Travel Insurance Article Discussion

Doc_N

ponymad wrote: »

Will be interesting to see what you come up with, my mohter feels the EHIC is enough but I am not so sure.

I think your concerns are well founded. The main problem with the EHIC route is the lack of any cover for an air ambulance, should one be needed. A small risk, perhaps, but you could be talking many thousands of pounds.

billandcaz

Hello all
Could I ask for help getting travel insurance . I had a heart bypass 15 years ago cause was angina am ok now taken 3 medications for blood pressure and high cholesterol . The quotes I am getting are almost as high as the holiday cost lol . Anyone know of any cheap insurers or methods of getting cover down would be helpful thanks . By the way am 62 years old if that makes any difference and working full time .

hujo

Oops, yes Direct Travel is coming up on moneysupermarket.com.

It's coming up as DTI, I was doing a page search for Direct Travel which was why I couldn't find it.

Just bought a policy. Thanks

bowbellslad

hansi wrote: »

Age Concern?

We are 81&79 with PMC's & have just had a very reasonable price for 8 days in Tenerife from insureforall.com

bowbellslad

Doc_N wrote: »

It's possible, of course, that the reason for the 'unbelievable' price is that the underwriters are based in Gibraltar:

Registered Office
Professional Travel Insurance Company Limited
Suite 935,
Europort,
Gibraltar


I wonder how good they are at paying out? They could be fine, but I tend to be wary of relatively unknown companies that don't have to worry too much about the value of their 'brand'.

Have quotation from insureforall.com which clearly states:-
Insure For All is a trading style of Astrenska Limited. Astrenska Limited; Reg No. 3924813.
Registered in England & Wales. Registered Address: 17 Devonshire Square , London EC2M 4SQ.

Astrenska Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, FSA Reg No. 442233.

Doc_N

bowbellslad wrote: »

Have quotation from insureforall.com which clearly states:-
Insure For All is a trading style of Astrenska Limited. Astrenska Limited; Reg No. 3924813.
Registered in England & Wales. Registered Address: 17 Devonshire Square , London EC2M 4SQ.

Astrenska Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, FSA Reg No. 442233.

That's right, but, as I said, the underwriters are based in Gibraltar - you'll find this in the policy wording:

This policy wording including any endorsement issued by us forms a contract of insurance between the underwriters, Professional Travel Insurance Company Limited or Enterprise Insurance Company PLC in respect of the Legal Expenses section, and those people specified on your insurance schedule. This contract is only valid when you have a valid insurance schedule and have paid the appropriate premium.

Not really a problem - it's fairly common for the underwriters not to be UK based (for tax reasons). There could be a problem in the event of a disputed grey area, perhaps, in that a well-known company might choose to pay out to protect its name, while a lesser-known company might not bother.

spendlesssavemore

Hi, In case it helps someone i've just insured my mum (over 75) for a single trip policy to USA, declared her high bp, & policy was £35 single trip with £100 medical excess. This was with Infinity Alpha 100 through moneysupermarket.com by phoning them up to declare the pmc - most quotes i received when searching the providers offering insurance for pmc's was well over £100 so i hope this helps someone else.

daggermark

Hi guys, I've been looking for travel insurance for several hours now and struggling to find a company.

I need a worldwide annual policy and have gone through all the comparison sites etc, but I am also careful to research each company.

In the past I used Direct Travel but it seems their reputation has suffered a bit in terms of service lately? From reading these forums and other online reviews of insurers, I also have heard bad things about Columbus, Go Travel, Insure & Go, InsureFor, anything underwritten by AXA... the list goes on!

As I tend to carry a fair amount of valuables I need an insurer who will be fairly decent at settling any claims that may arise but it seems these are few and far between. Any recommendations would be most welcome.

Nobjocki

daggermark wrote: »

Hi guys, I've been looking for travel insurance for several hours now and struggling to find a company.

I need a worldwide annual policy and have gone through all the comparison sites etc, but I am also careful to research each company.

In the past I used Direct Travel but it seems their reputation has suffered a bit in terms of service lately? From reading these forums and other online reviews of insurers, I also have heard bad things about Columbus, Go Travel, Insure & Go, InsureFor, anything underwritten by AXA... the list goes on!

As I tend to carry a fair amount of valuables I need an insurer who will be fairly decent at settling any claims that may arise but it seems these are few and far between. Any recommendations would be most welcome.

At the risk of re-opening an old debate that raises fierce passions on here there is a reason why so many travel insurers have such a bad reputation - the industry is rife with sharp practices and there are countless stories of people being denied valid claims on the most spurious of grounds.

This is not surprising when you consider what is at the heart of the industry - huge companies trading in billions of pounds of policies making vast profits for their share-holders.

It's hardly surprising that an ordinary individual without access to hugely-expensive legal support doesn't stand much of a chance when disputing a claim.

First of all, check that your bank and credit card doesn't already offer travel insurance as part of their package - hundreds of millions of pounds of duplicated travel insurance policies are taken out every year quite unnecessarily.You might also want to check whether some items would be covered under your house contents policy.

Second, keep on doing what you're doing and checking round and reading the small print - insurance companies do not have your interests at heart but their own which is why they include as many get-out clauses as they can.

One company I would recommend is Lonely Planet who offer their own policy and which I have read as being very good and very fair.
It's on their website.


Good luck and be careful

daggermark

Thanks Nobjocki. One policy which looked good to me was Direct Line and I've not heard too much bad about them. Was £65 for the year though.