DAN 'Preferred' Insurance PROBLEM

[Anthias]

I'm joining this thread late, but it is a big thing to me to make sure it is clear to people in my business. I'm a travel agent. I love DAN membership. I also recommend DAN Preferred, but I am very, very clear about the limitations of it. For a very low price, you get some very limited trip insurance. It is better than nothing, but don't count on it for too much. It only covers the person holding the plan. It does not cover companions at all. You need trip insurance for that. Always, always read the tiny print. You get a pretty full refund of your costs if you have to cancel due to medical reasons before your trip begins. But cancel in the middle of the trip? You are reimbursed up to $150 a day. Let's see a show of hands for how many of us have been on a liveaboard or at a dive resort for $150 a day....

 

[drrich2]

I tried to consider the situation at hand, and it occurred to me that trying to get reimbursed for canceling your trip would be analogous to a situation where you had booked a trip to travel alone, your husband was a non-diver who was to stay at home, developed atrial fibrillation near your departure time and you decided to cancel your trip to stay home and take care of him.

But had no medical issue yourself.

Unless their policy states they cover such a thing, I don't see a moral obligation to do so. It would be 'nice,' and it's very understandable why you would ask and hope for it, but I don't think they are obligated.

Richard.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'm currently in the process of trying to get some trip cancellation/interruption insurance. So far I've learned that it will only cover me for max $1500 per incident. They also told me my trip begins and ends at home.I tried to explain that i would be having trips within the big trip (going to SE Asia for an extended period, will be doing side trips but in particular, Maldives liveaboard). The guy said it didn't matter, it's all one trip as far as they are concerned.I pointed out that what he was offering wouldn't even cover my first airfare. Didn't matter that was as good as it was going to get from him.

There's now a travel agent involved in helping me and it looks like I'll need some kind of top up every sixteen days. I can't figure it out. But at this point, I'm considering self-insuring because it's starting to look like the price for the coverage is going to be close to what I'm hoping to get covered. Sigh.

 

[kelemvor]

I find myself thinking DAN is not off base here. There are plenty of divers who go solo on livaboards. It's not even unusual if scubaboard posts are any indication. That said, I wouldn't be going if I was slindblade. If DAN didn't have a more expensive policy that covers this scenario I'd be more inclined to side with slindblade.

It sucks for sure, but slindblade took a gamble in buying the cheaper policy. Like most gambling it did not pay off. Take Roatan Joe's advice and see if you can escalate within their management chain. You might get lucky.

Also, the insurance arm of DAN is NOT non profit.

DAN has partnered with several reputable insurance companies to underwrite the insurance policies offered through DAN. These policies are offered through DAN Services, Inc., a for-profit, wholly-owned subsidiary of DAN, which is a licensed insurance agency and Third Party Administrator ("TPA"). The income generated by DAN Services, Inc. helps to fund DAN's many member programs and services.

That's straight from the DAN Website.

Personally, I think that allowing a business to shed liability and skirt tax laws by having subsidiaries should be flatly illegal but that's a discussion for another day. Heck it's probably not even a popular opinion.

 

[KeithG]

I'm currently in the process of trying to get some trip cancellation/interruption insurance. So far I've learned that it will only cover me for max $1500 per incident. They also told me my trip begins and ends at home.I tried to explain that i would be having trips within the big trip (going to SE Asia for an extended period, will be doing side trips but in particular, Maldives liveaboard). The guy said it didn't matter, it's all one trip as far as they are concerned.I pointed out that what he was offering wouldn't even cover my first airfare. Didn't matter that was as good as it was going to get from him.

There's now a travel agent involved in helping me and it looks like I'll need some kind of top up every sixteen days. I can't figure it out. But at this point, I'm considering self-insuring because it's starting to look like the price for the coverage is going to be close to what I'm hoping to get covered. Sigh.

check other providers in canada. different providers have different limits for most things. some have multiple limits at different premium costs. some only have a single limit with no way to increase it.

we used to purchase RBC trip insurance through our travel agent for each individual trip. while investigating getting an all inclusive annual coverage package we found blue cross was much more flexible. you have multiple choices for longer trip duration and limit per incident (at a higher premium cost of course). we wanted a higher incident limit than RBC could provide on their annual plan.

we now use a single blue cross policy to provide all of our medical, trip cancellation and trip interuption coverage for all of our travel. no need for DAN as scuba is covered as well. some sports like hang gliding, extreme rock climbing and car racing are not covered.

---------- Post added October 29th, 2014 at 01:38 AM ----------

p.s. read the fine print! as pointed out above by other posters, you get what you pay for. insurance has all sorts of limits and exclusions. lower limits and more exclusions will result in lower premium cost. if you want better coverage, you have to pay for it. the lowest price is the product with the fewest benefits.

an example somewhat related to the OPs situation: our trip cancellation policy also covers certain incidents in our immediate family that would prevent me from travelling. consider the death of a parent (who is not even travelling). i have to cancel my trip. i am covered. but my premium price reflects this high level of benefits.

 

[chillyinCanada]

You have that with Blue Cross? ?

They are my insurance provider for when i am home. Was such a good deal until it wasn't.

Rbc is my medical for travel. They'll send some one to escort me home. I like that since I'm often off on my own

It is RBC, that we've been trying to get something reasonable for the trip interruption cancellation.

Does anyone know anything about Travel Guard?

 

[Wookie]

Does anyone know anything about Travel Guard?

Is it available in Canada?

It's who we sell, because they will refund the air on a liveaboard trip we cancel for weather. Say you were coming to see me, we make a weather call as a no go, they would cover your air or your ticket change fee if we write a letter explaining why we cancelled. We've worked with them for years...

 

[Hintermann]

First of all Slindblade, I hope that the other half is now better.

It is strange thing because as a Premier Customer with my UK banks Lloyds, I get free Worldwide Travel Insurance including diving cover up to 30m. This covers everything - Travel, diving, luggage loss, accidents, illness, missed flights etc and the full facility is extended to my wife at no extra charge, even if she is travelling without me. The only thing I get in addition for an annual fee of £55 is cover up to 40m as I am a certified deep diver.

A few years ago, my wife and I were booked on a diving holiday to the Maldives. A week before the trip my wife got the flu and was advised not to travel. Since there was no one else to look after her, I wanted to cancel too and when I enquired, Lloyds told me that the travel companion was covered fully. As it happened, my wife's sister came to stay with her and I went by myself.

I am gland that I have stuck with Lloyds and resisted others' advice to change to DAN.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Lloyds sounds like a decent plan. Hmmm . .

And thanks Wookie! I'm going to check out Travel Guard.

 

[DandyDon]

DAN is different in Europe, as are laws, insurance, courts, etc.