Is it safe to buy cheap travel insurance online?

Question

I'm going on holiday on Thursday with my friends, and originally we were going without travel insurance. However, I changed my mind, and was looking for cheap insurance. I found a policy that has £10m medical expenses, £2m personal liability cover, £3000 cancellation cover and £2000 baggage cover, and all for £4.73. Is this too good to be true?

The company's called Columbus Direct Europe, and they're one of loads. There were 2000 hits on the site I went on. It's not that I don't trust them - I'm sure they're probably great, but is it wise to get cheap insurance online? I don't want to get injured or anything and then find the company is a rip off!

Answer 1

In my experience, travel insurance is essential – especially with Asia and Africa where it’s all too easy to get an illness that will ruin your trip.

As for where and for how much, that’s a bit harder – first of all you’ll need somewhere that offers global travel insurance. A few places spring to mind – http://www.insureandgo.com, http://www.insuremore.co.uk and http://www.globelink.uk.com all do it IIRC.

As for is cheap bad… it doesn’t have to be, in my experience – just read what you’re covered for very carefully and if it seems too good to be true then it probably is

Answer 2

Go with a stable and proven company.  I've been using travelex for a decade now.  You wont find a better policyt value out there.  http://www.travelex-insurance.com/index....

Answer 3

Personally, I think that travel insurance isn't worth purchasing. Here are several reasons:

For medical expenses, the common carrier has liability insurance to cover any injuries that they are responsible for. If they lose your luggage, they are responsible to reimburse you for the items they lost. If you are accidentally killed, or received a permanent injury, they are responsible, and have liability insurance to cover it.

The reason for the small price for the travel insurance is the chances of it paying off are really slim.

If you want the coverage just for peace of mind, buy it.  I don't think I would personally buy it. To me it's a waste of money.

Answer 4

Travel insurance is very important to have because first and foremost your health insurance doesn't follow you out of the country.

It's too inexpensive not to have it.  My parents went on a cruise and they took pictures of this cruise ship that was just sitting in port because the company filed bankruptcy.  The people that were there waiting to go on the cruise that would never happen paid $9,000 and those with travel insurance would get reimbursed....those without didn't.

You should go through a broker that can recommend different companies.  My site only sells travel insurance to US residents (we have medical for others), but you need to find one like mine that would cover Europe.

Cheap isn't necessarily good, but travel insurance isn't expensive to begin with.

Jeff

PS   I can give countless other examples...talked to a lady who'd spent $4-$5,000 on a trip to Italy and when she arrived she was very sick and had to come home.  This was her dream trip and the money was all lost.  I had a client die in Europe and the company paid to cremate the body.

I also had a lady buy an accidental death policy for her boat trip to Antartica and this huge boat sank.  She called me to make a claim and of course I had to explain to her that because she didn't die there was no claim....but almost.