Nationwide travel insurance

kevjen

Just a warning to anyone who has their insurance through Nationwide with Aviva. Last Feb when I was covered with the old insurer, UK insurance I needed to extend my cover for a cruise from 31 days to 35 days, UK insurance quoted me £6.80p for the extra 4 days. This year with Aviva the same 4 days extra cover cost me £146.80p, when I queried the cost they told me that I was not only paying for the extra 4 days but I had to pay for the full 35 days. When I pointed out that I have already paid for 31 days, so I was paying twice, I don't even know if that is legal, they told me well that's the way Aviva does it. I have complained to Nationwide, but they say they cannot interfere with the the cost  that Aviva charges. So beware if you want to extend your cover with Aviva.

Largs

Many thanks. Another packaged bank account perk that's money down drain. 

Mark_d

You have an annual policy that covers trips up to 31 days.  A 4-day policy won't help you because whist you'll be away those 4 days, it won't be a 4-day trip starting and ending in the UK.  It is completely legal and standard for you to buy separate travel insurance for your longer trip.

There are some scenarios where you can "extend" your existing policy.  These tend to be for adding medical conditions, extending a Europe policy to Worldwide, adding winter sports etc.  But for other changes you need a new/separate policy.

It can be messy where you have multiple insurance policies covering the same thing, but the policy wording should describe what happens in the event of a claim

35har1old

Mark_d said: 

You have an annual policy that covers trips up to 31 days.  A 4-day policy won't help you because whist you'll be away those 4 days, it won't be a 4-day trip starting and ending in the UK.  It is completely legal and standard for you to buy separate travel insurance for your longer trip.

There are some scenarios where you can "extend" your existing policy.  These tend to be for adding medical conditions, extending a Europe policy to Worldwide, adding winter sports etc.  But for other changes you need a new/separate policy.

It can be messy where you have multiple insurance policies covering the same thing, but the policy wording should describe what happens in the event of a claim

UK insurance would have extended the cover to the 35 day one of cruise for £6.80
What Avia is doing is not offering a extension. But offering a separate policy
When did your policy end with UK insurance?
As I am still with UK until 21-03-25 due to a free medical add on

DullGreyGuy

Barclays currently use Aviva too and with them they say you can extend the underlying policy up to 90 days away rather than having to buy another policy. I think Barclay's changed their underwriter a while back but I know I historically extended the duration for a trip and it was a fairly immaterial cost but cannot say if it was under Aviva or another 

These sorts of deals are complex, obv Nationwide is paying a wholesale price for the policies, there is a wide range of ways how that could be calculated. There is a range of factors that will influence the pricing like the maximum age covered without additional contribution from the customer, how long the duration is, if it's extendable or not etc. Obviously some insurers will have red lines and simply won't entertain certain ideas but if you're offering hundreds of thousands of customers then insurers can look to being flexible. It's therefore a little greyer to say exactly why something is what it is. 

Some of these deals have gone very wrong in the past, Direct Line did a promotion with Citroen many years ago of 2 years free insurance on every Saxo sold with the only rule being that the GTI had to be over a certain age and held a licence for a minimum term. DL was comfortable with that as Citroen showed their average customer was a 60 year old woman for the AX which it was replacing, unfortunately no one thought their customer base may change given a Saxo could be had for £5,000 and 2 years insurance for a 17 year old could be worth £4,000. DL charged Citroen £200 per vehicle per year. A great insurers has a ratio of under 80% costs to premium, an average is around 95%, DL on that deal had over 2,000%

VXman

I'm going to South America for 33 days. (Annoying!) My extended trip will be £16.80.  (2 days)  it is a charge for 2 days not an additional 33. That seems ok to me. I'm not sure you have been informed correctly. did you do the quote online? 

https://www.nationwidetravel.online.aviva.co.uk/product-features

blindman

My Policy ended 30th Jan 2025 so I looked around for comparisons.

Aviva -   £18 per month
Any extra days over the 31 days cost £££££  I quoted for a 60 day trip to USA and it was £350! In the past with Nationwide this was about £100
I was told  Avia does not offer an extension. But offers a separate policy.
Also once the 60 day trip was over the cover reverts BACK to 31 days.
With Nationwide the 60 day extension was for the whole of the policy term.

Medical costs for Mrs Blindman would have been £137, where with Nationwide it was £189 and there is no extra payment for over 70's. There is no upper age limit.
Excess is £50 per person per claim.

Co-Op   £15 per month
Only 45 days trip total-No extensions
No extra for over 70's though policy limit is 79.
No Excess on any claim
Medical costs for Mrs Blindman  £54 !

So the Co-op it is for us for the next 9 years

Virgin  £12.50
Not had great CS experiences in them in the past with them and when I rang for advise got put through to an overseas call centre who was less than helpful.
Did not bother to go any further.