Beware when you cancel a villa. Travel Insurance claim

[Colette-S]

Moorlandman, can I go off track and just ask something. Has your employer (or any other domestic insurer you know of) written to its policyholders and offered a refund/reduction of premiums for household, motor or travel policies on the basis that the risk they assessed when underwriting the policy and calculating the premium has significantly changed during the Covid crisis. For example, cars have not been used as much, homes have been occupied 24/7 in a lot of cases thus reducing security risk and travel plans thwarted.
Edited I am aware that admiral made a gesture to its motor policy holders

[Dr.JumbaJookiba]

My DD has a direct line black box policy and they emailed to say they had noted a drop in average mileage and would be refunding automatically to card used to pay for the policy. It was about 11% of the original premium.

[Moorlandman]

Hi Colette, we have made no reductions or offered any refunds on any policy types so far.

On motor policies, if the client contacts us to advise that they are doing less mileage we will adjust their policy and provide a refund. This will be minimal in most cases as mileage is not a massive risk factor. Possibly £20 or so.

[Guest]

I rented a dibb villa at Lake Berkley for this year which we couldnt go to. My insurance was questioning why they should pay because they said the villa owner should refund me. The villa owner when pushed wouldnt give me a letter or even acknowledge that they couldnt let out the villa due to florida law, only a letter saying I had cancelled, and even broke his own Ts and Cs which clearly stated cancellations had to be in writing and emails were unacceptable, I only ever used email. In the end my insurance relented and paid out. the lesson for me was to check Ts and Cs and push for what is right, disappointed with the villa owner, shady behaviour to say the least, still he lost future business as I went somewhere else for next year.

[EssexSue]

Originally Posted by victorbertram

I rented a dibb villa at Lake Berkley for this year which we couldnt go to. My insurance was questioning why they should pay because they said the villa owner should refund me. The villa owner when pushed wouldnt give me a letter or even acknowledge that they couldnt let out the villa due to florida law, only a letter saying I had cancelled, and even broke his own Ts and Cs which clearly stated cancellations had to be in writing and emails were unacceptable, I only ever used email. In the end my insurance relented and paid out. the lesson for me was to check Ts and Cs and push for what is right, disappointed with the villa owner, shady behaviour to say the least, still he lost future business as I went somewhere else for next year.

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Just to clarify this was not me.

[Colette-S]

Originally Posted by Moorlandman

Hi Colette, we have made no reductions or offered any refunds on any policy types so far.

On motor policies, if the client contacts us to advise that they are doing less mileage we will adjust their policy and provide a refund. This will be minimal in most cases as mileage is not a massive risk factor. Possibly £20 or so.

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Thanks for replying. Just wondered what the stance was
I’d guess there would be a noticeable difference in my household policy when I think about it.

[2point]

When searching for a villa on AirBnb/Homeaway it is easy to filter for 'Free Cancellation'

Each listing will then have the specifics but you are not going to be tied to a booking many many months out.

Having sold DVC here and refunded them in full I'm fully aware that each owner will have their own policy and flexibility. When I sold I was not expecting to refund, but did because it was the right thing to do. Based on that experience I will have more specific cancellation conditions (which each of my renters would have met so actually no material difference to me).

We have seen countless threads where Airbnb/Homeaway are jumped on as the bad guys. What is clear is as a renter I will never book somewhere that doesn't have a flexible policy, even if that means I pay more for the villa/apartment.

[lizzie145]

Originally Posted by Moorlandman

The Flex policy states

9. FCO travel advice ‘All but essential travel’: in the 28 days before your trip start date the Foreign & Commonwealth Office advise against ‘All but essential travel’ to your destination. The advice must have come into force after you opened your Nationwide FlexPlus current account, or booked your trip whichever is later.

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This does not mean that if you cancelled your trip more than 28 days before that your claim cannot be paid - more like please wait before claiming.

OP i would be submitting a challenge on the above as the advice not to travel is current and therefore you are unable to stay at the villa and have to cancel.
Unless there is a clause that says you cannot cancel a holiday until 28 days before travel?

[Orlando Soon]

I am having similar issues with nationwide insurance. Booked villa through homeaway. When Tui cancelled my flights I had no choice but to cancel villa. HomeAway said refund is not assured but the encourage owners to. Owner is saying villa is still available for me to use. Another call from Nationwide saying quote consumer act to them. My reply is villa owner keeping their end of the bargain I can still go, FCO say no. I suggested Nationwide take it up with villa owner if they are so convinced they are right.

[Tracyjj0]

Originally Posted by lizzie145

This does not mean that if you cancelled your trip more than 28 days before that your claim cannot be paid - more like please wait before claiming.

OP i would be submitting a challenge on the above as the advice not to travel is current and therefore you are unable to stay at the villa and have to cancel.
Unless there is a clause that says you cannot cancel a holiday until 28 days before travel?

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This has given me a bit of hope, as the letter from the villa owner is actually dated 30th June, 25 days before travel, so technically claiming within the 28 day period before travel