Allianz Travel Insurance

[CountryCruiser]

Has anybody ever had this scenario? Booked a cruise and paid deposit. Then bought insurance from Allianz a couple of months later before final payment is due. Then a family member that is going to travel with us has a car accident before final payment is due. Not sure if the injuries are going to keep us from going or not yet. Final payment is due soon and want to know how if insurance will cover the trip if it is determined after final payment that we can't go.

[Herfnerd]

Depends on the terms and conditions of the policy you purchased

[GradUT]

You have to read the provisions of YOUR policy regarding trip cancellation. But this is typically the sort of thing that comprehensive travel insurance covers.

 

For instance, the language in a policy that I purchased (from another company, but is pretty standard language) says:

 

"Trip Cancellation: Benefits will be paid, up to the Maximum

Benefit Amount shown in the Confirmation of Benefits, to

cover You for the unused non-refundable prepaid expenses

for Travel Arrangements, including up to $150 for the cost

of airline-imposed fees to rebank frequent flyer miles for air

flights to join Your Trip when You are prevented from taking

Your Trip due to:

1. Death involving You or Your Traveling Companion or

Your or Your Traveling Companion’s Business Partner

or Your Family Member;

2. A covered Sickness or Injury involving You, Your

Traveling Companion or Business Partner, or Your

Family Member which necessitates Medical Treatment at

the time of cancellation and results in medically imposed

restrictions, as certified by a Legally Qualified Physician, which

prevents your participation in the Trip."

 

So, if the family member is bedridden or requires daily medical attention, then you probably have a good claim. If the family member is just wearing a cast and otherwise has no medical issues--then maybe not a good case for a claim.

Edited September 17, 2016 by GradUT

[poz222]

As others have said... Each situation is different and there are various coverages... But this is exactly the type of situation most people buy coverage for. I can say I have had to file a claim with Allianz (but for a missed connection and subsequent travel delay while in Europe) and they refunded all the expenses and were good to deal with. Just keep ALL receipts and track of charges and dates.... So sorry for your affected family

[cruiseco]

Has anybody ever had this scenario? Booked a cruise and paid deposit. Then bought insurance from Allianz a couple of months later before final payment is due. Then a family member that is going to travel with us has a car accident before final payment is due. Not sure if the injuries are going to keep us from going or not yet. Final payment is due soon and want to know how if insurance will cover the trip if it is determined after final payment that we can't go.

 

Email Allianz (don't call. You want an answer in writing) and see what they say. A problem you might encounter is that the insurer is generally only liable for your losses at the time of the car accident which might be zero. If by waiting to make a decision to cancel you increase the size of the loss you might be out of luck for the additional loss amount. You generally have a duty to do what you can to mitigate any losses against the policy

[It's a Ship!!!]

Has anybody ever had this scenario? Booked a cruise and paid deposit. Then bought insurance from Allianz a couple of months later before final payment is due. Then a family member that is going to travel with us has a car accident before final payment is due. Not sure if the injuries are going to keep us from going or not yet. Final payment is due soon and want to know how if insurance will cover the trip if it is determined after final payment that we can't go.

I've used Allianz before and they have been pretty good. Since the injury occurred after you bought the insurance, they should be covered if it is determined by the doctor that they can't go.

 

The one thing I'm not completely certain on is if your family member would count as a traveling companion, which would allow you to cancel your cabin as well. They allow you to cancel if there is an injury or illness to a family member who isn't a traveling companion, if that family member is hospitalized, has life threatening injuries, or needs your care. I think that would have to mean during the time you would be taking the trip, so if they are better but still unable to go on the cruise, they might be able to cancel, but you would not.

 

Allianz defines a travel companion as someone whose name appears on the travel arrangements with yours and will be accompanying you on the trip. So if you aren't in the same cabin with them they may not be considered a traveling companion.

 

All that being said, you do want to call Allianz to make sure that what I have said is correct, because I'm just a random person on the internet and they are an actual insurance company.

[klfrodo]

You do have a responsibility to mitigate losses to a minimum.

 

In other words you know today that you may have to cancel. Today, there is no financial loss or the loss is minimal.

After final payment, the loss could be thousands to the insurance company.

 

It's very possible that they will say that you either knew or should have known to cancel when the losses were minimal and deny a higher claim.

[notjaded]

OP: Yes, you should contact Allianz using their email:

 

customerservice@allianzassistance.com

 

You might also want to have your relative ask the physician whether there is any likelihood that s/he will be able to travel on X date. If the answer is "Yes," it would appear that you have the ability to document that you were prudent.

 

But, Allianz is the final arbiter of the situation....

 

Good Luck.

[cruiseco]

 

But, Allianz is the final arbiter of the situation....

 

Good Luck.

 

Actually, the final, final arbiter of any of this type of situation is always your state's department of insurance. They're there to make sure your claims are dealt with fairly. Your tax money at work.

[cruiseco]

 

You might also want to have your relative ask the physician whether there is any likelihood that s/he will be able to travel on X date. If the answer is "Yes," it would appear that you have the ability to document that you were prudent.

 

Good Luck.

 

Insurers don't take into consideration what "might be". They only deal in what is. A doctor's statement that the injured person might be able to travel at some future date would count for nothing.

Edited September 18, 2016 by cruiseco

[notjaded]

Actually, the final, final arbiter of any of this type of situation is always your state's department of insurance. They're there to make sure your claims are dealt with fairly. Your tax money at work.

 

We are here to offer practical advice to the OP. I could have said that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter, but that would be as nonsensical as assuming that the OP wants to litigate before the state's insurance commissioner. Most likely, the OP wants to find out how the insurer interprets the situation, because the OP probably does not want to engage in a fight over the situation retroactively.

 

Insurers don't take into consideration what "might be". They only deal in what is. A doctor's statement that the injured person might be able to travel at some future date would count for nothing.

 

See my comment above above pertaining to helpful steps. Perhaps you have some suggestions for what might be helpful? All I see is negativity.

[cruiseco]

 

 

 

See my comment above above pertaining to helpful steps. Perhaps you have some suggestions for what might be helpful? All I see is negativity.

 

Yes. See post #5 in this thread. I consider letting the OP know that he/she has options if the wrong decision is made and Allianz denies the claim helpful information. And getting the Dept of Insurance involved does not involve litigation. Submit the facts and they will determine if Allianz did in fact make a proper claim determination based on the wording of the policy and the facts of the claim. Most states have an online form to fill out. Takes about 10 minutes.

Edited September 18, 2016 by cruiseco

[klfrodo]

We are here to offer practical advice to the OP. I could have said that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter, but that would be as nonsensical as assuming that the OP wants to litigate before the state's insurance commissioner. Most likely, the OP wants to find out how the insurer interprets the situation, because the OP probably does not want to engage in a fight over the situation retroactively.

 

 

 

See my comment above above pertaining to helpful steps. Perhaps you have some suggestions for what might be helpful? All I see is negativity.

 

Don't be that one NotJaded

 

Cruiseco has done more on these boards to help people with travel insurance than you have days signed up for the board.

Cruisco didn't say squat about hiring lawers, litigation, or going to the supreme Court. Cruiseco did bring to the attention that many people don't know about (including you obviously) that you can always appeal to your State Insurance Commissioner if you feel your claim is not being handled properly.

Edited September 18, 2016 by klfrodo

[notjaded]

Don't be that one NotJaded

 

Cruiseco has done more on these boards to help people with travel insurance than you have days signed up for the board.

Cruisco didn't say squat about hiring lawers, litigation, or going to the supreme Court. Cruiseco did bring to the attention that many people don't know about (including you obviously) that you can always appeal to your State Insurance Commissioner if you feel your claim is not being handled properly.

 

Well, we can all be more polite, I guess: In your case, you assume that I know nothing about State Insurance Commissions. You also appear to mistake time on this site with insight (wisdom).

Edited September 18, 2016 by notjaded
insight

[klfrodo]

Insight/Intellegence/Wisdom/Knowledge/Equity

 

When it comes to insurance/Travel Insurance there are few who has earned unfaltering respect.

Cruiseco, Sirwired, IamTrustsworthy, and Hiltner.

 

Others may in time earn that equity, until then, others just try to share what we've learned from them.

[Happy2cruise]

Insight/Intellegence/Wisdom/Knowledge/Equity

 

When it comes to insurance/Travel Insurance there are few who has earned unfaltering respect.

Cruiseco, Sirwired, IamTrustsworthy, and Hiltner.

 

Others may in time earn that equity, until then, others just try to share what we've learned from them.

Very well put:)

[CountryCruiser]

Email Allianz (don't call. You want an answer in writing) and see what they say. A problem you might encounter is that the insurer is generally only liable for your losses at the time of the car accident which might be zero. If by waiting to make a decision to cancel you increase the size of the loss you might be out of luck for the additional loss amount. You generally have a duty to do what you can to mitigate any losses against the policy

 

I see what you are saying. But if that is the case, you should not buy the travel insurance until the day you are making the final payment. If I cancel the cruise and not make final payment, my insurance premium was for nothing. If I go ahead with the final payment, the insurance may not cover if we end up not being able to go because of the accident. So I loose both ways because I chose to go ahead and buy my insurance early.

 

I have email Allianz, but have not heard anything from them yet.

 

Thank you for your suggestion.

[cruiseco]

I see what you are saying. But if that is the case, you should not buy the travel insurance until the day you are making the final payment. If I cancel the cruise and not make final payment, my insurance premium was for nothing. If I go ahead with the final payment, the insurance may not cover if we end up not being able to go because of the accident. So I loose both ways because I chose to go ahead and buy my insurance early.

 

Thank you for your suggestion.

 

Many insurers (I'm not sure about Allianz) will refund the premium in these types of situations if asked, It's a customer service type of thing but never stated as normal policy. One hang up is that (unless you bought the policy direct from the insurer), someone made a commission. And they're not going to refund the premium to you unless whomever earned the commission (your travel agent, an online comparison site, etc) is also willing to send back their commission. It never hurts to ask. You might be presently surprised. Way back in the stone age when I was a travel agent we did this all the time. We sent the insurers a ton of business and if they had to roll back a few premiums here and there to keep us happy they were willing to do it. Not necessarily for the client, but for us.

Edited September 21, 2016 by cruiseco

[GeezerCouple]

Many insurers (I'm not sure about Allianz) will refund the premium in these types of situations if asked, It's a customer service type of thing but never stated as normal policy. One hang up is that (unless you bought the policy direct from the insurer), someone made a commission. And they're not going to refund the premium to you unless whomever earned the commission (your travel agent, an online comparison site, etc) is also willing to send back their commission. It never hurts to ask. You might be presently surprised. Way back in the stone age when I was a travel agent we did this all the time. We sent the insurers a ton of business and if they had to roll back a few premiums here and there to keep us happy they were willing to do it. Not necessarily for the client, but for us.

 

We've used Travel Insured (purchased through TripInsuranceStore.com), and on several occasions when we needed to change plans, we were able to switch the policy - and any premiums already paid - to another trip.

 

This worked when we had paid a *refundable* deposit, but we needed to start the insurance coverage within 21 days of paying that "first payment" in order to get the waiver of the exclusion of pre-existing conditions.

 

So there was no "loss". We got the refundable deposit back, and changed the policy to a totally different trip.

(I'm not sure about restrictions such as within a certain time frame or such.)

 

No loss of premium.