The UK Insurance Blog

In the article “Holiday nightmares” we are reminded of how ticking those boxes too quickly on a travel insurance form may come back to haunt us one of these days.

It turns out that some people (and we know who we are) who are generally sensible when it comes to booking a holiday online, noting down all the reference numbers and dates and printing out duplicates for her records always neglect the travel insurance forms. We tend to quickly stick a couple of ticks in what seem to be the appropriate places ensuring the most inexpensive cover is acquired. How easily this can go wrong. This type of attitude toward insurance forms could end up giving you nightmares.

First of all, when about to travel, research various types of travel insurance and consider with care the terms and conditions of the policy. No more should you have a quick look through to ensure you are covered for the usual things (luggage that goes missing and theft).

There’s more to it than that.

There are some particular things to look out for on a travel insurance form. It could turn out that you are not actually covered when you think you are.

If you are likely to be bungee jumping (for example) and many are, you need to make sure you are covered for it. About one in six British holidaymakers knowing they will be participating in adventure sports, in the event of injury, will not be covered by insurance, according to Esure. Many actually believe that a standard travel insurance policy automatically covers them for things like bungee jumping and white water rafting. Next time you look at a travel insurance form, you will see that many have exclusions which generally include those more extreme activities. In the event that your policy does cover adventure sports, check the fine print for terms and conditions. Don’t be too surprised to find provisos such as ‘hiking only covered when below a specific altitude’ or ‘scuba diving only to a certain depth will be covered’.

Next, always check the small print. If in any doubt contact your insurance company well in advance of your travel arrangements.

The article recommended the reading of “The Passport to Extreme Fun” prior to an extreme adventure holiday. Published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office it provides information that you really need to know before you go! For example, an accident under the effects of alcohol may not be covered. Many insurance companies don’t! It can go either way whether an insurance company will pay up for a fall under the influence of alcohol as the decision pretty much depends on what the insurance company defines as ‘under the influence’.

Another plus for travel insurance coming up! The biggie is, if your holiday gets cancelled, travel insurance will ensure you don’t lose all your money. In 2006, over the summer holidays, £6 billion was lost in cancelled holidays by British passengers. If only they were not leaving their travel insurance to the last minute, they would have been compensated. According to More Th>n, an average cancelled holiday pay out by the insurance company was £856 per person. You never can tell what’s around the corner so don’t keep leaving that travel insurance to the last minute.

Another red light here. What if you are travelling to one of the World’s more dangerous areas? If travelling to a trouble spot against advice from the Foreign Office, your insurance could become invalid. Then again, if you don’t go to a trouble spot without the Foreign Office telling you not to, your insurance company will not pay your expenses. Watch out for this, you may find that civil war zones are not the only landmines to worry about.

The last word is, save yourself loads of money and do your homework before you go away! To avoid holiday disasters becoming nightmares, stop leaving important things like travel insurance forms to the last minute!

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A recent article highlights the increasing incidence of motor vehicle crime committed by females.

As a reaction to rising vandalism offences, the insurance company Direct Line did a bit of digging. The results that were revealed were somewhat surprising.

Recent studies have shown that women are the culprits of vandalism to a greater extent than most would think. Women owning up to acts of vandalism upon a motor vehicle recently totalled about 1.5 million women. Direct Line actively encourages car owners to consider acts of vandalism in their insurance policies.

Why are women climbing the charts all of a sudden? Why are they suddenly turning into yobs? Probable causes include alcohol and sheer boredom. The Direct Line report on vandalism revealed there is a fifty per cent increase in the amount of 11-17 year old females doing damage to cars. Popular yob-like activities these girls are taking to include scratching paintwork, window smashing and tyre slashing. While 10% claimed their actions were the result of being drunk, twenty three per cent offered the reason of having nothing whatsoever better to do. Eight per cent of female vandals blame peer pressure for their wrecking sprees while most claim it was a last minute thing.

This female vandal crime agenda accounts for up to sixty thousand criminal offences annually across the last five years. They tend to gravitate towards the acts of public property damaging, messing around with road signs, interfering with personal property of a third party and graffiti.

Direct Line’s UK Vandalism Report revealed an overall accumulation of offences caused by females. Results revealed that car vandal victims had increased by thirty per cent. Something of a girls in gangs culture was revealed to be the cause of a substantial increase in car vandalism. As a result, Direct Line car insurance became the first motor insurance product to offer protection of no claims bonus in cases of vandalism.

Now that people are tightening their belts throughout this season of credit-crunching, it helps a lot to know that random acts of vandalism cannot affect your No Claims Bonus.