Holiday travel insurance is often purchased by Britons heading abroad, for protection in case of illness or injury overseas. The policies are usually bought and paid for prior to a break and largely forgotten about, as travellers get into the holiday spirit. Express.co.uk recently reported the little known fact that holiday insurance protection can come into force for both holidays at home, and overseas. Yet one error which is costing holidaymakers around £1,500 extra a year – cash they could spend on another separate holiday – has now come to light.
This is because many travellers are choosing to buy individual insurance policies every time they travel, as opposed to an annual package.
Research by travel insurance provider, Columbus Direct, revealed in a survey of 1,000 holidaymakers, the average Briton goes on three beach holidays a year in Europe and spends £53 on three separate single trip insurance policies.
The stats show an individual could buy an annual multi-trip policy for just £26.15 to insure them for all three trips, a saving of £26.85 a year.
This would also represent a total saving of £1,584 across a lifetime.
More than a quarter of consumers justified their purchase, stating they did not know whether future trips would need specialist insurance, for example with skis or bag packs.
Stuart Lloyd, Travel Insurance Expert at Columbus Direct says, “Spontaneous trips and a desire for short term savings mean many of us buy the cheapest travel insurance available just before we jet off.
“While we feel good that we’re covered, the reality is this behaviour means many holidaymakers end up paying double what they should.
“Next time you’re looking to buy travel insurance think about the trips that you have planned for the year, where they are and what activities you have planned.
“The most important thing is to make sure you’ve got the right level of cover for each holiday, then you can look at comparing price.”
He added: “Take the time to compare the cost of multiple single policies, with one annual policy. The reality is that everyone’s outcome will be different.
“If you’ve planned a beach holiday to Europe and a ski trip in the winter you’re likely to be better off purchasing two single trip policies.
“Whereas if you go on regular city breaks throughout the year, an annual multi-trip policy will earn you significant savings.”
Express.co.uk recently reported how a UK family were forced to pay out £21,000 following a trip to Jamaica.
The hugely costly incident then prompted a travel advice warning from ABTA.
This was because the family could not re-coop the £21,000 bill due to the insurer not having the correct medical records.
