When Will Travel Insurance Cancellation Cover Pay Out?

Here’s your Guide to Travel Insurance Cancellation cover

Travel is a wonderful, life enriching experience. Whether it’s a weekend away, popping to see family and friends, or a trip of a lifetime, it’s a chance to relax and make a change from your day to day routine.

But what happens if something goes wrong and stops you from taking your trip, even before you’ve packed your bags?

No one wants to contemplate the bad things that could happen before we travel, but there is help at hand if you have taken the vital step of buying travel insurance.

Did you know that travel insurance is one of the most frequently used insurance policies? UK Travel Insurance companies pay out a whopping £365 million a year in claims payments and Cancellation cover is one of the most frequently used elements of the cover.

Whether you are travelling for the first time, or a frequent traveller, never, ever travel overseas without travel insurance. It’s an essential, not a nice to have luxury.

What cover does Cancellation travel insurance provide?

Every insurance company has different terms and conditions, so it is vital to read the policy and know the terms of your Cancellation cover.

Globelink travel insurance policies all include Cancellation cover as standard.

Depending on the type of policy you chose, you will be covered for £2,000 per person on Economy, Backpacker and Regular products and up to £6,000 per person on Comprehensive and Annual Multi Trip policies. So know the cost of your trip and select the policy that best matches your requirements.

Cancellation cover provides financial protection for your pre-paid travel and accommodation costs and pre-paid excursions if your trip has to be unavoidably cancelled due to reasons specified in the policy.

We recommend you should buy insurance as soon as you pay for any part of your trip. That way you will be covered if you have to cancel, even if your trip is months away. If you make your travel insurance a last-minute purchase, you won’t benefit from the Cancellation Cover protection – especially if you are organised and have booked your trip months ahead of travel.

When will Cancellation cover pay out?

There are a number of circumstances where holiday insurance Cancellation cover will pay out. Reasons typically include:

• Serious illness, injury, or death of yourself or your travel companion, or anyone you were planning on staying with. Or that of a close relative (usually spouse, parents or children).
• Travel insurance can even come to the rescue if a close business associate has a serious medical problem and you are the only one who can step in.

Globelink policies are no exception. There are many other reasons that you can claim for if your trip is unavoidably cancelled under the Cancellation section of your Globelink policy, including:

• Jury service (as long as you didn’t know about it when you booked your trip)
• Being quarantined, or called as a witness at a Court of Law
• Redundancy
• If you are a member of the Armed Forces, Territorial Army, Police, Fire, Nursing or Ambulance Services or Government Department and have your authorised leave cancelled
• If the police or other authorities require you to stay at home due to serious damage to your home caused by caused by fire, aircraft, explosion, storm, flood, subsidence, fallen trees, collision by road vehicles, malicious people or theft

Read also: Common Factors that Void Travel Insurance Claims

How do you make a successful Cancellation claim?

Circumstances must usually be unforeseen, so don’t expect the insurance company to pay out if you knew there was a problem when you booked your trip and were keeping your fingers crossed that nothing would happen.

Firstly - Chose the right policy in the first place

Choose a policy with the right level of cover. This will avoid disappointment and exasperation if you later try to claim for something that simply isn’t covered. If your trip costs £3,500, don’t buy a policy that only covers £2,000 for Cancellation.

Know the claims procedure (before you need it)

No one expects things to go wrong when they’ve booked their trip, but its best to be prepared in case the do. Keep your travel insurance policy somewhere safe, including contact details for the Claims Handler. Know the claims procedure, so you are clear on what to do and what help you can get, and store the Claims number on your mobile so you can contact them easily if you need to.

Take action as soon as an incident happens

For example, advise whoever you booked with as soon as you are aware that you cannot travel. This is so you keep any cancellation costs to a minimum, or you could incur unnecessary penalties that you won’t be reimbursed for. You might also avoid making a claim altogether if the company you have booked with is flexible.

If something happens that might prevent your trip and may result in a claim – report it to the Insurance company Claims provider so you are clear what information they will need to substantiate the claim.

Produce as much evidence as possible

It makes sense to provide as much documentary evidence as possible to help substantiate your claim. For example if you are cancelling your trip due to medical reasons, you will need confirmation that this was necessary from a qualified medical practitioner. In addition, you will need to prove when something happened – for example the onset of illness, or when you were summoned for Jury Service.

Don’t expect to claim for everything

Just because you have travel insurance, it won’t cover everything, so before you wrack up costs booking alternative dates for your trip, or cancel your holiday because you’ve decided against going because the weather looks bad, check you are covered. For example, an urgent business appointment would not qualify for reimbursement; nor would cancellation due to an ongoing medical condition (unless this has been specifically declared and accepted under the travel insurance pre-existing medical conditions terms). The sooner you contact the Claims provider, the clearer you will be on what you are covered for.

Travel Insurance Cancellation cover provides great peace of mind even before you leave the country, especially if you’ve booked that long awaited trip well in advance. You’re protected from the unexpected and unwelcome risk of falling ill and being unable to take your trip and a lot more besides. These tips are aimed at helping you understand the cover available. They won’t help you get a claim that isn’t covered paid, but they should help you claim successfully if the need arises.

Read also: 3 Essential Facts About Vaccinations And Travel Insurance