The Secret Of Cheap Travel Insurance

Do you usually book your travel insurance via your travel agent? You could be making a mistake.

How many times a year do you take a holiday abroad? For many people the era of the single annual summer holiday has gone - after all, it's so easy and cheap to hop on a plane these days that we're beginning to make a habit of.

According to research by the Portman Building Society, more than a third of Brits say that they usually go abroad between two and five times a year and most say that they prefer to take several holidays a year.

Unfortunately, while we may be adventurous with travel plans, we're not when it comes to travel insurance. Nearly 60% of people take out single trip insurance for each and every holiday when it's usually much cheaper overall to opt for a multi-trip policy that will cover you all year round.

Of course, travel agents don't tend to tell you that - there's more commission to be had out of selling several individual policies and, anyway, buying a policy via a travel agent when booking a holiday is like to cost you far more than if you shopped around online.

A recent undercover investigation by Which? found that travel agents were not only generally more expensive but they also "can't be trusted" to sell you an appropriate policy because they failed to explain what was covered and what was excluded and not asking about pre-existing medical conditions.

Buying travel insurance from a bank or an insurer also gives you better protection from mis-selling since they are regulated by the Financial Services Authority so people sold an unsuitable policy can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service for help. Unfortunately, travel agents aren't regulated in this way.

Holidaymakers who want to get the right cover should follow Which?'s top five tips:

• Declare any information that could lead to a claim
  
  
• Check cover limits and exclusions
  
  
• Watch out for excesses
  
  
• Read the small print
  
  
• Tell the insurer about any pre-existing medical conditions affecting you or anyone else on whom your holiday plans depend

If you're travelling to Europe, remember too that you need to apply for the new European Health Insurance Card if you want to be covered for health treatment in EU countries. It's the replacement for the old Form E111 that you used to get from the Post Office and for many travel insurance companies, carrying an EHIC is compulsory.

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