Is it too late to buy travel insurance for south Italy?
QI’VE booked an expensive family holiday to southern Italy. I’ve paid for the flights already and have the accommodation booked. I haven’t got travel insurance yet as the holiday isn’t until the summer.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) hasn’t advised against travel to the area of southern Italy our holiday is booked for. The Covid-19 virus hasn’t spread there.
If I buy travel insurance now, will it cover me for holiday cancellation if it emerges after I have bought my travel insurance that the Covid-19 virus has spread to my holiday destination and the DFA then issues advice against nonessential travel there?
Larry, Mullingar
THIS will all come down to the travel insurer and travel insurance policy. There are big differences between insurers and policies so, before you buy any travel insurance, ask the insurer if you will be covered for cancellation in such an eventuality — and exactly how much cancellation cover you will have.
With some insurers, you may need to buy add-on insurance to be covered in this case. For example, with getcover. ie, you must have either catastrophe or travel disruption cover to be insured “provided the DFA has not issued advice against all but essential travel to the country or area at the time of booking the trip or the time of purchasing the insurance and, in the case of travel disruption cover, within seven days of the cover being purchased”.
With Blue Insurance and Multitrip. com, you must add travel disruption cover to your travel insurance policy to be covered. So if the DFA advises against non-essential travel to your holiday destination, as long as you have bought the Blue Insurance or Multitrip. com travel disruption add-on by then, there would be cover in place — under extended cancellation cover — should you need to cancel or cut your trip short.
Bear in mind, though, that the amount of cover available here is up to €1,000 per person and this may not cover the full cost of your holiday. The add-on cover must have been bought in advance of any public announcement prohibiting travel to the area you are travelling to, and it takes seven days from the date that you buy it for this add-on cover to kick in.
Some Blue Insurance policies include a benefit known as ‘Government Travel Advice’ and these “will offer cancellation cover as standard if the government travel advice changes to ‘all but essential travel’ within 14 days of your travel date”, according to Ciaran Mulligan, managing director of Blue Insurance.
Be aware, though, that the amount of cover provided under this benefit is limited to up to €500 per person on the Blue Insurance Premium and Backpacker policies, and up to €750 per person on the Premium Plus policies.
With Chill.ie and insureandgo.ie, should you wish to cancel your holiday on foot of advice not to travel after you have booked your holiday, this “is not covered as standard” under their travel insurance policies, say the insurers.
However, they said they are “willing to consider cancellation claims on an individual ex-gratia basis, if the trip was booked and the [travel insurance] policy was bought before the DFA advice against travel to the area and if the DFA advice is still in place within 48 hours of the intended travel date”.
A spokeswoman for VHI Multitrip, the travel insurance offered by VHI, said its cancellation or curtailment cover will apply “if the booking is completed for an area prior to it being listed by the DFA as one where it advises against non-essential travel”.
However, you will not be covered if the booking is made after such advice is issued for that area.
Even if you qualify for cancellation and curtailment cover, there will usually be a limit on cover so the full price of your holiday, or of the portion of the holiday that you don’t get to take up if you have to cut it short, may not be covered.
So if you have booked an expensive holiday, buy a policy with cancellation cover which covers the full or most of the cost of your holiday. Some policies only cover up to €1,000 of cancellation costs per person for example — but other policies (such as VHI’s Multitrip) cover up to €10,000 per person. So be very clear exactly how much cover you have and of any excesses (the first part of a claim you cover yourself ) that apply before you buy.
Be aware, too, that most travel insurers will expect you to try to get a refund from the airline, tour operator or travel company first, before they give you any money back for a holiday you have cancelled on foot of government advice.
Cover if advice ignored
Q
MY fiancé and I have a honeymoon booked to China. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) advice against non-essential travel to China is still in place. We’re both young and healthy, we’ve spent a lot on this holiday, and we’ve really been looking forward to it. We bought travel insurance for our honeymoon long before the outbreak of the coronavirus. We’re considering ignoring the Government’s advice and going ahead with our trip. Will our travel insurance cover us? Emily, Roscommon
NO. Your travel insurance won’t cover you for any losses you incur on holiday (such as medical expenses and so on) if you ignore DFA advice and travel to an area which it has advised against all but essential travel to.
Disinclined to travel
Q I HAVE an African safari holiday booked and have already got travel insurance. The coronavirus hasn’t spread to the area I’ll be travelling to and no government advice has been issued against travel there. However, given all the hype about the coronavirus, I’m nervous about travelling now. Will my travel insurance cover me if I back out of the trip?
Dave, Dublin
NO. Travel insurance does not provide cover for disinclination to travel.
Too late to buy cover?
Q I’ VE a holiday booked to Lombardy, which the DFA has advised against travel to. I don’t have travel insurance: if I buy it now, will it cover me if I decide to go ahead with the trip?
Fia, Dublin
NO. Any travel insurance bought at this stage for a holiday in Lombardy won’t cover you as the DFA has already advised against travel to that area.
Quarantine cover
Q IF I have to go into quarantine when on holiday abroad, will my travel insurance cover any of the additional costs – such as food and personal hygiene products – I face as a result of the quarantine? Brendan, Cork
TRAVEL insurance does not usually cover additional costs such as this, though you should check this directly with your insurer.
It may be possible to buy an optional extra which will provide some cover here. For example, Getcover.ie’s Cruise Connection add-on provides up to €600 cover for quarantine if an individual is confined to their cabin. Email your questions to lmcbride@independent.ie or write to: Your Questions, Sunday Independent Business, 27-32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1 While we will endeavour to place your questions with the most appropriate expert for your query, this column is not intended to replace professional advice.