The AA labled policy, underwritten at the time by Zurich but with global support from a company owned by Axa, were tip-top for me, with a ripped knee cartilage in the south of France. But I am not sure what help that is to anyone. HSBC’s, underwritten by Ace (now Chubb) were excellent when I claimed for a delay; the Post Office (whose policy I also claimed under for the same delay) were very inefficient but I bullied them into shape. Again, interesting (or not) and of no great aid to anyone, especially if they don’t have an HSBC * bank account of the appropriate sort.
Every man and his dog will have good experiences and some bad experiences. Whilst some will say that they are insured with GoOnMeHols but have never claimed, so they won’t know if they are any good or not. Some will have bad experiences, because they haven’t got the slightest clue what insurance they bought and / or will think they are cleverer than an insurer who deals with thousands (yes thousands) of holiday claims a day. We have read about clowns like this on these very pages. Some will have bad experiences, because…. Well, their insurer is a rip-off cnut who never pays.
The truth is, most travel insurers are generally pretty good…. Providing you buy a policy that is right for YOU and YOUR needs. It is usually pretty cheap, so don’t cut corners. Most of them will have a policy you can download to read (if you can be arsed) before you buy and / or listen to what the chimp on the phone asks / tells you (if you can be arsed). It might be very dull but it’ll be very much more dull when you are in hospital in traction, with bills mounting and you are listening to someone explain, very patiently, that you were not covered for jumping out of the third floor balcony in green budgie smugglers…. Or for hiring that 80cc moped ‘cos it were a right larf, mate. But, I got a full licence, won’t work as an appeal from your bed of pain. Trust me.
* If you do get ‘free’ insurance from your bank or building society, do take a bit of care. Some of the policies are very basic, because they are ‘free’. Not least, the policy wordings do change. Mine is now underwritten by Aviva (it used to be Ace / Chubb) and it’s altered. Yes, HSBC did tell me, in some general message in my account’s log on pages….. if only I could be arsed to read it.
PS Don’t blindly assume that if you get free insurance through work or through some union, that it will cover you for your holidays. Some are very restrictive, limiting you to only being covered when you are travelling on your employer’s business. This is tricky to explain, when you fall off your bike in the Alps with your mates, when your main line of employment is IT consulting or the sexing of chickens. Not least, some are not travel insurances at all; being nothing more than personal accident policies, useless when someone nicks your Rolex, camera and return flight tickets. Yup, bods always lose a Rolex on holiday, never the Swatch they always usually wear.