Thinking of taking a last-minute holiday? Maybe the end of the year is approaching and your boss is encouraging you to use up what remains of your annual leave (well, it could happen), and with summer gone and a wet and windy winter on the horizon, a couple of weeks away is looking appealing. So you get on the internet, flick through some travel brochures and chat to some friends to get some ideas on where to go, and you get the calculator out to work out how much it’s all going to cost. After all, you’re not made of money and whether you’re looking for a holiday that is cheap and cheerful or luxurious and pampering, you still want to get value for money, and the same criteria can count for travel insurance as well.
For some travellers insurance is an afterthought. You either accept what a travel agent offers you when you book your holiday with them without checking the details, or grab it last minute because you think you have to: after all, everyone has seen the reports on the news of people stranded in airports or read accounts of missing luggage and medical emergencies while abroad. It’s better to be safe than sorry, but can where you go on holiday make a difference to the premium you pay for insurance in the same way that different cars affect the cost of your car insurance? To help answer this question we’ve invented Jim.
Jim is a 30-year-old male who has decided to take a two-week break and is deciding where to go (nice one Jim). Being the conscientious fella that he is, he’s working out the price of everything before he goes (very sensible Jim). If Jim decides to take a holiday in Europe he can get travel insurance from £6.39, which will include cover for medical bills, lost luggage and cancellation of the holiday (covers £5 million medical, £2,000 cancellation, £1,000 baggage, each with £150 excess), but does not cover the airline going bust. That could be covered, of course, by adding it to the cheapest policy or searching for one that includes it automatically.
If Jim was to decide to go further afield he could get worldwide travel insurance (which includes travel to the USA, Canada or Caribbean) from as little as £14.87 (covers £5 million medical, £500 cancellation, £300 baggage – all with £120 excess – and airline insolvency included). Or, of course, to help bring down the cost of his break, Jim could stay in good ol’ Blighty – maybe fly up to Edinburgh and go on a whisky tour of Scotland? It could still be worth taking out travel insurance to help cover loss of baggage, etc, and with prices from as little as £3.48, it certainly doesn’t cost a lot for a little piece of mind.
Ah, but what if it’s a family break, you say. What are the costs then? Not a problem. As well as inventing Jim we’ve invented his twin brother Al. Al is also 30 (obviously, he’s a twin) but instead of being young, free and single like Jim, he’s a happily married family man. Al’s wife is also 30 and their two children are aged seven and five. Like Jim, Al likes to calculate the cost of everything beforehand (they are well brought up gents). If this happy nuclear family was to holiday in Europe then they could pay £13.20 and get the same cover as Jim – a little over twice the cost, and for four people, which doesn’t sound bad, but whereas Jim’s insurance policy covers £1,000-worth of baggage just for him, Al’s £1,000 cover is potentially for four times as much luggage. The same goes for trips to outside Europe and inside the UK. At £29.74 and £6.26 respectively, family cover is only approximately twice as much as a single male, but would pay out for the same amount, and with the same excess charges.
So yes, where you go on holiday does affect the premium you pay, but not by much, and you don’t have to pay much more for family cover either. Although, beware what you get in return. As with many things in life, it’s worth taking a little time and thinking about what’s on offer and shopping around for a travel insurance policy that covers exactly what you need.
(Image: indywriter)
