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jayseven

Insurance

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So I've just been sorting out some travel insurance.

 

When I went to Oz for a year I didn't bother getting any at all, and my girlfriend was just appalled at the concept. So I thought I'd be sensible for my next shorter trip.

 

Started off looking at Lloyds, whom I bank with... and they basically quoted me £122 for a single-trip insurance. Which sounded fucking insane. If they had said it was, like, £70 then I probably would've just assumed that was a normal price and paid for it. But £122? fuck that. Comparison site time.

 

Basically, I have never had any kind of insurance for anything ever. I went to Oz with basically zero possessions, and they have this reciprocal health care system, and I was staying with family, so I figured I'd be fine.

 

And I work with regards to insurance, so I know it's important to make sure I actually understand what I'm paying for, and to be open and honest during application etc, etc.

 

Do you guys have insurance for stuff? House insurance? Contents? Do you know what your insurance doesn't cover, and if so - why did you think it would be ok not to have that cover?

 

/grownupthread

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Is your insurance high because of your medical conditions?

 

My travel insurance is free with my bank but I'm pretty sure last I checked it was less than a tenner.

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My insurance is £31.50 for a 13-day trip to two countries. It would've been a tenner cheaper if I hadn't mentioned my health, but because they said that "if you have had any consultations, appointments or meetings with a medical professional in the last two years then your claim will be void" [or words to that effect] I figured I'd mention the one time I saw an eye doctor 14 months ago, as it seems to me that the particular wording would mean that if I hadn't declared this meeting that they would be able to void my claim under another aspect of the insurance... Even though I really think that it would be arguable that a claim for lost baggage ought not hinge on an unrelated factor, I don't want to risk that possibility (or the chance that I'd have to endure months-long battles to get the money where I may need it immediately).

 

I've seen that nationwide current accounts offer a fairly exhaustive/extensive travel insurance for free, but I am wary that a lot of other lenders offer quite a minimal version of 'travel insurance' which my be limited to money-related things, and may not cover all territories.

 

(I forgot to mention that I ended up going with the £31.50 rather than £122 etc)

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Did you look at GoCompare, CompareTheMarket etc?

 

My girlfriend and I paid about £25 for a 2-week trip to the Dominican Republic. We didn't even go for the cheapest one as I wanted a good amount of cover and a high rating.

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I don't trust insurance much, and I don't think I've ever had to claim on any I've bought - I pretty much only ever buy it because I bloody have to. I'll get single-trip insurance if I'm going abroad(I think I've got the nationwide cover for domestic) - but that's usually to the US and given the health system it's a fairly worthy gamble on the off-chance of something terrible happening to me required medical attention of any sort.

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I think the only insurance we have is car insurance... and that seems to be pretty shit to be honest. Whenever we have had damage to the car, the insurance wouldn't pay for it.

 

We have no contents insurance (though after the recent flooding scare maybe we should), and I don't think I have ever taken out travel insurance. Might have to look into it as we are travelling to Spain soon, but to be honest I have no clue what to look for etc. Insurance stuff just confuses me.

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One option, get a joint Platinum account at Lloyds, £17/mo for both of you, phone insurance and worldwide travel insurance. You could just change it to a regular/free account after the trip.

Edited by Shorty

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What even is Travel Insurance? I've never bothered with it personally.

 

I have full coverage car insurance, which is required by law, and health insurance....also now required by law. Thanks Obama! (I had it prior to that through work though.

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It's mostly for if something is stolen from your hotel room, or you get mugged etc. Or if you need medical assistance while abroad (most people don't have medical insurance in the UK). Other uses, if you need to cancel and want to recover some cost, or have to cut the trip short, as well as personal liability.

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I think the only insurance we have is car insurance... and that seems to be pretty shit to be honest. Whenever we have had damage to the car, the insurance wouldn't pay for it.

 

We have no contents insurance (though after the recent flooding scare maybe we should), and I don't think I have ever taken out travel insurance. Might have to look into it as we are travelling to Spain soon, but to be honest I have no clue what to look for etc. Insurance stuff just confuses me.

 

This is another thing - insurance companies can be absolute arseholes with the payout. I almost feel like they actively look to not do so, not helped much by the people who attempt to defraud them too.

It's mad, cos I actually have a lot of insurance(fully comp car, life/sickness assurance, buildings+contents cover, travel insurance) but I as I said it's only because I have to have it - though contents I got cos I felt it wasn't tons more for the year vs possible loss. Didn't get none of that insured away from home stuff though.

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This is another thing - insurance companies can be absolute arseholes with the payout. I almost feel like they actively look to not do so, not helped much by the people who attempt to defraud them too.

It's mad, cos I actually have a lot of insurance(fully comp car, life/sickness assurance, buildings+contents cover, travel insurance) but I as I said it's only because I have to have it - though contents I got cos I felt it wasn't tons more for the year vs possible loss. Didn't get none of that insured away from home stuff though.

You've got life insurance? That's an odd one to have...

 

I have car insurance, home contents, bicycle (both theft and 3rd party damage), wedding, and always get travel insurance when I go on holiday.

 

It's a gamble innit. Some people are happy to not bother and hope nothing ever happens, but I like to play it safe.

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You've got life insurance? That's an odd one to have...

 

I have car insurance, home contents, bicycle (both theft and 3rd party damage), wedding, and always get travel insurance when I go on holiday.

 

It's a gamble innit. Some people are happy to not bother and hope nothing ever happens, but I like to play it safe.

 

I work on the theory that if I can't afford to replace it it needs insurance. Therefore I have fully comp car insurance, contents insurance to cover my iMac, Macbook Air (in and out the house), TVs, Xbox etc and I'll always get holiday insurance. It's so cheap it's not worth going without if you have an emergency and need to get home ASAP.

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I work on the theory that if I can't afford to replace it it needs insurance. Therefore I have fully comp car insurance, contents insurance to cover my iMac, Macbook Air (in and out the house), TVs, Xbox etc and I'll always get holiday insurance. It's so cheap it's not worth going without if you have an emergency and need to get home ASAP.

That's why I don't have life insurance.

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My home contents insurance is something like £45/year with very little excess. That's a pretty good price for the peace of mind really, means there's no point fighting a burglar or running into a burning building over a PS4 or anything :heh: includes accidental damage, too.

 

A certain forumite (name rhymes with Fan Fare :p) recently destroyed a laptop with a kettle of water and jumped in a swimming pool with his Nexus 4 in his pocket. Not insured....

 

My bike on the other hand, £320 to insure :blank: ouch. And the broker charges a £50 admin fee for any change, what a ripoff.

Edited by Shorty

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Does @rhymeswithfanfare know that laptops are in fact not tea bags?

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Ok *cracks fingers*

 

I have health insurance, travel insurance, car insurance, contents insurance. That's right buddy.

 

1. Travel insurance - I'm with nationwide so I got this one for free. I'd see if you could do the same..

 

2. Content insurance - I have this with endsleigh. Mine is a bit more expensive than @Shorty, at £53 a year. But it covers me for £7.7k of material goods and I'm also able to claim if say I damage a bathroom tap or something whilst renting. It's pretty good. I used to say with my old car that even that could be covered because nearly £8k is insane. But now it just covers my pc and bits and bobs.

 

./adult

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I pay £140, but mine covers expensive things when they're not in the house too.

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Funny enough my boss had travel insurance, was sent to a private hospital when he had an accident (sandals on a scooter, nearly ripped his smallest toe off) and he ended up having to pay it himself....

 

Whats the point?

 

Most insurance providers would decline me for life/health insurance because of my many health problems... Thank god for the nhs lol

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Did you look at GoCompare, CompareTheMarket etc?

 

My girlfriend and I paid about £25 for a 2-week trip to the Dominican Republic. We didn't even go for the cheapest one as I wanted a good amount of cover and a high rating.

I did indeed. Checked all the sites. I can't remember which site it was but they had a gold star measure, so I went to the cheapest 4-star suggestion and ensured it covered the things I was worried about. Our trip is going to two destinations which probably ups it a bit - I don't know.

One option, get a joint Platinum account at Lloyds, £17/mo for both of you, phone insurance and worldwide travel insurance. You could just change it to a regular/free account after the trip.

I can't see where it covers my existing medical condition without additional upgrade, though. Plus my girl's medical/general sitch is a bitch for that kind of thing too :/

Ok *cracks fingers*

 

I have health insurance, travel insurance, car insurance, contents insurance. That's right buddy.

 

1. Travel insurance - I'm with nationwide so I got this one for free. I'd see if you could do the same..

 

2. Content insurance - I have this with endsleigh. Mine is a bit more expensive than @Shorty, at £53 a year. But it covers me for £7.7k of material goods and I'm also able to claim if say I damage a bathroom tap or something whilst renting. It's pretty good. I used to say with my old car that even that could be covered because nearly £8k is insane. But now it just covers my pc and bits and bobs.

 

./adult

The nationwide account only covers you within europe! Aside from that it's pretty cool to have that cover for free.

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You've got life insurance? That's an odd one to have...

 

I have car insurance, home contents, bicycle (both theft and 3rd party damage), wedding, and always get travel insurance when I go on holiday.

 

It's a gamble innit. Some people are happy to not bother and hope nothing ever happens, but I like to play it safe.

 

Technically I should have put that sickness/life the other way round. I have a sickness insurance of sorts(it's kinda pathetic, but I was/am zero-hours), some sort of serious illness cover and life assurance - it's what a mortgage can do to you. Also owing a lot of money to parents.

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The nationwide account only covers you within europe! Aside from that it's pretty cool to have that cover for free.

 

That is true, though for Thailand I don't think I paid very much, something like £20?

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Yeah, travel insurance isn't very much when compared to the cost of the trip itself usually. I probably wouldn't bother if it was just a weekend away to Dublin or Paris, but anything longer and i always get some.

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I currently have 2 lots of car insurance and camera insurance and will soon have home and content insurance (which will also replace the camera insurance). Car insurance is reasonably cheap, which is suppose is an advantage of being an old giffer. I think it's something like £400 total for both cars.

 

My experience of dealing with car insurance claims: always haggle. When I had to claim for my torched car, they originally offered £800. A simple "what about the declared modifications?" and a couple of minutes for them to check and call back and they upped it to £1200, which fully funded a replacement car that was actually in better condition than mine.

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