Poster: A snowHead
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Say I renew my travel insurance, go on my usual 2 weeks skiing, and then get offered the chance of a sneaky third week. Off I go, but unfortunately i hurt myself and need to claim. However, when I check my insurance I realise I only have 14 days wintersports cover, so technically I'm not insured. So my question is, does anyone know how the insurance company knows how many days skiing I've had when I make a claim?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Most likely without a mention on social media they'd probably not find out - however, now they can view this hypothetical scenario they may start wondering where you went for your first two weeks...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Well, perhaps they'd never know. But if they had any suspicion (or even routinely investigate a random selection of claims) you might find yourself under scrutiny for making a fraudulent claim, as well as potentially seriously out of pocket. Probably not worth it for the relatively low cost of an additional one week travel policy....
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@karin, the answer is that they won't know unless you had a whopper of a claim on that last week and they decided to look closer. You might end up having to lie on the claim form which you then sign saying it's true. Hypothetically it's notifiable to the fuzz - you'd be committing insurance fraud. Far more comfortable to call them up and tell them and pay the small extra.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Mick_Br, quite difficult to go anywhere these days without someone mentioning it on social media, and if anyone looked closely at mine they'd see I've only been once this season, so far... So it is a purely hypothetical question in this case.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Fraud is fraud whether you get caught or not, isn't it?
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Yes it is, but my hypothesis was that you didn't realise. It jumped into my mind because we'd been talking about a third week, and it occurred to me that I didn't know how many days cover we had on our policy. I suspect it's actually 21.
Thinking about it though, it is going to be an issue for one of the kids, cos when I renewed his travel insurance in the summer, I had no idea he was planning on going on 2 uni trips, his gf's family trip, and then dossing with a mate who's doing a season for the last 2 weeks of the season!
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Travel insurance tends to be that sort of conundrum - rarely can you find the product that ticks all the boxes. I spent the better part of a day looking for an annual policy that: a) included winter sport for me but not Mrs B who has no interest in such matters; b) didn't exclude use of motorcycles over 125cc; c) didn't exclude sailing offshore; d) I could add my grandson to, and; e) wasn't ludicrously priced... eventually I gave up and bought a 10 day policy for me and the youngster for the winter holiday and will worry about the rest of the year when I return from the Alps.
My overwhelming thought about so many of the "features" being sold was "So what?" - i.e. much I ranked as "frippery" and/or window-dressing of no great substance and thus failed the "and why would that be important to me?" test.
My only advice is to check your policy wording as they do vary. Unfortunately, "on-line" products (if that's what you have) tend not to offer too much flexibility so you might end up having to buy an additional week's cover, or a fortnight's, whatever the shortfall. As to fraud, no it's simply not worth it - aside from the immorality of it, fraud prevention measures are becoming ever more sophisticated.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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It may be that the insurance companies are quite relaxed about how many days you are away, as long as you are not grossly overdoing it. Working in a chalet for the season etc. I wouldn't be surprised if the better companies were to cover you for an extra week if you phoned them and asked for advice.
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I had no idea he was planning on going on 2 uni trips
....turn on, tune in, drop out
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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karin wrote: |
Say I renew my travel insurance, go on my usual 2 weeks skiing, and then get offered the chance of a sneaky third week. Off I go, but unfortunately i hurt myself and need to claim. However, when I check my insurance I realise I only have 14 days wintersports cover, so technically I'm not insured. So my question is, does anyone know how the insurance company knows how many days skiing I've had when I make a claim?
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I think most travel insurers will ask for a copy of your itinerary and ticket confirmation, regardless of what you are claiming for, so you'd be screwed.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Themasterpiece, pretty sure I wasn't asked.
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I think we had to provide our travel details when hubby was injured. They also insisted on asking us for the invoice for our accommodation and were very perplexed that it belonged to us. They persisted for weeks in refusing to refund some things we were entitled to claim, but still kept asking for the bill so they could refund us. I could have committed fraud and sent one just to shut them up.
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You know it makes sense.
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You can get a weeks cover for £20 or try carte neige, or free with many banks/credit cards, why bother?
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