Red Pennant concern
Comments
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"Home to home is explained when you take out the policy over the phone and asks you the questions on the web. As has previously been explained we do allow you to take out the policy on the dates that would give you enough time to travel from home to the port and back again, but on the understanding that you are taking the risk that you could lose your holiday if anything were to happen on those dates that you aren’t insured."
I did not see anywhere that it said I could take cover only for the time it would take us to get to the port if we drove directly from home, on line it just asks your departure date from home and stresses that you must take cover from that date.
From TG's post last year, I knew that we could stop the RP cover after the time we would get home if we drove directly home.
Too late now, but this means we could have had 6 days longer abroad. At least we will know for next year.
For us, as we book nothing in advance, the only loss would be the ferry ticket, which we always book with the knowledge that we might lose that money as we book 6-7 months ahead.
However, I am unclear as to the exact meaning of the next paragraph.
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Call me cynical but I'm begining to think they make it up as they go along
If your ferry booking is through the club it can be amended for £20, so having to change the date shouldn't be that costly.
If you were to go away in the UK within the 14 days prior to the ferry and suffer a brakedown, what is there to stop you using your UK brakedown cover to get the car fixed, amend the ferry and sail later?
This whole process has been an eye opener, I hope others have gleaned some useful information from it. The one thing I would say is ask questions and then ask some more, don't assume everything will be ok, make sure everything will be covered.
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Hi again everyone
Hopefully the post below will explain the home to home cover:
Thanks Hazel, very informative. It means I was covered for the time I was away in France, but not for my pre and after tours, which is what I thought. However, nice to have it confirmed, as we will probably do the same next time.
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Call me cynical but I'm begining to think they make it up as they go along
If your ferry booking is through the club it can be amended for £20, so having to change the date shouldn't be that costly.
If you were to go away in the UK within the 14 days prior to the ferry and suffer a brakedown, what is there to stop you using your UK brakedown cover to get the car fixed, amend the ferry and sail later?
This whole process has been an eye opener, I hope others have gleaned some useful information from it. The one thing I would say is ask questions and then ask some more, don't assume everything will be ok, make sure everything will be covered.
I am coming to the same conclusion that they are making it up as they go along. Is "home" your residence or is "home" your town where you live, your county or your country?
It has been stated that if you are going to be absent from home for a period exceeding 31 days, your policy is invalid. In essence if you have a policy for 31 days and leave home to tour for a month around Britain before setting sail for overseas and then
spend 18 days abroad before returning, your policy is invalid although you have 14 days cover prior to leaving and are only abroad for 18 days.I am now beginning to think that the Nationwide Flexplus account is a better and cheaper option as that covers you 365 days and no 31 day home to home restrictions on length of stay abroad.
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Call me cynical but I'm begining to think they make it up as they go along
If your ferry booking is through the club it can be amended for £20, so having to change the date shouldn't be that costly.
If you were to go away in the UK within the 14 days prior to the ferry and suffer a brakedown, what is there to stop you using your UK brakedown cover to get the car fixed, amend the ferry and sail later?
This whole process has been an eye opener, I hope others have gleaned some useful information from it. The one thing I would say is ask questions and then ask some more, don't assume everything will be ok, make sure everything will be covered.
I am coming to the same conclusion that they are making it up as they go along. Is "home" your residence or is "home" your town where you live, your county or your country?
It has been stated that if you are going to be absent from home for a period exceeding 31 days, your policy is invalid. In essence if you have a policy for 31 days and leave home to tour for a month around Britain before setting sail for overseas and then
spend 18 days abroad before returning, your policy is invalid although you have 14 days cover prior to leaving and are only abroad for 18 days.I am now beginning to think that the Nationwide Flexplus account is a better and cheaper option as that covers you 365 days and no 31 day home to home restrictions on length of stay abroad.
Surfer, it certainly has been a learning curve. The Green Flag Euro + that we have taken out appears to have everything covered that WE require and asked for. Like other policies it covers us for 12mths (not RP) The extended Nationwide holiday cover is also
for 12mths so we can tour in the UK prior to and after out ferries with no conditions applied, we have Mayday for the UK which is as you know through Green Flag, next time its up for renewal I will be looking at going to them direct to compare which is the
better. I do hope you get something sorted, I though I'd made a mistake with our ferry bookings and not given us enough time to get to and back in the 66 days but I'm just within that so no problem (if I had gone with RP) but the option I would have chosen
IF I had got it wrong was to change the ferry dates for £20 as its cheaper to do that than take out the next longer period of cover using RP, Hope that makes sense.0 -
Firstly I would like to thank Hazel for obviously taking a considerable amount of time to gather the information she posts above.
It seems clear to me that people have a choice on whether they insure from home to port if that is going to be an extended period. However if they don't take out RP to cover that period they they won't be covered. Some may feel that is a risk worth taking.
Obviously you can use your normal UK breakdown service but if the problem is more serious your whole holiday could be at risk. The choice is yours.On your return to the UK it seems that you again have a choice as to whether you extend RP until you get home or not. Obviously once back in the UK your main holiday is no longer at risk so perhaps an easier decision not to add those days to the RP policy.
There are many other holiday/breakdown policies out there but none seem to offer the joined up service offered by RP. Free insurance via banks is a double edged sword. Fine if you are perfectly fit but as soon as you mention any series health issues (often
covered by RP at no extra charge) then the price goes through the roof. As they say no such thing as a free lunch!!!David
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I would agree David. I am quiet willing to take the risk in this country and would not want to continue with the holiday after a serious incident in any event. Also our losses would be fairly small. I mainly want it for the health and vehicle cover when in Europe. Certainly for me, the health cover is much more expensive, or less comprehensive, from other providers.
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Firstly I would like to thank Hazel for obviously taking a considerable amount of time to gather the information she posts above.
It seems clear to me that people have a choice on whether they insure from home to port if that is going to be an extended period. However if they don't take out RP to cover that period they they won't be covered. Some may feel that is a risk worth taking. Obviously you can use your normal UK breakdown service but if the problem is more serious your whole holiday could be at risk. The choice is yours.
On your return to the UK it seems that you again have a choice as to whether you extend RP until you get home or not. Obviously once back in the UK your main holiday is no longer at risk so perhaps an easier decision not to add those days to the RP policy.
There are many other holiday/breakdown policies out there but none seem to offer the joined up service offered by RP. Free insurance via banks is a double edged sword. Fine if you are perfectly fit but as soon as you mention any series health issues (often covered by RP at no extra charge) then the price goes through the roof. As they say no such thing as a free lunch!!!
David
We have no issue with the period before departing, it is the retun that is a concern. Hazel has stated that if they find out you are away from your home for more than 31 days your policy is invalidated even though from leaving home to returning to British soil is less than 31 days.
So if they know and you have a breakdown on the continent, RP will not assist and we fall into that category as we return to a British port on the 31st day but as it is late in the evening we would prefer to stay over the night for a safe journey the next day making it 32 days away from home! However when we return back to British soil, we are covered by Mayday so RP would not be affected and why would we claim from RP anyway if we only have the breakdown policy and not personal cover.
Looking at the Myday cover I cannot see where the Europlus is offered although it is offered under Green Flag?
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So if they know and you have a breakdown on the continent, RP will not assist and we fall into that category as we return to a British port on the 31st day but as it is late in the evening we would prefer to stay over the night for a safe journey
the next day making it 32 days away from home!How late on the evening of arrival will you be getting into the UK ? and if you were to drive home could you reach home before midnight, if so then you would in effect be home by the end of the 31st day. We had the same issue last
year but got it sorted.0 -
So if they know and you have a breakdown on the continent, RP will not assist and we fall into that category as we return to a British port on the 31st day but as it is late in the evening we would prefer to stay over the night for a safe journey
the next day making it 32 days away from home!How late on the evening of arrival will you be getting into the UK ? and if you were to drive home could you reach home before midnight, if so then you would in effect be home by the end of the 31st day. We had the same issue last
year but got it sorted.Our caravan is in storage and it takes about 3 hours to get home so we ar elooking at between 10 and 11pm however there is no way that we can park the caravan at home.
The only way around it is to cancel our bookings on the CC sites and book elsewhere even thogh a bit inconvenient. Unfotunately the home to home aspect is not stressed enough properly and do not want to pay an extra £60 for a few hours! Will be speaking
with RP on Monday!0 -
DK, I have no issues with the home to home part of the policy having got that sorted last year. I've stated quite a few times that I have always used RP for our overseas trips and when we had occasion to use them last year were very satisfied with the service.
The issue this year is: a) that they charge the same for a car/caravan as they do for a Motorhome/trailer yet the level of cover is not equal. b) when asked Iasked if I could pay extra to have the same cover I was told no.
I'm afraid my hand was forced into finding other cover for our 11 week trip to Europe, if it had only been France for a few weeks we would more than likely gone with RP and taken the chance. However we are going to Southern Spain/Portugal that's a lot of
towing, as we are responsible people we wanted to have cover is that so bad. By the way if I hadn't have asked, I wouldn't have known that the trailer wasn't covered,or the trike on it, in fact we had RP last year 122 days cover and wasn't made aware then
either.For those who like yourself prefer everything in the one policy then RP is good, if it covers everything you neeed. But we don't have health issues and it didn't meet our needs. Should RP sort out these issues then next year who knows
I can't understand why they can't, as its quite clear from my own exercise that other companies can and do provide the cover.0 -
So if they know and you have a breakdown on the continent, RP will not assist and we fall into that category as we return to a British port on the 31st day but as it is late in the evening we would prefer to stay over the night for a safe journey
the next day making it 32 days away from home!How late on the evening of arrival will you be getting into the UK ? and if you were to drive home could you reach home before midnight, if so then you would in effect be home by the end of the 31st day. We had the same issue last
year but got it sorted.Our caravan is in storage and it takes about 3 hours to get home so we ar elooking at between 10 and 11pm however there is no way that we can park the caravan at home.
The only way around it is to cancel our bookings on the CC sites and book elsewhere even thogh a bit inconvenient. Unfotunately the home to home aspect is not stressed enough properly and do not want to pay an extra £60 for a few hours! Will be speaking
with RP on Monday!Mmm, can see the problem with the storage etc. instead of canceling the sites booked or paying £60 extra for cover, could you change your return ferry by 1or 2 days, if its booked through the club its only £20 to change it, hopefully there won't have been
an increase in price since you booked. It might just be worth the phone call and explain why you are having to go that route, I think I would check, nothing to lose and its just a phone call, maybe the club will take pity on you and let you change without
a charge
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Mmm, can see the problem with the storage etc. instead of canceling the sites booked or paying £60 extra for cover, could you change your return ferry by 1or 2 days, if its booked through the club its only £20 to change it, hopefully there won't have been
an increase in price since you booked. It might just be worth the phone call and explain why you are having to go that route, I think I would check, nothing to lose and its just a phone call, maybe the club will take pity on you and let you change without
a chargeWe had to change it once already and pay the £20 so don't really want to do it again. Easier to cancel the CC site booking. They lose, we win!
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Mmm, can see the problem with the storage etc. instead of canceling the sites booked or paying £60 extra for cover, could you change your return ferry by 1or 2 days, if its booked through the club its only £20 to change it, hopefully there won't have been
an increase in price since you booked. It might just be worth the phone call and explain why you are having to go that route, I think I would check, nothing to lose and its just a phone call, maybe the club will take pity on you and let you change without
a chargeWe had to change it once already and pay the £20 so don't really want to do it again. Easier to cancel the CC site booking. They lose, we win!
In that case I agree, we did that last year change our going out visits and did them on the way home instead. Doing the same this year, not that it matters now as we arn't with RP
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I can see the logic in the insistence we must allow enough time to get home from the port, even if we do not actually travel home, as they give a discount for being in Mayday. I presume they give this because we are paying twice for the same service. If
we were not in Mayday, I am not sure how they could insist we must be able to get home, it certainly isn't logical and it would be interesting to know if it would stand legally. If my car insurance policy runs out when I am abroad I am covered until it expires.
They do not say you did not allow enough time to get home so we are not covering you.0 -
Morning all
Just to confirm the following:
Providing you can get from your home and return to your home within the number of days of your policy, then you will be covered.
What you cannot do is start the policy on the 1st of June if you have a ferry crossing from Dover at 6.00am and live in Glasgow, as it is not possible to drive from Glasgow to Dover is 6 hours.
The same applies for your return journey, if you arrive in Dover at 21.00 and have to drive back to Glasgow, your policy would have to finish on the next day, as you cannot get from the port to your home address in 3 hours. If however, you live 1 hour away
from the port then your policy could end on the same day as you “could” get home if you wanted to.If you arrive at the port in the UK and decide to take a week or two weeks getting home, then you do not need to take out the Red Pennant to cover the UK part of your holiday, however, if you have pre-paid to stay on a commercial site, you will not be able
to claim these costs back if you Red Pennant policy does not cover the days that you are on holiday in the UK.One thing you need to bear in mind for cover before you leave the UK:
If you start the policy on the 10th June (for when your ferry crossing is booked) and leave home on the 7th June (to spend three days visiting family on the way to the port) and your gear-box fails on the 9th June, then you
do not have any cover.This may not be a problem if you have booked a Dover-Calais crossing and have not booked any campsites, as you could change the ferry crossing for a later date and not lose any money. Your UK break-down policy would take you back to your home address.
However, if you are travelling in high season and you have a Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry crossing and your campsites pre-booked you may not be able to re-arrange to travel on another date, and you will be cancellation charges for the campsite(s), in this scenario
it could be very costly if you have not taken the cover for the 3 days you are in the UK. Your UK recovery will only take you home, it will not give you any cover for continuation of your holiday.Members need to look at their own personal circumstances and pre-paid costs of their holiday to decide when to start and end their policy. As long as the policy covers you from when you
could leave home to catch your ferry to when you could arrive back home from the ferry port, then the policy will be valid.0 -
I fully understood what you meant Hazel and in the event we take out RP again will make sure we comply, as we actually did last time. All I was doing was questioning the logic and even the ethics of a company possibly refusing your medical cover, in the
middle of the holiday, because when they calculated your ferry and travel times you would not have been able to get home by a few hours, so your policy would be deemed invalid. Or are you just saying it is the breakdown bit that is not covered?0 -
Hi Oneputt
We already do two policies, one which covers the vehicles and personal cover (medical) and one which covers vehicles only without the personal cover.
The EHIC card is good, but it is not a replacement for personal/medical insurance, as it does not cover repatriation.
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Thanks Hazel as that seems to cralify it more clearly. We have multi trip annula breakdown only insurance from 27th April and are departing on 12th May from home but only leaving Britain on 15th May.
We return to Britain on the 31st day but cannot drive home on the same day due to distance and safety. On the 32nd day if while returning home and there was an incident, we would contact Mayday anyway to get us home.
From your post above it appears that the RP cover will not be invalidated because on our return, we are a couple of days late in travelling home and would be using Mayday anyway?
It does seem silly to have double insurance cover when you return back to British soil and already have Mayday in place.
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Hi Surfer,
Providing you “could” get home when you return to the UK then your policy would be valid. I understand you don’t want to drive home because you will be tired and it will be late, but providing you
would have enough time to make it back to your home address if drove straight there then there is no problem.0 -
Thanks hazel
Will the club look to see if Red Pennant could be made modular, i.e. mix and match, for example many members already carry EIH cards and Health Insurance so not required as an add on to RP
I've been asking for this for years as I would prefer to use Club offering but it has loads we don't need.. Could we please know if this has been passed on and rejected it not?
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