Travel Insurance premiums going up

[TheGander]

Just went to renew my travel insurance with Churchill and it’s gone up by 20%. It’s for a family of 4, Europe only, covering 1 activity DHs mountain biking. Does not cover lost/ stolen baggage. Went from £124 to £154. Only medical condition is 1 person on a BP tablet. Never made a claim. Does this seem reasonable or not? Any better deals? I need cover as go to Europe a few times a year. TIA.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me - insurance is going up everywhere, irrespective of no claims

That seems quite reasonable to me for an annual policy for a family of four.

Try searching on somewhere like Compare the Market or money supermarket so you can compare prices from multiple providers

We paid just over £100 with Yellow Jersey earlier this year that includes all sorts of mountain biking including downhill.

That's for a 50 something couple one with Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. We've also used Columbus Direct before, but I think that's probably what you should probably expect to pay tbh, these days a 20% increase is less than average.

Although, depending on what sort of mountain biking your DH does (eg cross country vs downhill) the travel insurance with some packaged bank accounts might work out a similar price and you also get other benefits like breakdown and mobile phone cover.

Always worth doing but this is difficult with any sort of hazardous activity because the comparison sites often ignore these for the purposes of quoting then you have to drill down into what each policy covers and then often pay extra for the activity you're planning on doing as an add on.

We pay around £100 for an annual policy with LV but there are only two of us.

Everything is going up and up - our car/s insurance, massive jumps inc building and LL ins

I'd say that's reasonable for 4 people and an activity and BP. While it's just 1 tablet blood pressure can be costly on travel insurance as it can cause so many issues so can be massive claims if something was to happen. Just be careful if looking online for quotes, a lot won't ask about medical conditions so the price you see won't include them. I use to be with Churchill and it's always worth giving them a call to see if they can lower it, or even try a new quote with them. I don't think you can add meds online with them but might be worth just doing a standard quote online with them and then calling them to add the medical/activity on to see if it's cheaper than the renewal.

Shop around, we get it through our bank account, costs us £156 with Nationwide (£13 a month) but that includes breakdown cover for us both too, and mobile phone insurance I think. I think Lloyds' account that offers it is cheaper now at £10 a month.

(Although there might be a one off additional fee to pay with the declared medical condition).

Thanks everyone, wasn’t expecting so many responses! I hadn’t thought of checking with my bank, I’ll definitely be doing that. I guess it’s reassuring to know this 20% increase is not unusual. I’ve been stung with cheap home insurance so that won’t be my only criterion in renewing.

@bleughgreen so as an illustration of my previous point about needing to drill down into the small print, Halifax's cover for mountain biking is 'Mountain biking on recognised routes' which is obviously open to interpretation and not something I would rely on without further investigation.

What is a recognised route? What are they defining as mountain biking? If you crash riding down a steep goat track down the side of a Spanish mountain and need to be helicoptered to hospital, is this covered?

The Halifax account is also £17 pm, rising to £19 pm from next month, so substantially more than the OPs travel insurance.

Churchill also stipulates only mountain biking on designated trails. So if you decide to go off piste it’s on you.

@Bjorkdidit a recognised route means not off road so basically a path that is defined. On a lot of policies off road biking wouldn't be covered at all but I'm sure they'll be some that will cover it for an extra premium. So with the example you gave then no it more than likely wouldn't be covered x

Unfortunately they sometimes price renewals higher than new customers! Look elsewhere, I paid £120 for 2 adults worldwide recently and included motorcycle use, multiple preexisting conditions but none likely to affect travel plans.

I’ve found “cover for you” reasonable especially if declaring medical conditions online.

Revolut travel insurance is pretty good on their platinum account. Includes winters sorts etc

My home insurance is up 74% !!!
I've never claimed. Householder fir over a quarter of a century. It's a joke.

Last time I got quoted for holiday insurance it was £170 because I am in iron and folic acid tablets and had been checked out due stress heart palpitations but it was not a problem all good.

They says I'd not be covered due heart attack or stroke but I could pay more if I wanted that.

Absolutely disgusting. They should be ashamed and wearing masks.