Travel Insurance

Fred Quimby

Are their any companies with good reputations and perhaps some with bad.  To be honest you will hopefully never need to contact them, bit its madness to go abroad on holiday without cover.

I have even seen Police organisations advertising travel insurance, not sure if they are good.

Can any member offer some advice regarding a company that offers a decent price, and good cover.

Two adults one week in Europe.  No dangerous sports involved.

BT Bob

I have cover through my Nationwide FlexPlus account - costs me £13 per month for the account fee and travel insurance included (along with mobile and car breakdown cover).
My wife had to sue it when we were min Costa Rica earlier this year and it went smoothly - my only gripe wear when I called them from the hospital they didn't offer to ring me backhand I ended up with a £33 phone call charge, but they did cover that cost, so really only a minor gripe.
I've also used Insure&Go in the past but never claimed - good prices though.

Check Defaqto for reviews on companies' service (NOT price).

anticlaus105

Years ago I went away with my now wife. She bought a cheap few quid policy from a comparison site without giving it much thought. I had insurance with a bank account. Our hotel room was robbed and we lost similar stuff. She got back about £100 and I got about £500.

I always go for a defaqto 5 star rating now. Just use meerkat or go compare (poss topcashback/quidco too), pick a high rating and probably don't go for the cheapest. I recently used virgin for about £20 1week family of 4. I didn't need to claim so can't comment if they are any good but a lot of boxes were ticked. Meerkat now do a very good 2 for 1 meals offer.

Fred Quimby

checked out Defaqto and quite happy with their results.  As you mention go for a high 5 star  and forget the cheapest.    Quite like the look of Staysure.        Thanks guys.

gg13533

My uncle uses Staysure for his trips but hasn’t had to claim, so can’t comment on their customer service

LV426

All insurers are pretty good when it comes to selling policies and taking your premium.  And, thankfully, the vast, vast majority of people travel without needing to claim and thereby have no basis on which to judge that other, important side of this business.

This is generic advice about ALL insurance; many people do not appreciate (or can't believe, even) this subtlety:

You must tell the insurer about absolutely everything that may affect their assessment of your risk - regardless of how important you think it is.  Failure to do so invalidates the entire policy.  Failure to do so means that you have paid a premium and potentially bought absolutely nothing whatsoever with it.  This is the essence of the law relating to insurance.

Insurers employ teams of loss adjusters whose sole role is to limit payouts.  Sure, if you make a trivial claim for a lost basic mobile phone (say) they may pay up without challenging, but if you hit some internal threshold these people will be involved and their job is to look for all and any means to save their principals money.  In the case of travel, they may very well inspect your medical records (for example) and can and will, entirely legally, use ANY omission on your part to void the entire policy - yes even for a claim that is entirely unrelated to the omitted condition.

Travelling with another person whose insurance is with a different company and/or bought at a different time?  THEIR risk profile affects YOUR policy.  If they have a condition that may affect your travel (e.g. by curtailment, cancellation, extension, etc., etc., ) then YOUR insurer needs to know about it.

And so on.

Fred Quimby

Thanks LV426.  Last year my daughter,s marriage broke up and she lost her home.  It cost me a small fortune to get her back on her feet with her own place to live.   The my mother died as a result of a fall.   All of this caused me depression, and I ended up taking tablets to sleep from my GP.

Why should this invalidate a policy, and cost me more for the said policy, if I don't disclose it. At present I am as right as rain.   You are never asked questions such as,  are you overweight, do you smoke, how long have you smoked etc.

anticlaus105

It would have be a fairly substantial claim for them to invoke loss adjusters. Hotel room plundered or baggage lost probably wouldn't do it. Accident or illness resulting serious medical costs may, so it would be worth researching what you have to declare and making sure you don't miss anything.

I delt with a loss adjuster once, albeit not travel insurance related and to be fair it helped my claim go more smoothly.

LV426

The simple answer to that is - because it (legally) can.  That, really, is all you need to know and accept.  I never said it was just or equitable.  If you make a claim and they choose to investigate, and they find your medical records mention depression - right there your entire policy is worthless, because YOU (by omission) gave them legal grounds for refusal.  Wasted premium.