Annual Insurance

[cheryl.UK]

What are the best deals around at the moment for annual insurance? We'd need couple or family insurance and take part in water sports which can sometimes be extra.

 

[leise]

We just got "free" annual travel insurance through our bank, Barclays. They updated the benefits you get with your bank account so we have it. Mind you there is a charge for the bank account, but we worked out the insurance is really costing us £36 a year. Not bad for the whole family. It looks like everything is covered, it's with Norwich Union, but I hope we never have to try it out. Not sure if it covers water sports though, I know it covers ski-ing.

I was just going to go online and check out the best deals when that came through, so I don't really know about any others.

Good Luck

 

[Andy Lou & Meg]

We currently have an annual insurance policy through Tesco which is very good. I have also used Virgin in the past for an annual policy.

 

[jdybnsn]

We use Direct Line (on line is cheaper) - no problems with claiming a few years ago either.

 

[mushumadness]

I am insured annually through the halifax, it includes all the normal things plus no excess to pay, covers personal money and replaces damaged bags. while dbf uses "go"

 

[gilld]

Double post - sorry.

 

[gilld]

Ours comes free from the bank CC as well. Unfortunately we have had to claim - when I put my back out the day before a South East Asia Tour 18 months ago. Ours is underwritten by Norwich Union a company we really dislike, but I have to say they paid up within a week with no trouble at all.

 

[alisonbestford]

We use M&S
Not the cheapest but good cover, and they paid out promptly when we had a claim last year

 

[rosiejo]

I've just been looking at moneysavingexpert.com - Martin has a list of all the sites to check out for the cheapest insurance: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1083570446,24889,

 

[Red-Snapper]

Just remember, whilst everyone likes a bargain, particularly with Insurance you tend to get what you pay for. The cheaper companies are often offering Insurance via a lloyds syndicate and they WILL be far less lenient when it comes to a claim than some of the more mainstream companies.

I have just switched from Direct Line to M&S (which is actually Axa Insurance) because their medex cover is £10m where as Direct Line is only £5m plus a few other increased benefits, also slightly cheaper.

It is always a good idea to check who the issuing Insurer is behind the company offering the cover ie. Tesco is NOT an Insurer (i think they use NU).

If you havent heard of them - there is probably a reason for that

 

[traceycooper]

Does anyone know which companies have disaster cover, we are going at the end of hurricane season & am worried hol might get cancelled at the last minute, i'm sure i read somewhere that if you dont have this extra cover you cannot claim, is this true? & who does the best cover for this?

 

[wayneg]

Can't agree with you get what you pay for.
I have had expensive cover that wouldn't pay out, Cheap cover I had no problems with also a company I had dealt with for years that got the receivers in last year (Kingfisher).
Just read all the small print and double check it's the cover you need.

 

[disneyholic family]

the most important thing for us in choosing travel health insurance is medivac coverage - that is, a private medivac plane with medical staff to get us back home....
I don't want to be hospitalized for any length of time in the US.....if i can be moved, i want to be moved back home for my medical care...

so we always get the insurance that has medivac coverage.....

 

[Red-Snapper]

Wayneg - like I said - check who the Insurer is behind the broker. Kingfisher is (or was) NOT an Insurer they were a broker - you were not Insured with them.

I have worked in Insurance for 25 years and can pretty much guarantee you that if a company is selling way cheaper than the majority then there will be a catch. Either the small print or more likely finding many excuses to pay in full or even at all.

 

[heatherbelle]

I used Money saving expert, however, there is a warning.

I took out a policy with travel insurance web.com for around £68. Annual for a family of three.

When the policy was sent through via e-mail at the beginining for December in the small print it said hurricane's in the US were not covered. I immediatley cancelled the policy, but i am still waiting for the refund!!

I have now taken out a policy with another company for £78 and hurricane's are covered. The underwriter is Axa

 

[traceycooper]

heatherbelle - who is your insurance with? i am looking for annual for 2 adults & 1 child & yours sounds a good deal.
Hope you dont mind me asking
Tracey xx

 

[jtlover]

Funny I was looking for annual cover today - I have used insuranceandgo on several holidays now. I looked at annual cover and silver cover was £69 for 2 adults and 1 child, basically you just pay for the adults on the insurance.

 

[heatherbelle]

heatherbelle - who is your insurance with? i am looking for annual for 2 adults & 1 child & yours sounds a good deal.
Hope you dont mind me asking
Tracey xx

Hi Travey

It was direct travel. I did a search on the moneysaving expert.com hoilday insurance website.
You can read the policy on line like the other one. They also send you paper documents through the post, so you don't need to print everything off. I then phoned them to clarify the hurricane situation, after the problem with the other policy. It does say on the policy that storms are covered, but I wanted to make sure they also covered hurricane's

 

[traceycooper]

Thanks, will check them out.

 

[mnoble_uk]

American express do a policy that includes all the extra rental car insurances. Its not cheap, but if you are hiring a car for more than a week (I think) it actually works out good value.