Family Travel Insurance inc. over 18 kids.

kdband

Hi,
Can anyone help, I've been trying/failing to find some travel insurance to cover our family holiday this summer. It's for me, my wife and my 2 boys, one of them is 16 years old, the other is 18.
I've tried using the usual comparison web-sites, but they can't handle the age mix in our party.
If I attempt to choose Family cover it complains that there can only be 2 adults in the party, i.e. I can't include my eldest son because he's classed as an adult (for what it's worth, he's still in full time education). If I choose Group cover, it doesn't give me the option to include any children, hence it doesn't cover my youngest son.
I 've been able to get quotes directly from some of the major insurers, but the cost is 4 - 5 times what I would normally get through the comparison sites.
We are all traveling together on the same holiday booking, can I take out Family cover for me, my wife and my youngest boy and then take out a separate Individual policy for my eldest or would I then have a problem if I needed to claim e.g. for cancellation?

Thanks,

Kevin.

Wammer

Direct Travel used to include children up to 21 or 23 if in full time education, but I think they stopped that last year.

Have you tried the Post Office?

Yes I think you will need a family policy and an individual one, but if they are both with the same insurer you shouldn't have a problem. However best to call the company you are considering for clarification.

Quentin

You should be able to find insurers happy to insure the whole family on a single policy.

Try direct-travel. (Not a recommendation, but they will accomodate all your ages)

kdband

Thanks for responses. Post Office only allow 2 over-18's in their family policy. Had a look at direct-travel but their quote came out at £115 for their standard policy. If I'm OK booking separate policies then I can get Family cover for only £13.98 and Individual cover for my eldest son for £7.28. Both with Virgin Money via MoneySupermarket.com.
The only worry is if I have to claim, are we fully covered by splitting cover across two policies?

photome

kdband wrote: »

Thanks for responses. Post Office only allow 2 over-18's in their family policy. Had a look at direct-travel but their quote came out at £115 for their standard policy. If I'm OK booking separate policies then I can get Family cover for only £13.98 and Individual cover for my eldest son for £7.28. Both with Virgin Money via MoneySupermarket.com.
The only worry is if I have to claim, are we fully covered by splitting cover across two policies?

Why wouldnt you be covered, you are not covering across 2 policies. 3 of you are on one policey and your eldest son is on the other.

If a group of friends went on holiday they may have multiple policies, there isnt any difference

securityguy

photome wrote: »

If a group of friends went on holiday they may have multiple policies, there isnt any difference

The issue is about cancellation, I suspect.

Suppose a family of four is going on holiday. Mummy Bear, Daddy Bear and Baby Bear are insured on one policy, and Teenage Bear has their own insurance. The policies have a definition of Close Relative which reads (taken from a real policy):

Close Relative means mother, mother-in-law, father, father-in-law, sister, sister-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, wife, husband, civil partner, daughter, daughter-in-law, son, son-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, step parent, step child, step sister, step brother, foster child, legal guardian, partner or fianc!/fianc!e an Insured Person.

Mummy Bear's beloved ninety year old grandmother falls ill, and the family wishes to cancel the holiday so that Mummy Bear can spend some time with her grandmother. Whoops: Teenage Bear has no insurance against their great grandmother falling ill.

photome

securityguy wrote: »

The issue is about cancellation, I suspect.

Suppose a family of four is going on holiday. Mummy Bear, Daddy Bear and Baby Bear are insured on one policy, and Teenage Bear has their own insurance. The policies have a definition of Close Relative which reads (taken from a real policy):



Mummy Bear's beloved ninety year old grandmother falls ill, and the family wishes to cancel the holiday so that Mummy Bear can spend some time with her grandmother. Whoops: Teenage Bear has no insurance against their great grandmother falling ill.

I take your point, cancellation is only a small part of the insurance cover and some policys dont even cover that or you can opt out. IMO it is an unlikely scenario, especially if mummy bear doesnt have a grandmother

securityguy

photome wrote: »

I take your point, cancellation is only a small part of the insurance cover and some policys dont even cover that or you can opt out. IMO it is an unlikely scenario, especially if mummy bear doesnt have a grandmother

In the example I used, Mummy Bear's brother or sister would cause the same problem, as the policy doesn't include uncles and aunts. I should have spotted that, as it's probably (for people with adult children) more common for them to have siblings than grandparents.

As you say, you might be willing to chance that particular issue. The policy I'm looking at has a fairly generous "people in your party" clause which covers most other scenarios when a problem befalls one person but causes the whole party to want to abandon the trip. All I'm saying is that it's not completely straightforward, and people would do well to check the terms of both the policies.

Wammer

kdband wrote: »

Thanks for responses. Post Office only allow 2 over-18's in their family policy. Had a look at direct-travel but their quote came out at £115 for their standard policy. If I'm OK booking separate policies then I can get Family cover for only £13.98 and Individual cover for my eldest son for £7.28. Both with Virgin Money via MoneySupermarket.com.
The only worry is if I have to claim, are we fully covered by splitting cover across two policies?

I would check those policies very carefully. The cheap policies usually have a very high excess, do not include baggage cover, etc.

photome

Wammer wrote: »

I would check those policies very carefully. The cheap policies usually have a very high excess, do not include baggage cover, etc.

Most people dont need baggage cover as it is often included on household insurance, obviously need to check first

kdband

Again, thanks for replies. You're correct, my main concern is if we have to cancel in advance of the holiday for any reason.

The 'cheap' policies I looked at from Virgin money, do include cancellation cover, though I accept I would need to read the policies more fully before actually going ahead.

My gut feeling says taking out two separate policies should be OK, especially if they are with the same provider, but I wanted to get other opinions before I decide what to do.

I've just been thinking, if daddy-bear has to cancel due to the loss of a close relative, wouldn't he be able to claim back the whole cost of the holiday anyway as he is the lead name on the booking?
Even if the family policy will only pay out for daddy-bear, mummy-bear and baby-bear, this would then mean that the holiday is cancelled for reasons outside of the control of teen-bear, wouldn't he then be able to claim his share back from his own policy?