Traps to Avoid When Shopping for Cheap Family Travel Insurance

It's certainly possible to find cheap family travel insurance, and spending a few pounds now could cover you and your family in case of unforeseen events on your annual holiday. There are, however, a few things you to be aware of when shopping around for insurance, because the last thing you want to do is snap up a budget policy only to find yourself unprotected when you need it the most. Here are a few things to keep an eye on.

Overestimating Your Coverage – Remember that cheap family travel insurance can have limitations. You’ll have to forego some aspects in order to keep the costs down, so make sure that you know exactly what you’re going to get and don't let assumptions get the better of you.

Ignoring Activity Exclusions – Your insurer will not cover you if you engage in activities it deems too risky to cover. You could, of course, pay extra to get coverage for sporting or hazardous activities, however, make sure you read the fine print to understand which activities are covered and which activities are not covered.

Ignoring the Excess – Cheap family travel insurance tends to have higher excess fees. This means that you’ll usually have to pay more out of your own pocket before the insurer will step in and cover the rest of the expenses. You can consider purchasing an excess waiver to avoid having to pay the excess, but it will, of course, not come cheaply.

No Contract – Make sure that your insurer sends you a copy of the terms and conditions of the policy by email or they are clearly displayed on their website. If you cannot receive a copy of these terms and conditions before you purchase, you put yourself at great risk of not fully understanding what you’re paying for – much less what you will (and will not) receive in case you end up needing to make a claim.

Unreliable Customer Support - Legitimate travel insurance providers will always have a team of competent customer support representatives on hand to assist you when you have questions or concerns. Get in touch with customer support before taking out a policy, and ask them to clarify certain sections of your chosen plan if needs be. If you don’t receive comprehensive responses or if they take too long to answer back, you might find yourself dealing with a sub-par or even a fraudulent insurance company.

Numerous Online Complaints – A quick Google search can lead you to people airing their opinions on the provider you are considering. If you see a disturbingly large number of complaints from consumers, you may want to think twice about signing up. Serious Complaints with the FOS – The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has a handy cache of data about the complaints it receives. There’s a section naming individual businesses, which updates every six months. If you see the name of the company or parent company providing your cheap family travel insurance, it's time to choose another company. Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of Insuremore. We provide low cost travel insurance and offer a range of policies including cheap family travel insurance, annual, multi-trip and single-trip insurance. For all your travel cover needs, Insuremore can help you in the quickest and most cost-efficient way.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.