New insurance that pays out if your holiday is ruined by RAIN
IF you've ever had a holiday ruined by bad weather, you might be excited by a brand new insurance that lets you cancel and get your money back if it's going to rain.
The new product lets you cancel up to 72 hours before your holiday starts if it looks like the weather will be poor.
Normally, travel insurance may cover you if extreme weather means you are delayed and miss a flight or connection.
But if rain is wrecking your holiday, normally you just have to grin and bear it or go home and lose your money.
To try and solve this, Campings.com has teamed up with the Setoo.com platform to create the new rainy day protection.
Currently it's only available for European travellers, booking holidays in France, Italy and Spain through Campings.com holidays.
You don't need to be glued to your iPhone either, Setoo uses Meteomatics data to issue an automatic notification of any forecasted rain and gives you the option to cancel then and there.
If you decide not to go ahead, compensation is automatically sorted so there's no lengthy claims process.
How much you pay for the cover depends on which campsite you're visiting and how often it usually rains.
So cover for August is likely to be far cheaper than it would be in October, for example.
What should you look for in a good travel insurance policy?
TRAVEL insurance policies can vary a great deal, but here are some 'must have' features you should look out for from the Money Advice Service.
- Medical expenses - A good policy will give cover of £1million or more for travel in Europe and £2million or more for the USA
- Repatriation service - The costs of getitng you back to the UK for medical reasons should be covered automatically by your policy
- Cancellation and curtailment - A good policy will cover you for £2,000 or more if you have to cancel or shorten your holiday
- Missed departure - Covers additional accommodation costs and travel expenses up to £500 or more if you miss your flight due to circumstances out of your control
- Delay - You'll usually be covered for £250 or more if your travel plans are delayed due to circumstances out of your control
- Baggage cover - Covers you if your baggage is lost, damaged or stolen. Look for policies that have cover of £1,500 or more.
Setoo says that the pricing model is based on machine learning techniques and is determined in real time.
In practice, the average premium is around £13 (€15) per week, though because the company is based in France, you'll pay in Euros.
We looked at booking a holiday in a mobile home for a family of five in France next June.
The total cost of the booking came to around £180 (€209) for two adults, two teens and young child.
When we looked to add the rain cover, the cost was around £4.31 (€5), probably because the likelihood of rain is low.
Those looking for holidays later in the year, or that are more expensive could expect to pay more.
If the weather looks like it is going to be poor, you would then use the insurance to cancel the trip and get the cost of your holiday back.
But Sally Jaques, from comparison site GoCompare, says it's all well and good cancelling but what if this is the only time you can get off?
She said: “Insurance is there to cover you for unexpected events, so if campers want the peace of mind of being covered against bad weather then this could be interesting if it fits with their budget.
"But it may not be relevant if the holiday you’ve booked happens to be the only two weeks you can get away and you can’t suddenly re-book for another fortnight, get the pets looked after, and get time off work.
“And the usual insurance rules will likely apply, and in particular the principle that you can’t insure against a known risk.
"So, for example, if you’ve seen the long range forecast and it doesn’t look good and then you try to buy this insurance, you may find it difficult to claim.
Even though you can only get cover for rainy holidays through Campings.com at the moment, Setoo already has plans for expansion.
It has said it is exploring partnering with cruise companies for bad sea conditions and skiing holidays for low snowfall.
The insurance was only launched a couple of days ago, so we don't yet know whether consumers are finding it useful.
As the cover is specifically for weather, you will still need to purchase travel insurance to cover you against other risks such as lost luggage.
Ms Jaques added: “While bad weather can take the shine off your holiday, travel insurance is also there to protect against those things that can really, truly, ruin a holiday.
"Things like cancellation, serious medical treatment, loss or theft of possessions and the like. So whatever you do, make sure you are covered adequately for these things too.”
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