About travel insurance


zoossh

Senior Member
Nov 29, 2005
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Singapore
I forgot I had paid for travel insurance when I buy air ticket and bought another travel insurance
Now my camera bag was stolen, I look into the policies

Company a
Stated they are not liable to pay for loss insured under other insurance policy (which sounded unreasonable, i'm just imagining if every company do that then nobody needs to pay already, doesn't sound logical to me but what to do).

Company b
Stated that
If I made insurance against someone, And if I do not get the full amount of claims paid, they will make up differences, but I have to claim from "them" first as in the first party, And it didn't state who is that first party.

Also stupidly I have emailed both parties, without mentioning I got two travel insurances. I can only be back in sg after a week. I dunno what kind of tussle will I get but I,m not sure if I can back out from one policy and claim from the other since I had emailed both. Any advices?
 

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Make a claim from company a, which you know will be rejected.

In the meantime, make a claim from company b, attaching the terms and conditions of company a's policy, highlighting the bit where it says they won't pay for lost cameras etc. (If its a credit card insurance policy, usually they only pay for death, serious injury and hijacking). If you don't have the terms of company a's policy, get them to mail it to you and/or get it off their website.

If company b hasn't paid before company a rejects you, then mail a copy of the rejection letter to company b.

Easy peasy.
 

Thanks. I hope it work out fine
 

By the way, don't forget to get a police report of this incident in order to file for a claim. Even though it maybe a foreign language report, it does give a proof to the insurer to exercise the claim if they are liable for.
 

D-rev said:
By the way, don't forget to get a police report of this incident in order to file for a claim. Even though it maybe a foreign language report, it does give a proof to the insurer to exercise the claim if they are liable for.

That's the first thing I did after rushing out of McDonald and seeing no sign of my bag. But well, got to return to sg first and hopefully all my receipts are in place.
 

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That's the first thing I did after rushing out of McDonald and seeing no sign of my bag. But well, got to return to sg first and hopefully all my receipts are in place.

Hi TS,

Sorry to hear about your Camera.

May I know where you had gone to for your trip?
 

That's the first thing I did after rushing out of McDonald and seeing no sign of my bag. But well, got to return to sg first and hopefully all my receipts are in place.

Hi,
I have experience lost my camera during last year Vietnam trip,I has not made the police report and finally my travel insurance company had approved my claim,I just submit the claim form and receipt,just for your information...
 

TS would seriously suggest you read terms and conditions carefully. Most travel insurance does not really cover lost of items well. At most they will pay after you can prove it was lost in the first place about $100 / 200 or max $300 per item with a cap limit of abt 1K or so. Since it was not camera gear specific insurance, there is not going to be a lot of coverage for loss. Some companies are highly skeptical if your reports reads like "I left my bag with my friend and he/she/it walked away forgetting to take the bag along" even a "I put the bag on the floor beside me and when I looked down it was gone" as these speak of a lack of care in safeguarding the bag.
 

zoossh, sorry to hear that your bag was stolen.

I met my insurance agent this afternoon as I had some other things to discuss with regards to travel insurance. Its not very encouraging news, but this is the gist of our conversation.

1. First of all, you need to lodge a police complaint (which I suppose you have already done)
2. You need to have proof of the equipment you lost (in the form of receipts etc.) when you submit the claim (along with the letter you would've received from the police)
3. Depending on the type of travel insurance you have, the company (at their discretion) would reimburse provided they are satisfied with the facts provided to them.

In my case, I had opted for the Premier version offered by Chartis. For this version, the company will reimburse upto S$500 per device and upto S$1000 for a laptop, to a total upto S$5000. Other cheaper versions might reimburse lesser amounts.

eg. if your bag containing two DSLRs and a laptop is stolen, you would be reimbursed upto S$2000 (500 for each of the DSLRs and 1000 for the laptop).

Hope this helps.
 

Most insurance have some sort of cover for Personal Baggage including Laptop Computer ~$5,000

Not sure if that covers it.
 

SECTION 23 - PERSONAL BAGGAGE INCLUDING LAPTOP COMPUTER
We will pay You, up to the limit speciÀ ed in the Selected Plan under Section 23, for loss of or damage sustained overseas to personal baggage taken or purchased due to circumstances beyond Your control at the planned destination including Natural Disasters. This includes compensation for Your clothing and personal effects which are stored in the personal baggage that is lost or which are worn or carried on You.

All items must be owned by You or in Your custody or which is loaned or entrusted to You. In the event any of Your article of personal baggage is proven to be beyond economical repair, a claim under this Policy will be treated as if the article had been lost. We will not be liable for more than $500, in respect of any one article or pair or set of articles. The limit of liability for a Laptop Computer is $1,000 and only for one Laptop Computer for every policy. A pair or set of items is treated as one item (e.g. a pair of shoes, a camera and its standard accompanying lens and accessories).

We may, at Our sole discretion and option, make payment or reinstate or repair the damaged personal baggage, subject to due allowance for wear and tear and depreciation.

Depreciation may not be applied to electronic items that are purchased less than 1 year from the date of the incident if You can produce supporting document (i.e. original receipts or original warranty cards) for claims. The loss must be reported to the police or relevant authority such as hotel and airline management or other service provider having jurisdiction at the place of the loss within
24 hours of the incident. Any claim must be accompanied by written documentation from such authorities.

You must take every possible step and reasonable precaution to ensure:-
a) that Your baggage or personal effects are not left unattended in a Public Place;
and
b) the safety of all personal property and baggage.

Claims that result from You losing Your baggage or it being damaged while being held by an airline or service provider should be made to the airline or service provider first. Any payment under this Policy shall be made upon proof of compensation received
from the airline or service provider or where such compensation is denied, proof of such denial.
 

This is what I purchased for my next trip, hope that helps.. it might me similar as most Insurance companies usually match against their competitors anyway.
 

Hi TS,

Sorry to hear about your Camera.

May I know where you had gone to for your trip?

lisbon. was distracted by someone talking to me, maybe less than 10secs. noticed within a minute - too late.

hi, ellery, the bag was just next to me on the table, but unless i grab my bag at all time while eating or sling in and keep between my thighs, looking retrospectively i still won't be able to avoid those professional pickpocket under that circumstances. i mean i didn't expect the theft to have occured in a restaurant, and i'm pretty certain that i have not revealed my bag contents (it is not a "camera bag" per se, just a small canvas bag to hold the camera) for that past an hour or so, and my wallet only have about 150 euro which is transiently and not openedly shown. i'm following the part of the insurance that indicate loss of luggage, under theft.

and thanks to everyone who have replied. also hope whatever advices here helps anyone who happens to read.
 

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hi, just back in sg and managed to source through the receipts.
police report already made. and got the claim forms.

since if i have two travel insurances,

- even if i only intend to claim through the first insurance agent (bought together with air ticket), is it a must to declare that i have accidentally purchase another travel insurance?

- suppose if the first insurance agent only reimburse less than the value of the stolen stuff, can i claim the remainder from the 2nd insurance agent, with notification to the 2nd insurance agent of the claims and rembursement i have got from the 1st? (i'm not claiming double of the value, just thinking if i can claim the remaining value that is not reimbursed).

i have the impression that it is probably needed to inform the first insurance agent, whether or not i'm to claim from the 2nd insurance agent. i read online (not in this country) that the insurance agents will push away to the other agent, causing a lot of anxiety and uncertainty to the claimant, so i'm rather hesistant. nonetheless, i guess i will still declare to both parties, but like to hear what the others think.
 

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zoossh, sorry to hear that your bag was stolen.

I met my insurance agent this afternoon as I had some other things to discuss with regards to travel insurance. Its not very encouraging news, but this is the gist of our conversation.

1. First of all, you need to lodge a police complaint (which I suppose you have already done)
2. You need to have proof of the equipment you lost (in the form of receipts etc.) when you submit the claim (along with the letter you would've received from the police)
3. Depending on the type of travel insurance you have, the company (at their discretion) would reimburse provided they are satisfied with the facts provided to them.

In my case, I had opted for the Premier version offered by Chartis. For this version, the company will reimburse upto S$500 per device and upto S$1000 for a laptop, to a total upto S$5000. Other cheaper versions might reimburse lesser amounts.

eg. if your bag containing two DSLRs and a laptop is stolen, you would be reimbursed upto S$2000 (500 for each of the DSLRs and 1000 for the laptop).

Hope this helps.

the 2nd last trip i forgot to buy insurance, and the iceland volcano erupted. can't imagine that now i stupidly bought two similar insurances and cause myself headache just by reading through so many documents and sometimes getting mixed up and got to go back and read again.

:confused: that's life.
 

Where did u lose your stuff?

I had a similiar experience in Rome more than 10 yrs ago. I was distracted n someone swiftly nicked my bag off the table but I was so damn lucky that day . To cut the story short, I chased the guy who distracted me even though the bag wasn' t with him into a nearby train station n then an elderly man turned up ,asked me what happened,identified himself as a police man,detained the suspect n 2 hours later returned my bag to me.

Phew! The police were on the lookout for this group of crooks after many reported cases. At the police station, I saw a few tourists crying-victims of perhaps, petty crime like me.

A few of my friends were victims of these " distract and grab ' tactic in Italy and Spain so folks,if u are headed there-beware! Best to wrap the strap around your legs n put between your legs.
 

Sorry to hear about your loss zoossh
I consider you to be one of the savviest travelers I know of! It's commendable that you're going about this in a level-headed manner

Sharing my personal experience: needed to make a claim a year ago, though I was less confident about ntuc, my wife bought the travel insurance then.
She was happy that she had an existing separate policy with them and a close relationship with her agent; the agent did all the chasing for us. Really helped to have a face and number you could call instead of navigating through the call center morass.

Hope it all turns out well for you.
Recently I've been relying on the free hsbc credit card insurance too for short trips; I should begin reading the fine print for that.
 

if you travel a lot it is best to get an insurance for the whole year, the premiums are lower that way.......I am with AXA and there are some agents for them I think

I pay sgd 388 per year for the Comprehensive insurance worldwide coverage, for South East asia cover it is lower

For Baggage and personal effects including valuables:

Total max SGD 5000, but max sgd 800 per item/pair/set and sgd 500 in aggregate fr valuables

Laptops/phone/wireless handheld device: max sgd 1000 per item/pair/set

HS
 

"max sgd 800 per item/pair/set"

this is what i don't like about the travel insurance plans..... lenses and the body are considered one set.... if each lens is one item, still not so bad...

if you travel a lot it is best to get an insurance for the whole year, the premiums are lower that way.......I am with AXA and there are some agents for them I think

I pay sgd 388 per year for the Comprehensive insurance worldwide coverage, for South East asia cover it is lower

For Baggage and personal effects including valuables:

Total max SGD 5000, but max sgd 800 per item/pair/set and sgd 500 in aggregate fr valuables

Laptops/phone/wireless handheld device: max sgd 1000 per item/pair/set

HS
 

the 2nd last trip i forgot to buy insurance, and the iceland volcano erupted. can't imagine that now i stupidly bought two similar insurances and cause myself headache just by reading through so many documents and sometimes getting mixed up and got to go back and read again.

:confused: that's life.

I think its better to have purchased two insurances than not to have purchased at all.

I do hope things will work out fine for you and you do get reimbursed for your loss.

Last September, I almost bid goodbye to this life and had to be evacuated. Later, I found out that I hadn't purchased travel insurance for that trip. I dunno how I missed that, but I did. I couldn't claim the trip expenses (lost about EUR 2000 that way, excluding airfare) and my claim for evacuation and hospitalization is still pending with GE. I do have comprehensive medical cover, but GE is probably debating whether they should reimburse the evacuation or not, because it was not in an ambulance. Technically, it seems that evacuation and transportation to a hospital should be in an ambulance, for the claim to be reimbursed. B&%^&$%s.

It all makes a good story over dinner...

As soon as I returned to Singapore, I bought a comprehensive travel insurance for 1 year with Chartis. Paid SGD 600 for 1 year. World-wide coverage.

SORRY for the OT.

HS,
Looks like the AXA policy is better than the Chartis one.

I am finding out more hidden things in my policy as I read into the fine print. For example, I found out yesterday that the 1 year policy is valid for trips that complete within 90 days. If my trip exceeds 90 days, this policy is not valid.
If I rent a car, and there is an accident, the insurance company will only pay upto SGD 750 towards damages. The agent tells me "Don't rely on this. You should buy additional insurance with the car rental company to bring down the excess to ZERO". WTF !!! B%@#%!$s.