Travel Insurance

Company	Description
Columbus Direct	Travel insurance and more from one of the UK's best known insurance providers.
Travel Insurance Online	Travel Insurance, Airport Parking and more.
Endsleigh Insurance.	Specialists in student travel.
Complete Ski Insurance.	Greatly value ski and snow boarding insurance from Travel Insurance Web.

Which is cheapest?

Unfortunately, that depends on your age, travel destination, type of cover required, health and (in some cases) where you live. In general however, we suggest the following:

Start with Columbus Direct who offer the lowest prices in most cases.

Things to consider when buying travel insurance

Not all insurance is equal and the cheapest quote is not always the best. Always consider the following when comparing travel insurance quotes:

Policy Excess

Excess is the part of any claim that you will have to pay yourself. The higher the excess, the less likely it is that you will bother to claim and policies with a high excess can therefore be significantly cheaper. In most cases, the excess will vary depending on the type of claim.

Medical Cover

The most important reason for buying travel insurance is to cover your medical expenses if you are sick or have an accident. Costs for medical treatment abroad can be huge, particularly in the USA, and you should generally have cover of at least £1 million for Europe and £2 million in the USA.

For all policies, you must disclose any pre-existing medical conditions. If you do not, the insurer will be entitled to refuse to pay related claims.

Baggage Cover

Bagged cover is often optional and if you are travelling light with not much cash and no expensive cameras etc, you can save some money by excluding this cover. Most standard policies provide at least £1,500 of cover for baggage and personal money.

Cancellation and curtailment

Cancellation cover reimburses the cost of your holiday and flights if you have to cancel your holiday before you depart. There will be exclusions however. Don't expect to get your money back just because the weather doesn't look too promising for example.

Curtailment cover reimburses the cost of getting you home if you have to cut short your holiday (for example if a close relative falls ill).

Personal Liability

It is important that you are covered if you injure someone or damage property while on holiday. Most policies provide at least £1m of personal liability cover.

Dangerous Activities

Although policies usually cover you for occasional activities such as windsurfing, sailing, and possibly even diving (with restrictions), you will generally have to pay extra for cover for "dangerous" activities such as abseiling . Also, if your holiday is specifically for a particular activity such as skiing or diving, for example, you will probably need specific cover. Check your policy wording to ensure that it covers you for all the activities that you intend to take part in.

Annual Travel Insurance

If you and/or your family travel more than once a year, you will probably save money by buying an annual policy. You pay a premium each year and are then covered for all holidays in that period without needing to take out individual policies. Annual policies generally allow you to take any number of trips but restrict the length of each trip. Trips up to 31 days are generally covered. If you take longer trips, you may have to buy individual policies for each trip.

General Travel Insurance Advice

Is Insurance Compulsory?

Travel operators generally insist that you have cover before when you buy a holiday. They cannot however, demand you buy a policy from them, provided the cover you have is comparable.

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Most tourist destinations are safe but if you are travelling to an unusual or exotic location or believe that there may be abnormal dangers, we suggest that you check the Travel Advice on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office site. This lists the countries that you should avoid and any where particular precautions are needed. It also gives advice on vaccinations and medical precautions.

Using Money Abroad

Avoid carrying large amounts of cash. There are several benefits in using a credit card to buy things abroad. Most cards include automatic insurance cover on items bought with your card for a short period of time, including things you buy overseas. Check with your card company.

You will also generally get better exchange rates if you draw cash from ATM machines abroad than you would exchanging cash in advance, particularly in airports, where exchange rates are usually very poor. Cash machines are now found almost everywhere and allow you to draw out smaller amounts during your holiday to avoid the need to carry large amounts of cash with you. Debit cards generally have lower charges than credit cards when drawing cash abroad but the charges vary between card providers so it is worth checking before you go.

Making a Claim

Always take a photocopy of your policy, along with a note of any 24-hour emergency numbers. Also keep a note of the phone numbers to ring if your cards are stolen.

Insurance companies are increasingly concerned about fraud. If you claim for anything that has been stolen they'll probably want evidence that you actually owned the item in the first place and may ask for a receipt.

A claim could be turned down if you don't look after your belongings. For example, if someone steals your possessions off the beach while you're swimming, the insurance company might decide that you have not taken "reasonable care" and refuse to pay up.