A few months ago, in an online quest to find coverage for my personal electronics, including laptop, camera, and BlackBerry, I discovered InsurandGo holiday insurance.
While I quickly discovered the policies of the United Kingdom’s largest direct travel insurer are limited to UK residents (defined as persons living within the UK for 6 of the last 12 months), their interest in a review on Go Backpacking gave me a chance to dig deeper on behalf of our UK readers.
In my prior life, I was a Customer Service Manager for a health insurance company, so I like to think I look at any insurance site with an especially critical eye. I’ve seen countless travel insurance sites over the last few years, and at first glance, there are a lot of design elements that I like about the InsurandGo site.
There are 7 tabs running horizontally along the top of the page, reflecting the main product offerings.
For the purpose of this review, we’ll be focusing on Backpackers insurance.
Coverage highlights include:
- Extended cover for up to 18 months (because the British and Irish are big on gap years).
- 4 different levels of coverage to fit your budget and tolerance for risk.
- Free coverage for 50 popular activities you may want to try while abroad, including scuba diving, bungee jumping, etc.
- Optional winter sports cover for equipment, avalanches, and piste closure.
- 24-hour medical assistance phone line.
Along the right side of the page, you can enter the basics of your travel itinerary to receive an instant quote.
Pretending I’m a Brit planning a ’round the world trip, I entered criteria for single coverage, 25-years old, worldwide (including USA), for 12 months (January 3, 2011 to January 3, 2012). Quotes across the 4 levels of coverage (Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Black) are clearly presented to make comparing costs and coverage easy. The lowest coverage level, Bronze, would cost £251, while the highest level, Black, clocks in at £686.
Standard coverage includes payment should you be involved in a hijacking, which isn’t too common in policies, as well as some coverage for personal money that is lost or stolen.
Once you select the coverage level that’s right for you, there are some additional riders you can add for further protection, including coverage for winter sports or golf clubs. There’s even an option to offset your carbon footprint from travel. For my faux trip, the carbon offset is quoted at £10, which doesn’t seem like much, but they’ve got the right idea with regard to even offering it as an option.
For UK residents interested in winter holidays, Ski insurance is also offered by InsurandGo.com, and may be worth consideration as well.
Coverage highlights include:
- Medical emergencies, piste rescue, repatriation, piste closure, personal liability and cover for ski packs and hired or owned equipment.
- On and off piste skiing and snowboarding (for those who venture into the backcountry).
- Free coverage for up to 3 dependents per covered adult (great deal for families).
- 24-hour medical assistance phone line.
In addition to making all of the policy information easily available, there is a testimonials page which customer quotes that reflect the level of service InsurandGo.com members can expect. What I like about this page is that they’ve included full names of the insured, and dates (so you can see recent feedback).
Having been on the other side of the equation, working for an insurance company, I’m well aware of the bad experiences that members will have for every good experience reported. By and large, I learned that a lot of problems tend to result from the insured people not having a proper understanding of their policies before buying (or later needing to use them). For that reason, I highly recommend reading the policy wordings carefully, and calling the insurance company in advance to ask questions. This is also a great way to get a feel for the service level on offer — something it’s better to find out in advance of committing to a policy.
For all our UK residents, be sure and check out InsurandGo.com when planning your next holiday abroad.
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About the Author:
Dave is the author of 1573 posts on Go Backpacking.
Dave (Editor-in-Chief) blogged his way around the world from 2007-2009, and then started Travel Blog Success to teach others how to do the same. When not writing, he can be found salsa dancing in Medellin. Follow him on Twitter @rtwdave or look for him on Google+
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Categories: Websites & Blogs
Post tags: review, travel insurance
4 Comments
man I wish the U.S. had something like this… sounds awesome!
One should really get travel insurance so as to be covered and not worry about huge expenses when you encounter an accident or just something unexpected. This is an insurance that is worth considering because personally, i like the hijacking insurance part. And like Matt, I also hope this can be offered in the US too.
The story which you had posted in this article is quite impressive and really it sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing…I would like to know some more information related same topic.
thanks your blog , I hope it work out.