Not upheld: excess charges on insurance claim settlement complaint against AWP P&C S.A.

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs M complained that AWP incorrectly applied two excesses of £75 each when settling their travel insurance cancellation claim, believing only one excess should have been deducted. They held a joint bank account with travel insurance underwritten by AWP and believed they held individual policies, though the trip was paid for by Mr M. The ombudsman found that Mr and Mrs M were both insured persons under a single policy (not two separate policies), and the policy terms clearly state an excess is payable for each insured person for each claim. Since both Mr and Mrs M were claiming for their respective parts of the cancellation costs, the ombudsman upheld AWP's decision to deduct two excesses and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman examined the policy wording which clearly states that an excess is payable 'for each insured person, for each section for each incident'. The policy defines 'insured person' as the account holder, their partner, and any dependent child. As Mr and Mrs M held a joint account, they were both insured persons under a single policy (not two separate policies as they believed). Since both were claiming for their respective parts of the cancellation costs, it was reasonable for AWP to deduct two excesses. The ombudsman clarified that despite Mr and Mrs M holding separate policy numbers for their optional upgrades, there was only one underlying policy in place.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website