Cliffy Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Any one had any dealings with this company for travel insurance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 They say that you only know how good your insurance is when you have a claim. On our own experience last year I would rather go without insurance than go back to these again. The firm is as good or bad as any but their emergency medical call centre (Mapfre) although a UK number is transferred to Southern Ireland, and with my wife in hospital they were absolutely useless again and again. I complained when I got home, they never had the decency to reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 This is potentially a "problem" insurer - suggest you go elsewhere http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i13626-k6004885-Travel_insurance_for_over_65s-Senior_Travel.html#46286739 Their claims paying history is poor And the Financial Strength difficult to assess. Their one "claim to fame" seems to be the ease of getting your money off you to get you "insured" by easy online underwriting that does not worry too much about pre-existing conditions. You may get policy documents etc - but just do not expect any sort of help if you suffer a problem and actually expect them to either deal with your claim let alone provide you with any redress. Go elsewhere................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 part of the massive spanish mapfre group that also includes many UK insurers http://www.mapfre.com/corporativo/grupomapfre/en/cinformativo/international-presence-mapfre.shtml Have used Staysure for years (same group) as they were the only ones that would cover me with numerous conditions...but last policy was written by, "travel insurance medical". One thing you learn is to not go to doctor unless essential, as you have to declare EVERYTHING and ANYTHING or risk not being covered...not great in an emergency. had a claim years ago when I had a bad fall on wet stairs in Antigua and hurt my back..they paid for all the scans etc....no problem Normally yearly worldwide excluding America/caribbean does us now....Just play them all off against each other to see what they offer :-D there are EHIC top up insurance products that are supposedly cheaper for Europe, but they did not want to know with all my conditions :-S http://tinyurl.com/ngj3y6u Edit: forgot to say try L&V (liverpool and Victoria) supposed to be competitive.. their home insurance certainly is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 Thanks for that, it looks like it is going to be Staysure, £25 more than Insure and Go. A small price to pay rather than have a load of hassle if we need to claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 I really would try L&V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 I use L and V too. Good quote but not tested their claims. chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 Looked at Flexicover it was expensive (£194). John Lewis was a bit cheaper at £172. Then looked at LV mid price of most quotes (£145) with cover for 90 days and they also cover up to 79 years old. (if I make it that could be useful) So LV is front runner now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 be absolutely frank with what you tell them..if you withhold anything you could well be in trouble, if or when it comes to a claim. I now avoid doctors like the plague in case they change medication and I get another request for an extra £60 or so :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 http://www.lv.com/assets/non-product/pdfs/about-us/report-accounts/2013/akg-lv-2013-07-31.pdf gives full details of FAR's etc - page 5 Also their overall claims paying history is good (tho this data does NOT seem to include medical travel insurance. Because we do not provide advice on this we do not subscribe to any sort of specific reports - but I am sure a google would get it. Also - this data is from April 2013 and so is for 2012 - there should be data out now for 2013 - but I have not found it as yet. ........................ "LV pay 95% of all protection claims in 2012 Wednesday, April 17th, 2013 LV= the individual protection specialist have announced that they paid 95% of all underwritten protection claims in 2012. They have claimed that less than 3% were declined for non disclosure and less than 3% for the claim not meeting their policy definition. In 2012 LV paid 91.4% of critical illness claims, 88.4% of Income protection claims, and 98.8% of death claims. The total claims paid during 2012 was £50 million. Their largest critical illness claim paid was for £329,463 and the largest death claim paid was for £871,529. The average time a critical illness policy was in place before a claim was made was 6 years and 8 months and 8 years 6 months before a death claim was made. The average age of a critical illness claimant was 49 and the average age of a death claimant was 61 years old. In all product areas, LV= claim that the benefit was paid within 2 days of a claim being approved." ............................ A more than satisfactory track record IMO. If you are totally honest and upfront with them - then it would seem that they will reciprocate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 When we changed house and contents insurance to L&V, I looked for reviews on Internet and found lots of dissatisfied customers, until I realised that they were all complaining about the terms and stipulations. You are required to arm your alarm system when house unoccupied and when sleeping, and have all windows locked with keys removed when going out....Probably best practice anyway and hardly difficult! Particularly when they where less than half the price of previous insurer, no problem insuring expensive e bikes either.... I will certainly be trying them for next travel policy...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Clive, that is a good reference for LV. Do you know if Caravanguard, Safeguard and Comfort have these reports too. Interesting to compare as too often people go for cheap rather than reliability Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Sadly no - because we are IFA's not general insurance we only subscribe to the resources for those providers that offer Life, Pensions and Investment. LV is one of those providers that is both a "Life Office" and a General Insurance provider - so the report covers both. You might want to check out those brand names via the FCA Register to see who owns them and then google that name. Often interesting stuff pops up! http://www.fca.org.uk/register/ click on got to the register click on firms search put in firms name in the second box and postcode press submit you get:- "310409 - Caravan Guard Limited" You get lots of info on the company via the links in red above For example - click on "Names" and you get:- Status Name Effective From To Registered Name Caravan Guard Limited 08/01/2005 Trading Name Leisuredays 21/02/2005 Trading Name Motorhome Insurance Guide 05/10/2011 Which shows that as well as Caravan Guard - this company trades as Leisuredays and MH Insurance Guide. Click on "Tied Agents" and you get a list of all the MH and Caravan Dealers who have agencies with this firm. ......................... Do use the FCA Register - it is a fantastic resource there to help protect the consumer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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