Adult family travel insurance

Denene

Myself, my sister and my mum (all adults) go on a main holiday together (booking as a family) every year. We also take smaller trips separately at other times.

For the last few years, I have been getting joint annual travel insurance through Direct Travel with my sister, and my mum arranges hers separately (not sure with whom). Direct Travel is no longer doing insurance, so I have been trying to arrange something new and am having some concerns.

I read that, if we get joint travel insurance, my sister and I may not be covered for any trips we take separately. This made me wonder if eg. one of us became ill and was unable to travel on our main trip, would insurance cover us if we used 3 different companies?

Lastly, we all have (minor) medical conditions, which we declare. In the unlikely event that, say, my sister gets ill and has to claim, will my mum and me have problems claiming if we are with different insurers?

Basically, I've got myself completely confused, and I have no idea what we should do!

insurancebod

Assuming you all chip in to the cost of a holiday you can't go on, then if you have separate insurance and you each have to claim for your shares of a cancelled holiday, you should be fine (as long as the event causing the holiday to be cancelled is insured - your or a close family member's illness is usually covered).

The only difficulty might be if claiming was foreseeable when each of you took out insurance or booked the holiday, whichever is later.

I would have thought you could get joint cover with your sister, under which you could both also travel separately. Sometimes an insurer might not cover kids travelling separately to the other insured persons (usually family), but adults tend to be allowed to.

Denene

Thank you for your reply! I will make sure to check the small print re travelling separately.

Hopefully we never will need to claim, but it's good to get these questions answered just in case

mgfvvc

Denene wrote: »

Direct Travel is no longer doing insurance, so I have been trying to arrange something new and am having some concerns.

If it helps, we used to insure through Direct Travel and switched to Columbus Direct. I think there was an MSE or moneysupermarket.com discount and the rate was competitive, but more importantly, when my wife broke her leg on holiday the service was great.

mgfvvc

According to http://www.travelinsuranceguide.org.uk/family-cover.html

"One major advantage of family policies is that, in general, they cover any named family member travelling separately from the rest of the family (although under 18s are usually excepted)"

Columbus Direct say "all family members can travel separately - including children." http://www.columbusdirect.com/travel/help/travel-insurance-faqs/

Denene

mgfvvc, thank you for the recommendation, and particularly for finding that FAQ. I was reading Columbus Direct's policy document, but I didn't think to check the FAQ! I think they definitely sound like a good bet.

rs65

Denene wrote: »

mgfvvc, thank you for the recommendation, and particularly for finding that FAQ. I was reading Columbus Direct's policy document, but I didn't think to check the FAQ! I think they definitely sound like a good bet.

If I am reading that correctly, family policies only apply where children are under 18 or under 22 if in education. Does that suit?

mgfvvc

rs65 wrote: »

If I am reading that correctly, family policies only apply where children are under 18 or under 22 if in education. Does that suit?

As I read that, children under 22 can be included, possibly at a higher premium, as can children over 22 in full time education. A family policy will probably not suit the OP based on information given, but the point I intended to make is that joint policies do not normally exclude separate travel.

Sorry for the red herring on family policies.

rs65

OP, the likes of the Post Office do group annual cover.

Group is defined as Between 2 and 8 individuals travelling together or independently of each other. They do not need to reside at the same address.

Does that suit your needs. I would definitely be looking at a joint policy for joint holidays or at least the same insurer.

Denene

Thanks for the replies - I appreciate the suggestions. We've actually been doing things this way for years, but I only started thinking about potential problems when I began shopping around.

It's also possibly complicated further by the fact that my mum has kindly paid for the travel and accomodation, with my sister and I paying for meals/transport etc.

My mum uses Insure and Go, so I will add them to the list of potential insurers!