Save money on your holiday insurance
Whether you go off on holiday regularly or a chance to jet off is a rare occurrence, it’s important to get the right insurance cover. While travel insurance covers a range of potential risks that could occur while you’re away, its main purpose is to cover you for any emergency medical treatment you might need if you fall ill or get injured on holiday.
In this guide, we’ll tell you how much travel insurance costs on average, what it covers and how you can save money on your next travel insurance policy.
How much does travel insurance cost?
It’s difficult to say how much travel insurance costs as there are so many factors that affect the price, but the average cost of travel insurance is around £16 for a single trip policy for a person with no pre-existing health conditions. For an annual multi-trip policy, it’s £48.
What affects the cost of travel insurance?
The cost of travel insurance varies widely for a number of different reasons. Here are the top factors that affect the cost of travel insurance:
Your age
Insurers consider that the older you are, the more likely you are to fall ill on holiday. That means that they increase your premiums (the amount you pay for your insurance) as you get older, as there’s more chance that you’ll have to make a claim.
The cost of travel insurance tends to rise more quickly after you reach 65. Some insurance companies have an age limit, but there are plenty of providers out there that will still offer you cover as you get older.
Whether you have any medical conditions
If you have a medical condition, you’ll need to declare it when you apply for travel insurance. An insurer will call this a ‘pre-existing medical condition’. They regard you as more likely to claim if you have any health problems, so again, this can increase the cost of your insurance.
Pre-existing conditions can be physical or mental, so you need to declare conditions like anxiety and depression as well as things like diabetes or cancer.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find travel insurance if you have a serious medical condition, but there are specialist providers available that may cover you.
Your destination
You’ll find that if you’re travelling inside Europe, your insurance is generally cheaper than if you were visiting a country outside of this area. This is partly because European countries are considered lower risk, but also because healthcare costs are cheaper there.
In Europe, you can use your General Health Insurance Card (GHIC) which reduces the cost of emergency state healthcare in the EU and Switzerland. However, in Canada, the USA and the Caribbean, medical care is very expensive, so travel insurers charge more if you’re going on holiday there.
How long you’re travelling for
As you’d expect, the longer your trip, the more expensive your travel insurance will be. There’s a higher chance of you making a claim if you’re away longer, so it makes sense for the insurer to charge you more.
Most single-trip or multi-trip policies will only cover trips that last around 30 days or less. If you’re planning on going away for longer, you’ll need special insurance like backpacker insurance.
The activities you’ll do while on holiday
Sunning yourself on a beach, cocktail in hand? Or are you off skiing down a mountain? If you’re planning a more adventurous holiday, you’ll need extra cover, and your insurer will charge you more for the privilege.
You can buy various add-ons for your travel insurance, including winter sports, cruise cover and golf cover. If you’re into extreme sports, you can also buy adventure and extreme sports cover.
Most of the time, these extra add-ons purely offer more cover for medical costs should you have an accident while taking part in these activities. However, products like golf cover or winter sports cover may also offer cover for the repair or replacement of your equipment, like your golf club or snowboard.
Whether you want to cover one holiday or multiple trips
You can buy single-trip or multi-trip insurance. Obviously, multi-trip insurance costs more, but if you go on a few holidays a year, it might work out cheaper per trip to buy multi-trip insurance.
If you know you’re only going on two trips in a 12-month period, it’s worth getting quotes for both a single-trip and multi-trip policy, as it might still work out cheaper to get two single-trip policies.
Types of travel insurance
There are a few different types of travel insurance available:
Single-trip: This insurance covers you for cancellation from the day you buy the insurance, up to the day that you come home from the trip you’ve insured.
Annual multi-trip: This type covers you for all trips you take during the policy length – usually 12 months.
Then, you can get single-trip or multi-trip travel insurance that covers different people or places:
Individual travel insurance: Covers just the person named on the policy.
Couples travel insurance: Covers two named policyholders – usually you have to live together to be eligible.
Family travel insurance: Usually covers parents and children who live with them.
European cover: Covers you in European countries, but some policies differ on the countries they include, so check yours is on the list before you buy.
Worldwide cover: Covers you in the rest of the world. Usually you get worldwide cover including or excluding the USA, Canada and the Caribbean, because medical costs are so much higher in these countries.
What does travel insurance cover?
As we’ve already said, the prime purpose of travel insurance is to cover the cost of emergency medical treatment if you fall ill or get injured on holiday. However, policies can offer lots more cover as well, including:
Cancellation and curtailment: If you have to cancel or cut short your trip for reasons out of your control
Illness: If you become unwell while on holiday and have to cut your trip short
Delays and transport: If you miss your transport or have a delayed departure for reasons beyond your control
Loss, theft and damage: If your luggage, passport and money (usually up to a small amount) is lost, stolen or damaged
Repatriation: The cost of bringing you home if you’re injured, become ill or die
Personal liability: If you cause an accident or injure someone
All travel insurance is different, and cheaper policies will only cover the bare minimum. It’s important to read all the documentation before you buy a travel insurance policy to ensure you’ve got the cover you need.
A note on excess
With most travel insurance policies, you will have to pay an excess on any claim you make. The excess is an amount you agree to pay towards the cost of any claim. On travel insurance policies, it usually ranges between £50-£200 per claim, but check the terms and conditions of any policy you’re considering taking out to confirm.
What travel insurance will not cover
There are a few things that travel insurance will never cover, and some other things that are usually only covered at an additional cost:
Undeclared medical conditions
While you might think that you can simply not tell your insurer about your pre-existing medical condition to keep costs down, it’s a huge risk. If you don’t declare your condition and you end up becoming unwell due to it, any claim you make for cancellation, curtailment or any medical treatment is likely to be rejected.
Countries the FCO recommends avoiding
Most policies won’t cover you if you’re travelling to a country or region that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against travelling to. You can check whether the country you want to visit is on the list on the Government website.
Expensive gadgets or luxury items
Your travel insurance will probably exclude any very expensive items, like cameras, jewellery, laptops and luxury watches, because they will exceed the ‘single article’ cover limit. It’s best to leave any expensive items that you wouldn’t want to risk having stolen or getting lost at home, but if you really can’t, then you may need to look at specialist insurance to cover your luxury items.
Extreme events
Lots of travel insurance companies do offer cover for events like earthquakes, pandemics and acts of terrorism or civil unrest, but check your policy first. Some basic policies might not offer cover for these types of events.
Adventure and winter sports
As we’ve already said, you’ll usually need additional insurance cover for extreme or winter sports. This is because you’re more likely to get injured when you take part in these activities.
When to get travel insurance
You should get travel insurance as soon as you book your holiday. This way, you’re covered immediately for cancellation. If you wait until closer to the time to buy your travel insurance, you’re leaving yourself at risk of not being able to claim any money back if you have to cancel your holiday due to illness or any other reasons beyond your control.
What is the cheapest way to get travel insurance?
The cheapest way to get travel insurance is to compare quotes. We’ve partnered with Quotezone.co.uk so you can compare travel insurance from up to 30 UK travel insurance providers. Get quotes now and see how much you could save.
Disclaimer: This information is intended for editorial purposes only and not intended as a recommendation or financial advice.