New Travel Insurance discussion area

FH_Brit

than4 wrote: »

OH and I currently have an annual insurance policy with Flexicover Direct.

However, in October, we are travelling home to Australia (for good) via Africa. I know that we will need a separate policy for this trip.

Two questions

Will our flexicoverdirect annual policy cover us for cancellation of this trip up until its expiry even though we will be buying a new policy to cover the trip itself?

Does anyone know of any "one-way" policies? Everything I read says you have to be a UK resident - which we are now - but we are then going back to live in Australia......

Thanks for any suggestions.

My thought, at the time of travel & purchsase of policy you are UK residents. In most cases your policy will be void after a certain time travelling outside UK (norm 90 or 120 days) and once you have arrived in Aus you don't need it anymore as you'll have local insurance I guess?

If not look for an ex-pat policy, but my looking has found them to be expensive. But that may just be here in the US.

silverchair

Hi

I was wondering whether you could advice me on the best travel insurance as all the small print is very confusing.

Im going to be travelling to Canada in August. My OH will be flying out about a week before me. We will be travelling around Canada & will be getting a few internal flights to make it quicker.
I have already prebooked most of the hotels & we are both planning to go horse riding.
We will be out there just over a month.

I assume that I cant get joint travel insurance since myself & OH are not departing on the same date.

I would like a travel insurance which covers:
The hotel stay if my flight is cancelled
Internal flights if the international one is cancelled
Loss of Baggage
Medical insurance
Terroist event

Just as an aside what happens if the government states that only essential travel is recommended & then the passenger cancels the flight rather than the airline company. Does that mean that the passenger is not covered?

FH_Brit

People People, Don't shop by price alone although MSE is a money saving site (and fantastic at it) it does not mean buy cheap at all costs - You need to be correctly covered firstly and then compare same cover policies for the best price.

You can buy a policy for £25 but then they deny or use a "get out" clause (like PEMC - pre exit med cond's) and you can be left with $100,000.00 bill! that's not cheap in the end!

In my opinion (see Koru posting above) the Post Office Policy (Fortis Insurance) is a great policy for value for money and I work with medical claims in the US - I have verry little rtrouble getting bills paid. Moneysupermarket are OK too but it is not fair to put these policie together and compare (a bit like comparing a Ford to a Bentley - they are both fine and good value but very different in what you want or need in a car).

See my other thread that has some useful Travel Insurance info:

Click Here for must-read information: Medical & Travel Insurance

FH_Brit

silverchair wrote: »

Hi

I was wondering whether you could advice me on the best travel insurance as all the small print is very confusing.

Im going to be travelling to Canada in August. My OH will be flying out about a week before me. We will be travelling around Canada & will be getting a few internal flights to make it quicker.
I have already prebooked most of the hotels & we are both planning to go horse riding.
We will be out there just over a month.

I assume that I cant get joint travel insurance since myself & OH are not departing on the same date.

I would like a travel insurance which covers:
The hotel stay if my flight is cancelled
Internal flights if the international one is cancelled
Loss of Baggage
Medical insurance
Terroist event

Just as an aside what happens if the government states that only essential travel is recommended & then the passenger cancels the flight rather than the airline company. Does that mean that the passenger is not covered?

If you cancel, then that's your decision, if the government make it compulsory then you may have a claim (each ins can differ - check with your insurers) If you are woried about the "piggy flu" the foreign office has said only advisable, you will dot have a claim if it is only advisable.

Most ins won't cover hotel if flight delayed or cancelled, it will be a monetary sum per night - up to you how you spend it (B&B or 5* hotel).

Internal flights if int'l cancelled is normally covered under travel courtailment/cancelled part of most policies - they don't expect you to stay in an airport for your holiday if the flight went wrong.

Med Ins - NEVER leave home without it - to borrow the credit card slogan, and you should have enough to cover a serous illness at least - e.g. 2 surgeries in Florida could be well over $100,000.00.

Terrorist cover - most standard policies will not cover this you may have to take additional cover - bear this in mind you are probably taking a much bigger risk driving to the airport than suffer from a terrorist act.

Look into separate policies as you and OH are separated when travelling it can often b e cheaper - but shop around and ask.

In all cases - DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT - call the ins co - all policies are not the same and it is impossible to give anything more than general guidance here - and that goes for all piosters - READER BEWARE!

dacouch

Silverchair you will probably find that an annual policy will work out about the same price as a single trip. If you go down this route make sure it covers each partner to travel independantly as not all include this.

You will also need to check that it includes Horse Riding.

As FH Brit mentioned the current problems with Swine Flu will demonstrate the difference between the cheap and cheerfull policies and the decent policies.

For the record a Fortis Policy through a broker offers generally better cover than the Post Office Fortis Policy (Although the Post Office Fortis Policy is a good policy)

Mrs.Choo

HI there,

I have read through alot of this post but am still a little cautious as to which travel insurance i want to buy. I have 4 holidays booked but want to make sure myself and my partner and fully catered for. Obviously i will buy us both separate policies but i want to make sure i don't just buy a cheap one.
hOLIDAYS:

Spain: 1 week
France: Abbeville- Track 1 week
Turkey: 2 weeks
France: Snowboarding

I know all these holidays fall into 1-2 weeks only. But when the insurance companies state "31 days trips inc. winter sports" - is that 31days per holiday or is that 31 days worth of holiday in this insurance cover??

Also looking at "medical Expenses Cover" - how much should i aim for??

Thanks

Chantelle

dacouch

It is the maximum stay they will cover you for any one holiday, there are a small minority of Insurers that have a maximum total of all of your holidays in total often around 100 days a year. If they have this restriction they should in theory make the restriction clear.

The minimum recommendations are £1m for Europe and £2m for the U.S, Canada and Caribbean. In reality you will find most companies now days offer cover of £5m or upwards.

When you are buying an annual multi trip policy check how many days a year they cover you for "Wintersports" as there is often a restriction of 2 or 3 weeks. Also check that snow boarding is covered as not all companies cover this. They will show their definition of Wintersports and what Wintersports they cover in their paperwork

Mrs.Choo

Thank you i will hve a little nose and see what some of the companies come up with

dacouch

FH Brit gave some good advice on which companies he finds are fair at settling claims which hopefully will help you.

The Swine Flu problem will show a lot of people how important it is to buy Travel Insurance not just on price but also on quality of cover and the quality of the Insurer

FH_Brit

dacouch - Lets hope I don't have to practice what I preach! Will be travelling back to the UK for a holiday in 21 days!!!!