip cover: The period of cover between and inclusive of the dates shown as Effective From: and To: on the Policy Schedule commencing at 00.01 or any later time the Policy Schedule is issued on the earlier date shown and finishing at 24.00 on the later date shown.

Where are you getting your definition of purchase from? In this instance it's the operative date of cover as selected by the client. Best example was my earlier motor analogy.
 
For completeness, single trip cover is listed as:

Period of Insurance

For single trip cover:
The period of cover commencing at 00.01 or any later time the Policy Schedule is
issued and ending either when You arrive at Your return destination in Ireland , or
at the end of the trip duration shown on Your Policy Schedule, whichever is sooner.
Dates refer to Local Standard Time at Your address as shown in the PolicySchedule​
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That's where the date purchased comes into play.
 
We've all read 1.4. But purchase date is considered operative date of cover for insurance. If you want to avail of a cooling off period, its 14 days from when cover began. Not when you paid for cover.
 
Hello all... the plot thickens. I hadn't the full details and I now am of the opinion that she is covered.

Policy and flights booked in May, as per before. Injury happened on 25th June, as before. However, she didn't cancel until the 28th, being the same day as the policy began and the same date as when she was advised not to travel by her GP (these details already shared with the insurer as part of the claim). Therefore, the event that caused the cancellation, being the doctor's advice not to travel, was within the limits of the policy. My only worry is that the event which directed the doctor for her not to travel occurred before the policy coverage began. However she was considering when she was injured and thought it was only a sprain so shouldn't the influencing factor in the claim be the doctor's advice?
 
You said earlier she cancelled on the 26th. All smells a little dodgy to me. But it wouldnt apply until doctors advices not to travel. That said he has to advise not to travel medically. She can't just cancel cos she thinks it'll be uncomfortable.
 
That is an interesting development, Rob, I think key now is to review the policy documentation provided. Hopefully they won't have a clause that excludes illnesses/ injuries that occur prior to the policy coming into effect. For annual policies, they usually come into effect just after midnight on the morning of the from date. But all hinges on the dates.
 
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