Insurance news
Don’t travel in the dark
22 February, 2007
Research out today has shown that the vast majority of British consumers are wholeheartedly behind new Government proposals to guard against the mis-selling of travel insurance policies
This comes after an inquiry was launched into the sale of travel insurance as part of a holiday package. Currently, insurance policies sold as stand-alone entities are subject to the same controls as other types of insurance, but when it is purchased as part of a package from a travel agent, it falls outside of these regulations.
This means that some people are buying policies that may not be giving them either the level of cover they need, or simply would prefer to have in the event of anything going wrong.
Considering 20 million people buy travel insurance each year, it is a worrying fact that as many as 72 per cent of customers who bought it from their travel agent had not been advised whether the policy included terrorism cover.
The research also found that almost half of all travel agents and tour operators failed to advise customers of the policy excess, and 56 per cent of them didn’t let them know how to go about making a complaint or a claim.
“Travel insurance is vital when we jet off on our holidays,” comments BIBA chief executive, Eric Galbraith. “It is the role of the provider to ensure that consumers are both fully covered, and understand the limits of their policies – the Government’s proposals would ensure that travel agents and tour operators fall into line.”
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