Typically, holiday makers and travellers tend to take out insurance before going on a single trip but for those travelling on a regular basis this can be time consuming and unnecessarily pricey.
Given the increased number of UK citizens travelling regularly, insurance providers now offer multi-trip insurance to give travellers cover all year round.
Annual multi-trip travel insurance is designed to suit individuals who travel on UK and international trips at least three times a year, although with some providers, multi-trip insurance can even be cheaper than buying just two single trip policies. By purchasing multi-trip insurance, customers are covered for an unlimited number of trips, providing the trip falls within the time limit specified by the insurance provider (typically this is 31 days although for an extra cost it is usually possible to change this to 45 or even 60 days depending on the provider)
The policy is particularly beneficial for people whose trips are unpredictable or who regularly take advantage of last minute deals and may not have time to organise insurance before they go.
It is also a good policy for those travelling in connection with a business or profession as most insurance providers offer business cover as an extra included with the policy (although manual workers are usually excluded from this cover)
Some advantages of taking out annual multi-trip insurance include:
- Time is saved booking insurance before each trip
- The insurance is more suited to the adventurous traveller than other types of insurance, as standard Annual Multi -trip policies provide cover for eventualities that may not be deemed likely to occur for single trips
- Discounts are usually given for couples and families with some providers offering attractive ‘kids go free’ deals
- The cover is continuous: once it is taken out travellers can rest assured that it will last the whole year regardless of where they go or how often
- Many providers offer an ‘excess waiver’ option for an extra cost
- Multi-trip insurance usually covers a wide range of sports and activities for a limited amount of days (e.g. golf, weddings, winter sports) although year-round cover for these activities generally comes under a more expensive premium
- Multi-trip policies are very flexible and allow travellers to customise the cover according to their own specifications
- Many providers allow multi-trip insurance to be combined with family policies, so that family members travelling regularly are also covered
Some disadvantages of multi-trip insurance include:
- Some policies have hefty excess levels
- Many providers have a blanket exclusion policy for all terrorist activities
- Manual workers are usually excluded from business cover options
- For those going on a small number of sporting trips (e.g skiing) it may work out cheaper to buy single trip insurance as annual cover for activities can be very pricey
- Many multi-trip policies don’t cover travellers over the age of 65 unlike single trip policies which rarely have an age limit
- Multi-trip insurance can work out unnecessarily expensive if fewer trips are made than predicted at the beginning of the policy
Cover Levels
Each insurance provider covers different extras under the policy. These could include:
- Emergency assistance 24 hours a day
- Hospital benefit
- Cover for mugging, hijack or catastrophe
- Business cover
- Scheduled airline failure
- Repayment of student loan
- Wedding cover
- Trip postponement
- Travel delay
- Acts of terrorism cover
- Stolen luggage
- Loss of valuables
- Pet care
- Cost of skiing if missed through illness (usually only applies with extra Winter sports cover)
- Piste closure (usually only applies with extra Winter sports cover)
Other options
In addition to the various extras covered by different policy providers, each insurance company offers different way of customising the multi trip policy with prices varying accordingly. These could include:
- Winter sports cover which includes piste closure or ski costs incurred through illness (this usually comes under an extra premium than the standard rate)
- Golfing cover (this usually comes under an extra premium than the standard rate)
- Wedding cover (this usually comes under an extra premium than the standard rate)
- The option to exclude cancellation and curtailment, baggage and/or personal money cover for a discounted rate
- The option to customise the limit of days trips can last for (e.g. 45 days/ 60 days as opposed to the standard 31)
- Increased personal baggage cover
- Cancellation top-up cover
- Couple or family insurance (this usually works out cheaper than booking for two individuals)
- Option to waive excess