When visiting the office of a travel company and arranging a trip, in addition to a ticket, customers are offered to arrange travel insurance. Is it necessary and what will the insurance company be responsible for?
Order of registration
Travel insurance is a risky type of insurance and involves compensation for hotel reservations, ticket purchases, tour purchases and other financial losses upon the occurrence of an insurance event. In different insurance organizations, the contract is drawn up from seven days to a month before the trip. In addition, the date of reservation of the tourist route must strictly coincide with the date of registration of the contract with the operator. Travel Insurance Ingosstrakh provides for a minimum period of one week from the start date of the tour.
The contract can be signed both at the office of the company, and can be executed via the Internet. The main condition for concluding an agreement is the advance payment of a tourist trip and the cost of travel insurance. Its price depends on the price of the route for one tourist. When booking relatively inexpensive trips, the insurance premium can be no more than fifty conventional units for each insured participant.
Insurance events
What includes travel insurance in the responsibility of the insurer, and for which compensation is not required - should be carefully studied. Cases for which monetary compensation of the spent funds is due are clearly defined:
- Ill health, injury, death. Such events should be directly related to the insured tourists, their family members, immediate family members on the first line of kinship.
- Destruction or damage to property owned by the policyholder or the insured tourist as a result of fire risks, an accident in house supply systems, illegal actions of third parties.
- Court hearings. Costs are reimbursed provided that a subpoena was received after arranging travel insurance.
- Call for service. Compensation of the spent funds will be made provided that the summons was received later than the date of signing the contract.
- Refusal of a visa. This applies both to the insured, and to members of his family, and other tourists who jointly took out travel insurance. The main condition for receiving a refund is compliance with the deadlines and the procedure for submitting documents.
- Early return or forced delay from a trip as a result of a sharp deterioration in well-being. The need to stop the tour must be confirmed by official medical documents. Such an insurance event may apply to both the insured himself and his relatives, spouses, children. Compensation will also be accrued upon the death of any of the persons specified in the contract.
Insurance payments
A travel agency, in cooperation with insurance companies, shifts part of its responsibility, arranging travel insurance for travel expenses. The conditions under which customers will be reimbursed are specified in the contract.
If the client refuses the planned trip for reasons that fall within the scope of travel insurance, the insurance company will compensate for the amount of forfeit or other financial expenses associated with the tour. Also, the policyholder is reimbursed for the cost of tickets, hotel room reservations, if their costs are documented.
If the travel dates were rescheduled, the company compensates the cost of reissuing and the price of new tickets. However, in this case, the amount of payment may not be more than half the insurance amount under the contract.
When the tour is completed ahead of schedule for reasons that fall outside the travel restrictions and its conditions, the policyholder is compensated for the cost of the hotel room for those days that were not used. If a tourist or other insured persons were forced to prematurely terminate their tourist trip, the insurer will compensate for the cost of purchasing new tickets.
A financial institution will reimburse additional expenses of a client if, for good reason, he or other insured persons were forced to delay. In this case, the cost of the hotel room is not more than five days, the cost of the purchase or renewal of new tickets.
Amount of contract and payment
The financial responsibility of the insurer, which under the contract rests with it, depends on the amount of money spent on the purchase of a tourist trip. Travel insurance requires the use of a fifteen percent unconditional deductible. Thus, when compensating payments, the company will reduce their amount by the indicated amount, if there are no other conditions under the contract.
Insurance payment depends on the price of the tourism product and the approved tariff. Its size is affected by the use of various correction factors. So, if travel insurance abroad is issued by a group of people, then for a significant number of insured persons the company can provide a discount. At the same time, if the client wants to add the number of insurance risks, in this case, they use increasing ratios.
The amount of the insurance payment specified in the signed agreement shall be transferred by the client to the bank account of the financial company. The premium can be paid both in the national currency, and in the currency of another state. If the price of a tourist trip is determined in a foreign currency, then the payment is recalculated based on the rate of the Central Bank at the time of payment.
If the client has not paid the insurance premium on time and in full, the insurer is not liable for adverse events.
Terms of agreement
Travel insurance is for the period of a tourist trip, but not more than one month. At the same time, if such a trip provides for a longer period, then taking into account the use of increasing coefficients, a policy is issued for a longer period.
The contract begins to operate from the day specified in it. However, if a potential tourist has not paid the calculated insurance premium, the document does not begin to take effect.
Conclusion of an agreement
To apply for travel insurance, the client must provide the original documents or copies thereof. If the trip is to be abroad, a passport is required. In addition, to sign this type of contract, the policyholder is required to present a issued and paid tourist permit with confirmation of the fact of the costs incurred.
When signing the document, the client is obliged to notify the company of possible additional risks that may affect the outcome of the trip. In turn, the insurance company has the right not to draw up an insurance policy without additional argumentation. All personal information cannot be disclosed without the consent of the parties.
Procedure for an insured event
Considering that travel insurance events can vary in time (trip cancellation, early return, delay in the tour), the procedure for submitting documents depends on the situation. So, if the trip was canceled for medical reasons or due to tragic circumstances, then the client or his relatives are required to provide notarized confirming conclusions of the doctor or a copy of the death certificate.
If the refusal of a tourist trip occurred due to the destruction or damage to the property of the insured, then as evidence, it is necessary to present the drawn-up protocols of special bodies: police, firefighters, hydrometeorological center.
The same procedure applies to court cases or recruitment. In order to be able to compensate for the money spent, the originals should be presented to a court call or subpoena. Copies of such documents must be officially certified by the seal of the relevant organization.
Refusal of expenses
The insurance company has the right not to pay all or part of the compensation in such cases:
- Payments not paid in full;
- submission of falsified supporting documents;
- intentional increase in spent funds;
- the contract did not take effect;
- the insured's refusal to further study his state of health
- use of alcohol, drugs and other toxic substances;
- playing sports (unless otherwise provided by the contract);
- military operations, mass unrest, strikes;
- radiation, nuclear explosion;
- natural disasters;
- suicide.
Termination of the contract
Travel insurance ceases to be valid in the following cases:
- the term has expired in accordance with the dates specified in the contract;
- tourist crossed the border;
- insurance indemnity was paid in the amount of liability.
The policyholder has the right to refuse the insurance policy. However, in this case, the listed payment amount is not returned to the client.
Rights and obligations of the insurance company
A specialized company has the right not to enter into a contract with a tourist. Before calculating the amount of compensation, specialists can conduct an additional check of the documents submitted by filling out formal requests to specialized institutions. If there is any doubt about the authenticity of the medical findings, the insurer may order an independent examination of the health status of the company's client. In case of refusal, the insurance company may refuse to pay compensation.
A financial institution is required to issue an agreement with excerpts from the current insurance rules. In the presence of all supporting documents, payment must be made within the time specified in the insurance.
Rights and obligations of the insured
The client has the right to receive the original of the signed insurance contract after payment of the full amount of the calculated payment. To do this, he must pay the insurance premium to the bank account of the company in full and on time. Upon the occurrence of an insurance event, a tourist can count on compensation for expenses incurred in full compliance with all conditions of travel insurance.
When concluding the contract, the client is obliged to notify the profile organization of existing facts that may affect the possibility of an insured event. In the event that falls under the responsibility of the company, he must promptly inform about the incident and collect all supporting documents for subsequent submission to the insurer.
By purchasing travel insurance, clients of the company, both tourism and insurance, receive financial protection in case of unforeseen events. So, the question is "travel insurance, is it necessary?" was considered in this article.