Are you covered?

Now this may seem a silly question to ask but are you you covered? Yes, do you have travel insurance? I’m sure you’re all thinking, of course, we wouldn’t book a holiday and not take out travel insurance. Well, it does happen and I don’t think people realise the seriousness until it hits them hard and they’re financially out of pocket.

I can’t stress the importance of this. No one can predict the future and you just don’t know what’s going to happen to you or a loved one that just mean that you’re unable to go on that long awaited trip you’ve had booked for ages. Part of my mandatory statement is that I always ask if you have your own travel insurance. I do this not because I want to sell you my own insurance and have you spend more money with me after you’ve booked your holiday but because for my own peace of mind I know you’re covered and protected in the unlikely event of needing to cancel.  I don’t need to see proof that you’re covered I only need to ask the question. It’s solely your responsibility to make sure that you have adequate insurance to cover those travelling and to the destinations on your travels and for the duration of your trip. I also can’t stress enough how important enough it is to declare any pre-existing medical conditions.

Now, I’m sometimes told “I don’t have it yet but I’ll do it nearer the time” This is a mistake. You should take out cover as soon as possible from the moment that you’ve booked a holiday, of any kind. You need to be covered immediately. It’s no good booking in January and travelling in August and you think you’ll get it in July. If something happens between the booking date and travel date the insurance company will look at your booking invoice and the date you took out insurance. You don’t want to be uninsured for six months and then something happens and you can’t get insurance as it’s too late.

I’ve heard of some real horror stories, people not having insurance and losing money, their deposit. It happens and although you may feel for them but who’s fault is it if adequate cover wasn’t taken out to protect them in such events? It’s not our fault. Our calls are recorded, we ask the questions and then it’s your responsibility to have this in place. Any tour operator will take your deposit and then you’ve entered a legal binding contract and are in agreement to the terms and conditions set out by the tour operator. A deposit is usually non-refundable and you couldn’t expect to get this deposit back just because you failed to take out cover. Believe me, this does happen and we do have people wanting their money back.

And to be clear, us consultants aren’t taking your money personally, A deposit is just that. You can’t put a deposit down anywhere and just ask for it back. A deposit is usually taken to show commitment and intention to pay the balance on the agreed contract. Non-refundable. If you’re not covered or you tell us you have insurance and then don’t take any out and need to cancel you will forfeit this deposit. Any tour operator will tell you this and legally there is nothing you can do. The only time a tour operator will refund a deposit, for example if you book a cruise and the cruise company makes a significant change or cancel the sailing then absolutely you can have your money back. Other than them making such a drastic change your deposit is taken at the time of booking and in the unlikely event of needing to cancel if something props up your insurance company is expected to look after you and re-reimburse any loses. That’s what you pay insurance for. They protect you for such events and minus any excess on your policy you should get all your money back. It’s why we pay insurance for anything, like cars everything we cover ourselves for as we don’t know what will happen.

I can’t stress enough please be covered, check you have adequate cover for the whole duration, the value of your holiday, the destinations visiting and all those travelling. You will forfeit any deposit paid and possibly more if you aren’t covered properly.