One thing people often neglect to buy when travelling abroad is Travel Insurance. Or – if they do buy travel insurance they just buy it as part of the booking process and usually end up overpaying for it .
Travel insurance covers things such as medical expenses, cancellations, baggage loss etc.
We did a quick travel insurance comparison from a few insurers and brokers in Ireland. We checked prices and the level of cover provided.
We found it is well worth shopping around to save money and to make sure you get adequate coverage.
We found that you could get travel cover of equivalent or better coverage for almost half the price.
Tip 1: Buy your travel insurance as soon as you book your holiday – that way you are covered straight away if you have to cancel the trip because of illness etc.
Comparison
We obtained some online quotes for a single trip worldwide travel insurance for a family group of 4 (2 adults under 60 and 2 children under 17) for a two week trip to the USA in November 2019 .
The family did not have private health insurance.
The insurance quotes all included cover for
- cancellation,
- missed departure
- baggage loss,
- personal belongings
- medical cover.
The differences in price were substantial. You also need to consider things such as why would you need cancellation cover of up to €7000 if a holiday has only cost you €4000 ?
Also – check that you are covered for supplier insolvency. We found that the two most expensive insurance policies in our small survey did not provide cover for this.
In our short survey – the best deal, in our opinion, was to be found on Ucompare.
For €59.93 it provided the biggest amount of medical cover (€20 Million) , €5000 cancellation cover and €1000 cover for supplier insolvency which two insurers didn’t provide at all.
Insurer/Provider Price Medical
CoverCancellation
CoverBaggage
CoverExcess Supplier Insolvency
Ucompare €53.93 €10 Million €1200 €1200 €150 €500
Chill €55.64 €2 Million €1000 €1000 €150 €1000
Ucompare €59.93 €20 Million €5000 €2000 €75 €1000
Chill €63.32 €5 Millon €4000 €2000 €95 €2000
Axa €81.37 €5 Million €7000 €3000 €75 None
Aviva €105.54 €5 Million €3000 €1500 €90 None
Tips on Finding the Best Travel Insurance Policy
All prices were quoted online by the provider’s websites on October 23rd 2019
Important Tip – Don’t forget to declare any existing medical conditions when buying travel insurance. The insurance company won’t payout if you make a claim because of a condition you already had before you bought travel insurance.
N26 – the new online bank – also have free travel insurance included with their N26 You Mastercard . Insurance is provided by Allianz and includes up to €150,000 medical cover and free medical return flights plus €7500 cancellation cover and more.
The card has a €9.90 per month fee (€118.80 a year) – but it also comes with “fee-free” ATM withdrawals of foreign currency and also no fees on non-Euro card purchases. (The trip must be paid for in full with the N26 Black Mastercard in order to be covered by the insurance.)
EHIC
Some free medical cover within Europe will be provided by having a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) – but this on its own will not cover all medical costs in all situations. Travel insurance typically covers at least €3 million of medical costs. More about the EHIC here
If you are planning on buying US Dollars before you travel – have a look at our page on the best place to buy US Dollars in Ireland
Also – check out our information on fees when spending on cards when abroad.