So, something bad happened on your trip. Maybe it was a lost bag, a canceled flight, a long delay or a medical emergency.
Luckily, you bought travel insurance that can cover travel mishaps like these. But in order to get reimbursed quickly, you need to file a claim — and you need to do it the right way.
We’ll take a look at three of the most common mistakes people make in the travel insurance claim process.
1. Exaggerating your losses
You’re having a miserable time on your Bahamas vacation. The weather’s cool and rainy, your resort has seen better days, and now you have a bad stomachache, too. When you visit the local doctor, she tells you it’s just indigestion. Ignoring her diagnosis, you head home early and file a claim for trip interruption because of a serious covered illness. Your claim’s denied.
It can be tempting to exaggerate the details of an illness, injury, theft or other loss in order to get some money back from your travel insurance plan. Don’t do this! When you misrepresent the facts in a claim, that’s travel insurance fraud, plain and simple. In this scenario, our claim investigators would request your medical records from the doctor you saw. When we discover that you were diagnosed with a minor ailment and that the doctor did not advise you to interrupt your trip, we’ll deny your claim.
2. Forgetting to check your plan limits
Preparing to set sail on a luxury cruise on the Baltic Sea, you pack a few designer gowns and jackets, along with your favorite David Yurman bracelet and earrings. Once aboard, you discover that your suitcase never made it to your cabin. But when you file your lost/stolen baggage claim, you discover you won’t be reimbursed for the full value of your belongings.
Every plan has specific coverage limits for each benefit, which are outlined in the plan documents. In this case, if the traveler purchased OneTrip Prime, she has up to $1,000 in lost/stolen baggage benefits. However, there’s a maximum limit of $500 for certain items, including all jewelry, watches, gems, furs, cameras and camera equipment, camcorders, sporting equipment, computers, radios and other electronic items. (You’ll need to provide original receipts for these items or they won’t be covered.)
When packing for a trip, it’s good to keep these limits in mind. Consider wearing your jewelry or packing it in your carry-on. You may want to split up other expensive items between two checked bags, so that if one goes missing you won’t lose everything. Also, document your suitcase contents with photos and receipts.
3. Failing to provide documentation of your loss
You’re about to depart for a week-long tour of Vietnam. But as you’re on the highway to the airport, another driver crashes into you. Your car’s totaled, and you end up in the hospital with whiplash. Getting into a traffic accident on the way to your point of departure can be considered a covered reason for trip cancellation if you need medical attention, or if the car needs to be repaired because it’s not safe to drive.
Source: Allianz Travel
