Holiday insurance - who would you use?

ancient_mariner

ancient_mariner

Moderator
Messages
27,780
Name
Toni
Edit My Images
No
I'm booking HI, and have been through various websites, comparators etc. I can get cheap and I can get expensive insurance, but the one thing I can't seem to find is an insurer with reasonable exclusions. Some won't cover you in case there's a terrorist attack, others want all valuables locked in a safe if they aren't on your person (and all of them offer pitiful amounts for valuables, even though I'm only taking about £600 worth of gear).

Who have you found good, both in terms of cover and the (hopefully never needed) need for payout?
 
Just made a claim through travel insurance with Lloyd's Bank. All settled in less than 10 days.
Aviva are pretty good and supply a number of third parties (Barclays etc.)

Give Insure and Go a miss. Diabolical company who took over six months to settle a claim-their excuse was they were busy as it was summer!

You might find your gear can be covered on your house insurance
 
Last edited:
I have cover through my Nationwide Flex Plus account. They come out at 5* on the DeFaqto comparison site - which only compares on features not price.

Try there.

Edit: I would check the medical cover - especially if you'e going to the US. A relative of mine was in L.A. a few years ago. He was crossing an intersection when a motorist ran a red-light and knocked him over, fracturing his hip, femur and neck.

He was hospitalised for 4 months before his medics would let him be flown back to the UK, despite his insurers (Tesco, I believe) wanting to have him air-ambulanced back to the UK (somewhere in the region of a million dollars an hour). He has now recovered - has to be careful how he moves his neck, and has limited mobility of it and find cycling hard for 30 mins a day helps his femur - but his final medical bill total was in excess of $100,000,000!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the warning Rob, no we're going to Canada, which I feel much happier about on so many levels.
 
I think the last couple of times, I've gone with top dog.
 
They look very cheap but the reviews aren't so encouraging. :p
 
BT Bob said:
I have cover through my Nationwide Flex Plus account. They come out at 5* on the DeFaqto comparison site - which only compares on features not price.

Try there.

Edit: I would check the medical cover - especially if you'e going to the US. A relative of mine was in L.A. a few years ago. He was crossing an intersection when a motorist ran a red-light and knocked him over, fracturing his hip, femur and neck.

He was hospitalised for 4 months before his medics would let him be flown back to the UK, despite his insurers (Tesco, I believe) wanting to have him air-ambulanced back to the UK (somewhere in the region of a million dollars an hour). He has now recovered - has to be careful how he moves his neck, and has limited mobility of it and find cycling hard for 30 mins a day helps his femur - but his final medical bill total was in excess of $100,000,000!
Click to expand...
I don't believe those figures you have quoted. Repatriation costs nothing like $1 an hour even with fully qualified medical staff. And no insurer has a limit that would pay up to $100m- your Nationwide cover has a £10m limit! Where did your relative get the other £40m!!
 
Craig1912 said:
I don't believe those figures you have quoted. Repatriation costs nothing like $1 an hour even with fully qualified medical staff. And no insurer has a limit that would pay up to $100m- your Nationwide cover has a £10m limit! Where did your relative get the other £40m!!
Click to expand...
A fully-equipped "air-ambulance" from L.A. to the UK for someone with a broken neck??? I'm just repeating what he told me, and he has no reason to exaggerate. Also, he was on a 12-month working Visa, so his insurance was not the "standard" holiday insurance.
I was merely illustrating that in certain countries it's very easy to run up very large medical bills and hence insurance claims - and thus it's worth comparing policies not just on price.
You're right about claim limits on policies. The balance of the his medical bills were covered by the law suits he took out against the driver who ran the red-light and the local authority who had negligently failed to correct the signage at the junction, following a similar, though less-serious, incident 3-months previously.
 
Last edited:
BT Bob said:
A fully-equipped "air-ambulance" from L.A. to the UK for someone with a broken neck??? I'm just repeating what he told me, and he has no reason to exaggerate. Also, he was on a 12-month working Visa, so his insurance was not the "standard" holiday insurance.
I was merely illustrating that in certain countries it's very easy to run up very large medical bills and hence insurance claims - and thus it's worth comparing policies not just on price.
You're right about claim limits on policies. The balance of the his medical bills were covered by the law suits he took out against the driver who ran the red-light and the local authority who had negligently failed to correct the signage at the junction, following a similar, though less-serious, incident 3-months previously.
Click to expand...

No issue with you illustrating that in certain countries it's very easy to run up large bills particularly in the US but the figures your relative quoted are fantasy. An air ambulance from NY to London is well under €100000 and medical staff costs are:
Flight Surgeons: £700 per day
Doctors: £700 per day
Nurses: £350 per day
Paramedics: £350 per day

Most policies give a maximum cover of £5m which is more than enough. the average cost of an overnight stay in hospital in USA is circa $5000 so your relatives stay would have cost around $250000. Even adding the cost of any operations it is going to be a long long way from $100000000, so whilst your relative had no reason to exaggerate he has probably misread or added a 0 or two to the figures. Also whilst he may not have had standard travel insurance most longer term policies have similar limits.

oh and Tesco don't do long term overseas cover
 
Last edited:
I've used insure2go for all my recent jollies, not had to make a claim (hopefully never will) so can't comment on that side of things
 
WE Always get basic insurance that covers full medical and repatriation and personal possessions we only skip if we are just going to europe for a weekend.

Anywhere further afield yep for sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top