Renewing Your Travel Insurance-Covid 19 Pandemic.
What to do if you have travel insurance due for renewal
The World Health Organisation declared the ongoing coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on the 11th March and is now a known event. The FCO have advised against travel and Higos are currently unable to issue any new travel insurance policies. We will review this on the 31st of March 2020 unless anything changes in the meantime, and once reviewed, we will update our customers and continue to keep them updated as things change
In the meantime we advise the following:
- Check FCO website for updates and follow their advice www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
- If travellers are currently abroad and are advised to leave the country or require assistance they should immediately contact the Insurers Emergency Assistance Line on your policy wording.
- If travellers return home early, for whatever reason, they will not be entitled to a refund of insurance premium.
If you have booked a trip for later in the year, do not cancel the trip! We would recommend the following:
- Changing the trip dates (single trip policies can be adjusted to reflect this)
- Circumstances are changing all the time and it is hoped that trips for later in the year will be unaffected (certainly from August 2020 onwards)
If travel is imminent:
The FCO are advising against all but essential travel and travellers should contact their airline/travel agent to obtain refunds or change dates. If unable to obtain a refund via this method and the trip was paid by credit card, a refund can be sought from the credit card company.
We understand our clients are concerned about what the coronavirus means to you and want to reassure our clients we are here to answer any questions you might have about the cover on your policy.