Cheap travel insurance has a reputation for being a pretty boring area to work in. While it does have its routine dull moments, just like any other job, these are made up for by the occasional funny travel insurance stories you hear. It’s hard to say how many of them are exaggerated, highly embellished, or just plain made up, but I still found that some of these travel insurance stories made me laugh while researching this article, and that’s enough for me.
Here are 13 fun stories about travel insurance. While 13 is traditionally an unlucky number, a select few on this list will consider themselves very lucky to be covered by sympathetic travel insurance companies! The remaining ones who were rejected will no doubt have learned an invaluable life lesson!
- Cheeky monkeys wreak havoc
According to this tale (tail?), a group of cheeky monkeys conspired to ruin a couple’s romantic trip to Malaysia. Due to the heat, the couple left their chalet window open during the day as they went out, but regretted their decision when they returned to discover their clothes and belongings all over the surrounding compound and neighboring rainforest. Fortunately, the couple’s insurance company was understanding and made sure they didn’t have to wear the same clothes again for the rest of the trip.
- LOTS of Bombay mix
Do you know Bombay Mix? The spicy Indian snack. A traveler claimed to have lost £600 worth of things on his way back from holiday and attempted to claim travel insurance on him. Given that Bombay Mix costs less than £1 per 250g bag, a conservative estimate is that the man would have to carry more than 80kg of the snack to have racked up £600 in expenses. Pretty hard to misplace, you would have thought, and the travel insurance company agreed, refusing to pay the claim.
- A bite in the tail
A traveler lost his wallet in a drain while exploring Netanya in Israel. However, instead of filing a police report and contacting his travel insurance providers, the brave individual tried to pull his wallet out of the drain, only to be stung by a poisonous scorpion that had made the area its home! ! The man’s treatment (and presumably his lost wallet) was covered by his travel insurance.
- Geronimo!
Earning the dubious honor of the most unlucky on the list, this family’s camping trip went awry when a paratrooper from the nearby air base missed his target and landed squarely on the family store. The camping gear was ruined and to add insult to injury they were not covered for accidental damage so they had to foot the bill themselves.
- Is the joke about the thief?
A fairly routine claim for a stolen cosmetic bag took a hilarious twist when it was revealed that the victim had transferred her medical-strength hemorrhoid cream into an empty tub of moisturizer earlier on vacation. As French police continued to search for a suspiciously smooth-faced thief, the woman’s travel insurance company paid for the missing makeup, perfume and lotions.
- Wrong airport, wrong country!
A man who claimed a vacation canceled when he was denied entry to a flight was turned away when he learned his flight was not from Manchester, in the northwest of England, but from Manchester, New Hampshire, in the United States.
- Some claims just aren’t worth the excess!
Here’s a tip for you: if you have an excess of £50 to pay on a claim, make sure your stolen belongings are worth at least £50.01! A traveler who had his bag stolen on vacation had his claim denied, when the full inventory of contents was established to be: 1 bottle of water, 1 newspaper and 1 pack of mints. No wonder your cheap travel insurance claim was denied.
- Criminals aren’t the only animals ruining your trip
If you’re on holiday in the Black Forest, you may want to make sure you lock up properly when you leave the house. A family returned to their chalet to find that their home had been invaded by a hungry goat, which had eaten its way through their wallets, passports and sandwiches. His application for new passports and wallets was refused due to negligence in leaving the chalet wide open.
- shy coconut
If you’re planning to relax under a tree in Sri Lanka, it’s worth checking your place out carefully, as one traveler found out after suffering a concussion from a falling coconut. The injury left her unconscious, which may seem unlikely until you consider that the average fresh coconut weighs 2 kilograms and the trees from it grow up to 30 meters tall. A coconut traveling at 53 miles per hour is no joke, and it’s no surprise that the traveler financed medical bills of £400.
- lost coconuts
On the other hand, others apparently can’t function without their coconuts: One couple returned from Mauritius to find their local produce missing. Claiming two lost coconuts may seem like a reasonable idea on paper, but each costs less than a pound to replace, and with an initial excess on any claim made of £50, it’s no wonder travel insurance providers turned this one down.
- To what!?
Occasionally you hear a claim for something that is completely baffling, and it was that way for Direct Line, who reportedly received a claim for a “guitar made out of pumpkin.”
- A burning desire to drink
At the ironically labeled ‘Fire Bar’ in Greece, a reveler paid the price for ‘needing a drink’ when she remained at the bar waiting to be served despite a loud bell and the hasty exit of others clamoring for a pint. Predictably, the buzzer turned out to be a fire alarm, a fact she finally appreciated as flames engulfed the area. She fled the scene with third degree burns and £300 medical bills to pay, which were covered by her travel insurance company.
- Someone is lying!
Ultimately, it’s more of a fact than a fun travel insurance story, but it is believed that there have been more claims of stolen £1000 Rolex Oysters watches than there have been made. It seems that some people have been creative with their travel insurance claims…