Travel insurance

davholla

I have family in Colombia. One problem with Colombia as a holiday destination is that safe, interesting and cheap destinations e.g. Mocoa in Putumayo are advised against by the British Government.
This means that a lot of travel insurance is not valid if we go there.
Any idea how to get travel insurance if the Foreign Office advises against travel there?

Lots of non Colombians do go to these places by the way.

InsideInsurance

You have three options:

1) Go without travel insurance

2) Look at insurance from non-UK providers like World Wide Insurer or World Nomads and see what their similar clauses are

3) Look at the specialist insurances that explicitly cover high risk/ against FCO advice

With these options the cover for the niceties like baggage or delayed departure etc tends to be much lower but you do get reasonable medical expenses etc

davholla

InsideInsurance wrote: »

You have three options:

1) Go without travel insurance

2) Look at insurance from non-UK providers like World Wide Insurer or World Nomads and see what their similar clauses are

3) Look at the specialist insurances that explicitly cover high risk/ against FCO advice

With these options the cover for the niceties like baggage or delayed departure etc tends to be much lower but you do get reasonable medical expenses etc

There are nice places I could visit which are covered but they are a lot more expensive (need expensive internal flights).

InsideInsurance

davholla wrote: »

There are nice places I could visit which are covered but they are a lot more expensive (need expensive internal flights).

Unfortunately many of the interesting places in the world are in areas of political instability etc. All depends on your risk appetite or depth of pockets.

Have to say that I've gone against ICO advice in the past, mainly with local friends or family, and been lucky to date but never had anything close to a problem - arguably have felt more at risk/ exposed in other places where the ICO said were ok to visit.

Insurers follow the ICO guidance as its the easiest/ cheapest option rather than having to follow all developments everywhere in the world at all times themselves.

davholla

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Unfortunately many of the interesting places in the world are in areas of political instability etc. All depends on your risk appetite or depth of pockets.

Have to say that I've gone against ICO advice in the past, mainly with local friends or family, and been lucky to date but never had anything close to a problem - arguably have felt more at risk/ exposed in other places where the ICO said were ok to visit.

Insurers follow the ICO guidance as its the easiest/ cheapest option rather than having to follow all developments everywhere in the world at all times themselves.

Actually these places are not dangerous - there are far more dangerous places in Colombia that the FCO don't warn against e.g. no go zones in Medellin are allowed and travel insurance will pay for your funeral expenses if you are there at 1am talking on an IPhone 6.

InsideInsurance

davholla wrote: »

Actually these places are not dangerous - there are far more dangerous places in Colombia that the FCO don't warn against e.g. no go zones in Medellin are allowed and travel insurance will pay for your funeral expenses if you are there at 1am talking on an IPhone 6.

Its been a while since I looked at the ICO website but it did used to give a basic explanation of why it recommends against certain places/ areas.

There are some places of London and Birmingham that I wouldnt walk about talking on my iPhone 6 at 1am but thats all about being sensible with what you take and where you go etc.

We have family in south america too and yes there are big areas with high crime rates but our "normal" relatives dont really talk about it/ havent really personally experienced it etc. Our "posh" relatives though wont stop talking about how terrible it is and how you cant do anything etc. Of course they go driving about in their new Mercedes cars, go out dripping in Cartier jewelry, gold and diamonds etc with all bags/ shoes etc with big LV or Prada etc logos all over them.

itssoeasy

If you are looking for insurance non-UK providers, you can come and check on itssoeasytravelinsurance.com where you can find travel insurance according your need.