BIBA, the British Insurance Brokers Association, have released a report suggesting that online travel insurance policies may not provide adequate cover, and may offer you poor value for money compared to traditional policies.
The announcement reflects the fact that BIBA believe online policies to provide less cover than what consumers are used to, which is in turn mirrored in their pricing strategy and could lead to a growing level of losses within the travel insurance industry.
The group of UK based insurance brokers warns that you should be wary of low cost online only insurance packages for their travel, primarily as a result of the fact that many of the mainstream, popular policies fail to cover certain valuables and essential holiday insurance costs, like medical expenses and luggage.
Additionally the association warned that you should avoid online insurance products where you are considering taking items of substantial value on holiday, or opting for a specialist holiday type involving more dangerous activities like skiing and horse riding, as many cheaper policies available online provide only the bare bones of traditional insurance cover.
Surprise Surprise -The British Insurance Brokers Association advises that you should get in touch with your local broker prior to selecting cover from solely online suppliers in order to make sure the policy you are buying provides the level of coverage you need.
There is a nugget of truth in the report in that a lot of airline, travel agent and other cheap online policies are fairly basic and not suitable for specialist travel.
However, in the hundreds of travel insurance sites, guess who owns the majority? Yes, easy question really, insurance brokers.
What about insurance company sites? Do they offer different policies online and through brokers? Unless the broker has a special deal- when they almost certainly will have an online site- the answer is no.
Do most high street brokers offer a wide range of travel policies? Firstly, the margin on small one off policies is so small that many brokers do not sell travel insurance. Secondly, after the mergers of the nineties, most brokers will only have a few agencies with insurers that offer travel insurance. Thirdly, most small brokers will have only one or two insurers that they actually use for travel insurance.
There are brokers who specialise in travel insurance- they all have websites.
There are brokers with special deals for unusual risks – they all have websites.
There are comparison sites where you can compare price, and to a lesser extent cover.
There are websites, such as ours, which offer advice,
It is no coincidence that the BIBA report came on Halloween – you know- the night when people try to scare you about mythical monsters.
Has BIBA compared all 5000 plus policies offered by the 600 plus websites offering travel insurance, against the insurance offered by high street brokers?
Of course not, it is an impossible task, particularly as many travel policies offer a basic cover with many options.
There is more good wide and specialist travel insurance online than you can ever get from going into or phoning your local brokers.
Halloween is over; the nasty monsters have gone, but the tall tales live on
