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Information re Insurance for train tickets in Germany

Posted by (San Diego, CA, USA) on

Here is another question I hope someone can answer about buying train tickets from the DBahn website.
I have booked 2 low cost 90 days in advance train tickets for a trip from Paris to Frankfurt that leaves around 1 PM. I purchased some ticket insurance for 6 € from the Dbahn site by clicking on the offer described in the text below.

Yes, I would like to take out DB-Spar- und Aktionspreis-Versicherung for only 6,00 EUR.

• Insurance cover in case you are unable to use the ticket for reasons such as illness

• Reimbursement of the refund fee or ticket price, additional charges for alternative journeys if applicable

• Without deductible, automatic insurance cover also for all accompanying passengers that have been booked

We have decided that it would be better for us if we took an earlier train that leaves Paris around 11 AM. The fare is a little less and the timing is better. I know that I can cancel the original ticket for a 17.50 € refund fee and get a refund for the rest. Then I can book the earlier train. My question is this. Does the ticket insurance I purchased with the original reservation mean that the 17.50 €
refund fee will not be levied if I cancel the original reservation? Even if the reason is for not for illness but for convenience? I assume the 6€ for the insurance is lost forever.

Thank you in advance...

Posted by
20192 posts

It sounds like health insurance, not "I changed my mind" insurance. You will probably need a doctor's note explaining that you could not travel on that day. Kind of hard to explain when you took a train 2 hours earlier.
The "I changed my mind" insurance is the 17.50 EUR fee, which is pretty reasonable considering Italian SuperEconomy tickets are not refundable for any reason. Also. I believe the 17.50 fee covers both of you because it is a single ticket for 2 people.

Posted by
2393 posts

Unfortunately much of the detail with the insurance is lost in translation - I would call them and ask

my guess is you will pay the €17,50 but maybe the insurance will still cover the changed ticket

For questions regarding your online-ticket, please call the international phone number: +44 8718 80 80 66 (calls charged) or send an email to [email protected].

Posted by
19100 posts

Unfortunately much of the detail with the insurance is lost in
translation

Lost in our lack of ability to understand the German, the official language. I've read the provisions of the insurance (although not recently), and I can assure you this is not "changed-my-mind insurance". If you do it before the date of travel, you can get a refund less 17,50€ and buy a new ticket at whatever the price is at the time, probably more than the original ticket.

I just looked up the insurance. The translation is pretty straight forward; the insured reasons are "unexpected serious illness, serious injury, or death of the insured or a family member". I don't think that includes, "If I don't get there earlier, my wife is going to kill me".

Posted by
321 posts

Hi Sam, Christy, and Lee- I appreciate the feedback. I misunderstood the insurance and purchased it with the . ticket. At first glance it appeared that the 17.50 € refund fee could be circumvented for any reason by spending 6 € for this ticket "insurance". And of course one does not have time to find the details of the insurance and run it through a translator in the normal course of buying a ticket. So I guess I'm out 12 € for the round trip "ticket insurance" which is already covered by normal trip insurance in case of family or personal accident or illness. At any rate, many thanks for the information. I'll try to be more cautious in the future- if it sounds to good to be true it probably is......

Posted by
19100 posts

It sounds to me like the insurance gets you all your money back if you miss your train for an insured reason. But up until the day of travel, you can get a refund less 17,50€ for any reason. So mostly, you're paying 6€ to insure against a loss of 17,50€.

Now, if you get sick on the morning of travel and can't travel at all that day, you would lose the entire ticket amount. I assume the insurance would refund the entire amount. But, does the insurance guarantee you a replacement ticket for use at a later day for no extra cost? I don't think so.

According to the rules of the Bahn, if, on the travel date, you miss the specified train you cannot get a refund, but you can apply what you paid less 17,50€ to a full fare ticket for the same route (and category of train?) later that day.

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