# Insurance claim tips



## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

Myoko said:


> Am midway through an insurance claim for an injury that required me to cut a long holiday very short and thought I would pass on some tips. If you think the injury will be serious and you will need to claim;
> 
> HAVE INSURANCE FIRST OR DON'T GO. Keep a copy of the policy handy and understand it before you go.
> 
> ...


Gee..., what a depressing story.:medic:


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## Myoko (Dec 11, 2018)

Anytime you need to claim against any insurance, it usually is I'm afraid. 

Only shared it because I would have liked to have known it just in case shit happens, didn't want to depress anyone.

I ended it with a smile, what more do you want from me atm lol


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

I used travel insurance once when one of my Burton wheelie sub got damaged by baggage handlers with all the inside plastic structural reinforcing being smashed (the outside was still okay). It was a few years old but in mint/as new condition as we had only used it on a couple of trips. It was $Au320 RRP at the time. When I put the claim in they depreciated the bag and said it was only worth $Au40 now. I said WTF, how does a bag depreciate, you can have it for a lifetime if you look after it. I argued with them back and force via emails and they ended up lifting it to $Au85 and said if I wanted to dispute it further take it to appeal. I never used them again. So I now understand that you only find how good insurance is when you use. 

Last year the I had a bag go missing. It had about $Au3000 worth of gear in it. Waited at the carousel for about an hour and no bag (had all our other luggage). A girl approached us saying her job is handling missing luggage and that it happens all the time. WTF. They took all our details and 2 days later they rang us and said they had found our bag. Then went on to BS that it was left on the carousel. They drove it up to our house in a van that night. I was talking to the driver and he said he is flat out returning lost bags everyday. He said he had 12 in the van for that day just for his run. This had me worried as I would take for our family of 4 probably around $Au10k worth of gear overseas. I could imagine the insurance company trying to give me $100 if I lost a bag.


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## Myoko (Dec 11, 2018)

hmmm new plan, I am taking a video of the contents of each bag also from now on. Thanks for sharing.


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Not sure if it's even available for this type of insurance, but what you want is a _Replacement Cost_ policy. 

If your gear is _anything_ but brand freakin' new, *with receipts I might ad!* They'll lowball the fuck out of you on depreciation every time.


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## kosmoz (Dec 27, 2013)

The most important thing, to avoid big problems, is to have everything written. Family friend had the the best insurance, no boxes left unchecked, and got a knee injury in Switzerland while skiing. Insurance people confirmed to pay for surgery, for plane tickets, but did that on phone, no confirmations were received by email.

Family friend only paid for plane tickets back home (her family arrived with a car to Switzerland), in hospital she only put signatures she received medical services, because everybody believed insurance will cover everything. 

After 5 month she received a letter from Bailiff in Switzerland informing that she owes like ~35k eur, because insurance refused to pay. Consulted with lawyers, paid those money to avoid interest for late payment and started suing with insurance. Two years of suing, paying for pretty expensive layers to defend her, she only lost money for suing and did not win the case. Phone conversation records were accidently deleted, no other written proof for insurance confirming they will pay, case closed.


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## kosmoz (Dec 27, 2013)

Regarding lost luggage, I believe you are entitled to do the shopping for the essential things. Essential things can be hygiene products or even a new suit, if you are going to a business meeting.

Good friend of my SO did the shopping for ~300eur when her luggage was lost. Finally the luggage was delivered to her hotel, but expenses covered. She did buy some clothes, cosmetics.

Pretty sure one can get covered a full snowboarding clothes set, if travel destination is skiing/snowboarding. You can rent snowboard/ski set, not goggles, jacket, trousers, gloves.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

You...document, document, document...start an on-going log of all aspects, calls, emails and etc. keep all original receipts and send copies and do it immediately.

Insurance .... does the 3 "d's" delay, defer and decline.

You...take it higher, all the way to a hearing. Make it your point to the insurance, that you are not going away and if they are going to jack off, it will cost them more money because they are paying their employees for their time.

Yes this sucks, but insurance presumes that most folks will not take the time and effort and thus will get off the hook. Handled a case for an uncle, international travel...medical nightmare...took close to 2 years and with an attorney. We didn't make any money and cost alot of time and some significant $ due to emergency medical evac, but eventually got most covered but a suit case full of clothes. As for the medical evac...the insurance is only to have better access to a service but does not cover the cost of the actual evac...fuk'n speeeendy, cash required up front and a few other caveats required.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

wrathfuldeity said:


> You...document, document, document...start an on-going log of all aspects, calls, emails and etc. keep all original receipts and send copies and do it immediately.
> 
> Insurance .... does the 3 "d's" delay, defer and decline.
> 
> ...


This doesn't happen with car or house insurance to anywhere near the level of Travel Insurance in my experience.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

kosmoz said:


> Regarding lost luggage, I believe you are entitled to do the shopping for the essential things. Essential things can be hygiene products or even a new suit, if you are going to a business meeting.
> 
> Good friend of my SO did the shopping for ~300eur when her luggage was lost. Finally the luggage was delivered to her hotel, but expenses covered. She did buy some clothes, cosmetics.
> 
> Pretty sure one can get covered a full snowboarding clothes set, if travel destination is skiing/snowboarding. You can rent snowboard/ski set, not goggles, jacket, trousers, gloves.


Massive difference in cost if your bag had a number of 3L Gore-Tex/2L insulated outfits to a couple of 10k jackets and pants. When we take a family it's like x 4-6 outfits this is $$$$$$$$$. And when you go to replace this whilst on holidays you are not going to get it on sale, expect full RRP $$$$$$$$$$$$.


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## kosmoz (Dec 27, 2013)

Craig51 said:


> Massive difference in cost if your bag had a number of 3L Gore-Tex/2L insulated outfits to a couple of 10k jackets and pants. When we take a family it's like x 4-6 outfits this is $$$$$$$$$. And when you go to replace this whilst on holidays you are not going to get it on sale, expect full RRP $$$$$$$$$$$$.


Same goes with car insurance. If you had car in rough shape and get in an accident, most likely you'll end up with more $$$ than it's actually worth. But this won't happen, if you had some clear history no accident and well kept car. You'll get an average for that model and will loose clear title in case of car still being repairable. 

Premium tier credit cards offer good insurance, they cover lost luggage, delayed flights etc., they even cover stolen snowboards/skis, if that happened during your holiday and you have registered an accident in Police.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

kosmoz said:


> Same goes with car insurance. If you had car in rough shape and get in an accident, most likely you'll end up with more $$$ than it's actually worth. But this won't happen, if you had some clear history no accident and well kept car. You'll get an average for that model and will loose clear title in case of car still being repairable.
> 
> Premium tier credit cards offer good insurance, they cover lost luggage, delayed flights etc., they even cover stolen snowboards/skis, if that happened during your holiday and you have registered an accident in Police.


What I'm trying to say is that the Travel Insurance Companies scam of massive depreciation on you gear is really bad. If you have lots of high end gear and it goes AWOL you are going to be really and truly [email protected]*K#d over by them. It doesn't matter about receipts (I have them all/online sales) as they will low ball you to nothing saying it's a couple of years old and it's worth nothing now.


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## kosmoz (Dec 27, 2013)

Never had to deal with travel insurance, but when we are talking about car insurance, insurance must restore your car to a condition it was before accident. They always try to low ball with car value, with repair cost value, with part value, but I always took the position - I don't care, I want my shit to be the same as it was and not going to pay anything from my pocket. You don't find used headlight, want to put a new one and ask for me for 70% value compensation, because my headlight was used? I don't care, I shouldn't care, I had perfectly fine stuff, I want it to be the same and don't pay anything, new or used it's still a headlight and does a headlight thing. 

When your TV brakes down still under warranty, unreasonable to repair, they always compensate you with another same tier TV, or phone, because usually old model is not available anymore.


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## Myoko (Dec 11, 2018)

I had an Australian Westpac Altitude Black Credit Card Insurance, today they agreed to pay everything (within 7 days) due to having a believable and backed up story and receipts that followed the story...AND a million emails as I am paranoid about things in writing despite maybe 10 phone calls to them.

Don't forget if your gear gets lost/delayed by the airline they have some responsibility also, but that is hard yards I can tell you


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Craig51 said:


> What I'm trying to say is that the Travel Insurance Companies scam of massive depreciation on you gear is really bad. If you have lots of high end gear and it goes AWOL you are going to be really and truly [email protected]*K#d over by them. It doesn't matter about receipts (I have them all/online sales) as they will low ball you to nothing saying it's a couple of years old and it's worth nothing now.


Depends on insurace, or country, I assume. We have a "replace by new" refund model. Dunno what the correct lingo is. Basically, you get the coins it costs to replace the same item by a new one. (Does not apply for cars; cars have a "by market price" refund, i.e. milage and age).


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

neni said:


> Depends on insurace, or country, I assume. We have a "replace by new" refund model. Dunno what the correct lingo is. Basically, you get the coins it costs to replace the same item by a new one. (Does not apply for cars; cars have a "by market price" refund, i.e. milage and age).


My home owners insurance covers all of my personal property anywhere in the world. It is also at replacement value. Between our homes, when we rented comdos, our renters insurance worked the same way. 

Our health insurance plan covers us anywjere and comes with a medical evac insurance attached to it. We have used the medical plan but not the evac plan and it was no issue, paid in full. We know a few that have had an issue here and there getting evac from way off the grid locations but thats more of a logistics issue than insurance. 

In general your advice on the OP is good for pretty much everything you do in life that you need a trail to prove.....


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