Refund calls mount for ‘worthless’ travel cover

All holidays are ruled out under the travel ban, but many people continue to pay for insurance they can’t use and won’t claim on. By Jessica Beard

Pressure is mounting on reluctant insurers to refund customers for worthless policies, as travel cover has become unnecessary under the notravel lockdown restrictions.

Confidence in insurers has eroded after many companies denied liability for paying claims on cancelled holidays, or shirked responsibility by taking refuge in the grey areas of the fine print.

Added to this, anyone still holding a policy throughout the pandemic is effectively paying for a safety net that no longer has any use. The Government advised against all but necessary travel on March 17, ruling out all holidays at home or abroad more than two months ago.

This means that travel insurers are still collecting or keeping payments for policies that have no value to customers. They will also be subjected to fewer or no new claims in the coming months as there will be virtually no holidays booked from March onwards.

Insurers sold 12 million policies in 2018, worth a total of £463m, according to the Association of British Insurers, a trade body.

A spokesman said there was no hard and fast rule about offering partial refunds, as it was a “commercial decision” and up to each insurer to choose how they would act.

He said: “Insurers do understand that some people will have bought policies they no longer require due to restrictions in light of Covid-19, so people should speak to their insurer if they have bought a policy that is no longer required.”

Nick Rowe, 77, a Telegraph Money reader from London, said he contacted his travel insurer, Avanti, to ask it to pause his policy during the lockdown, but was refused.

Instead, Avanti offered to add three months to the end of his next annual