Don't wait too long to cancel
An accident or illness threatens to ruin your long-planned trip. Are you insured for such an eventuality? Then you need to act quickly.
If you have taken out travel cancellation insurance, you are often protected against high cancellation fees if your booked vacation falls through at short notice.
But what should you do if something happens - and how quickly? What documents does the insurer need? In its magazine "Finanztest" (issue 1/2024), Stiftung Warentest provides tips on how to report a claim to the insurer:
1. time of rejection
Suppose you fall so seriously ill that you are unable to travel in your current condition. But your departure is not for another three weeks. If you are unsure whether you will be fit again by the time you leave, you should call your insurer. Some insurers even have a so-called Medical Cancellation Advisory Service.
If the hotline employee then advises you to wait and the doctor later certifies that you are unable to travel, insured persons are still entitled to a full refund, according to Finanztest. Otherwise: "If you cancel too late, you get less money."
The reverse case is also conceivable, as the financial testers describe with reference to a ruling by the Munich District Court: If the hotline advises you to cancel and you stick to it, the insurer has to bear the cancellation costs. The case in question involved the clarification of a suspected cancer (Ref.: 122 C 7243/22).
2. do not wait to cancel
When you call the insurer, are you told that you should cancel immediately or do you already know that you cannot go on the trip?
Then you should cancel immediately - in the case of a package tour by e-mail or registered letter to the tour operator and in the case of individually booked services to the individual providers, such as the hotel, airline or car rental company.
The reason for this is that the later you cancel, the higher the cancellation costs are often. And as mentioned in point 1: In that case, the insurer may not cover all the costs if the reason for canceling the trip (see point 3) shows that you could have canceled earlier.
3. provide supporting documents
If you are ill, insurers often have a medical questionnaire on their website that can be completed by the doctor. The questionnaire also asks when the inability to travel was established.
In addition to health problems, there are a number of other possible reasons for canceling a trip that may be covered by the policy. Here, too, you must send the relevant supporting documents. For example, a letter of dismissal from your employer, a letter from the university about a last-minute examination date or a police report in the event of a burglary.
In addition to these documents, according to Finanztest, the following are required for a claim notification: travel booking and payment confirmation, the invoice for the cancellation costs, the insurance number and the reason for the cancellation. Claims can often be submitted online on the insurer's website.
It is best to take out a combined tariff
According to Finanztest, it is particularly advisable for families with small children and older people to take out a travel cancellation policy, as health problems are more likely to occur in these cases.
The experts recommend taking out a combination of travel cancellation and trip interruption insurance. The latter protects against additional costs if the vacation has to be cut short prematurely, for example due to an injury. Another piece of advice: book tariffs without a deductible. This can sometimes amount to up to 20 percent of the cancellation costs.
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- Legal issues surrounding health insurance and cancellations can be complex, and it's important for consumers to understand their policy terms.
- Employees considering taking a vacation should understand the implications of cancellations on their health insurance and potential financial losses.
- In court judgments, it has been ruled that delays in canceling a trip can result in reduced insurance coverage, emphasizing the importance of prompt action.
- Foundation Warentest, a consumer protection organization, provides advice on how to navigate travel insurance claims, including the importance of timely reporting and submission of supporting documents.
- Financial advisors often recommend combining travel cancellation and trip interruption insurance to cover additional costs and avoid high deductibles in case of unforeseen circumstances during a vacation.
Source: www.ntv.de
