British Travel Insurance Claims Going Through The Roof

A claim every minute

According to recent statistics published by the Association of British insurers (ABI) the number of travel insurance claims have significantly increased since 2010 reaching one claim per minute in 2017. 510,000 travel insurance claims were made in 2017 compared to 300,000 in 2010. This is an increase of 30,000 claims per year which has been alarming British insurers.

To get a sense of what this means in terms of value, last year claims’ payouts amounted to around 385 million.

Rising Cancelation Claims

As expected, travelling medical expenses have been heading the claiming list (52%). However, they were closely followed by Cancellation claims (38%) and it is these claims in particular which have been responsible for the majority of the increase in total claims. Now you must be wondering; what is this due to? Well, cancellation claims have experienced a significant rise in the last few years mainly driven by the increase of the average holiday spend. Put simply, if your holiday costs more and if an event leads to it being cancelled, then the amount the insurer needs to pay out also increases.

Cancellation claims also grew at a sharper rate after 2015; in fact they grew by more than 15,000 between 2016 and 2017 alone. So that means more cancellation claims made and the average cost of these claims also rose at the same time.

Can you afford not to have travel insurance?

If the unexpected happened, would you be able to pay for medical treatment overseas? Buying Travel insurance is significantly cheaper than having to pay the bill after being hospitalized abroad or getting medicines in an emergency. Some countries such as USA, Canada or Singapore are well known because of high healthcare prices. 

But please remember that travel insurance covers a lot more than just medical expenses - as we have read already, it also includes various forms of cancellation or interruption cover including cancelled flights, missed departures, lost luggage, etc – So it’s always recommended to buy the policy as soon as you have booked and paid for your trip, not at the last minute. That way if anything happens that interrupts your plans, you are protected.

A travel insurance policy offers more than it appears at first sight; from flight disruptions or delays to holidays cancelled because of bad weather conditions or other outside factors. Travel insurance keeps you covered from the time you first buy it until you return home from your trip. The sooner you purchase cover, the longer your benefits will protect you for!

Planning to travel soon? Check out HCI travel plans here.