Cheap but comprehensive travel insurance with no excess

by Donna Werbner on 11 August 2009  |  16 comments
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How to find a good quality travel insurance policy with zero excess at the best possible price.

I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks and my travel insurance policy expired last month.

So I wanted a new policy.

But I didn't just want any old policy. I wanted the best: a comprehensive annual, worldwide policy (including the USA and Canada), with baggage and cancellation cover, and zero excess. And, of course, I wanted it at the best possible price.

Here's how I got it.

Step 1) I got a quote from my existing insurer

The insurer I went with last year, Direct Travel, offered me a 10% discount if I renewed my policy. So my first step was to find out how much cover would be with them. They quoted me £58.51, after the 10% discount, and while this policy was zero excess and met all my requirements in every other way, it didn't include baggage cover.

Step 2) I shopped around

I used a number of travel comparison sites, but found it extremely difficult to compare 'gold standard' policies with zero excess. It's very easy to find the cheapest quote, but the cheapest quote for a comprehensive policy is considerably more difficult to get.

Still, it gave me a good idea of the prices of annual policies. The absolute cheapest I could find was £24.30, from a firm called Primary Insurance. The cancellation cover was rubbish, at a maximum of only £750, and the baggage cover was even worse, at a maximum of just £500. The excess ranged from a staggering £100 to £200.

I can do better than that, I thought...

Step 3) I did my own research

So I decided to do my own research and check out the insurers I knew offered great quality travel insurance, by reputation.

First up, I tried Marks & Spencer. Unfortunately, a zero excess, annual worldwide policy with baggage and cancellation cover came out at a whopping £95.16.

Gulp.

It was a similar story at The Post Office. There was no excess to pay on some - not all - of its benefits, but the quote was even higher: £95.40.

So much for the brands I know and trust.

Step 4) I checked cashback websites

Travel insurers often offer big discounts through cashback websites. Take a policy out with the aforementioned Post Office, for example, via Topcashback.co.uk, and you'll get a 14% discount.

I could even beat that 10% "loyalty discount" offered by previous insurer by going through Topcashback.co.uk or Quidco, which offer 17.5% and 14% off Direct Travel Insurance respectively.  So much for loyalty, eh?

But despite finding all these discounts, my policy was still looking rather expensive.

Refusing to give up (and cough up), I went back to Google and searched for travel insurance with zero excess. The usual price comparison sites came up, but, delving deep, I discovered  a site called Atlasdirect.net, recommended specifically for its zero excess policies.

Hmm, I thought, and entered my details...

The result

At Atlasdirect.net, which was remarkably quick and easy to quote, I was offered a 'Gold' annual policy, which met all my requirements.

The quote was cost just £35.

This beat the top brands for comprehensive, quality insurance by more than £60.

It also beat my existing insurer's quote by more than £23 (a 65% reduction), despite the seemingly great offer of 10% loyalty discount. And unlike my existing insurer's quote, the Atlasdirect quote included baggage cover.

Similarly, at only £10 more than the cheapest quote on the comparison websites, it offered much better value (for example, four times as much cancellation and baggage cover at £3,000 and £2,000 respectively), as well as that all-important zero excess.

Of course, before I took out the policy, I then went back to the cashback websites to check if I could get a further discount. Unfortunately, according to the nifty cashback comparison site smartcashback.co.uk, no cashback sites offer discounts on Atlasdirect.net. It seems this site really does treat all its customers the same, rather than rewarding the crafty ones like me with cheaper prices!

The only big downside of the insurer that I could find is that it does have a few add-on charges; for example, £1 for postage of the policy and £1 for paying by credit card. But if you're happy with an email copy and paying by debit card (any debit card, it doesn't have to be Visa Electron), then you can easily avoid these charges, which I did.

OK, so admittedly, while I got a great result, it did take a while to do all this research and maybe it sounds like a lot of hassle to you. But there's nothing I hate more than being ripped off by an insurer and paying twice or even three times what I should. So to me, it's time well-spent.

But what do you think? Is it worth the hassle and time it takes to get good value? Is it right that it should be this difficult? Have you had similar experiences shopping for decent travel insurance policies? Let me know your thoughts using the comments box below!