First of all, it is Ciao who seem to think Halifax Life provide this cover. It is actually underwritten by St Andrews Insurance Group which is part of the HBOS (Halifax Bank Of Scotland) Group. Apologies for me being too lazy to let Ciao know!
But who cares about that?
There are times ... Read review
Advantages: Great price and great cover from a high street bank Disadvantages: It doesn't rip you off like travel agents do
...Ciao who seem to think Halifax Life provide this cover. It is actually underwritten by St Andrews Insurance Group which is part of the HBOS (Halifax Bank Of Scotland) Group. Apologies for me being too lazy to let Ciao know!
But who cares about that?
There are times in life when a rip off leaps out and grabs you! The insurance policies sold by travel agents and tour companies are so obviously poor value for bog standard ... ...
So, Halifax gets the sale. I can travel to just about anywhere in Europe for a year with my clan and not have to pay again for insurance. And I have over £100 spare to buy one of those new satellite telly things from the BBC! Thomas Cook, I would never EVER consider you for travel insurance again! And you are meant to be the travel experts!
Are there any catches? Well, my premium would increase if I opted to travel ... more
First of all, it is Ciao who seem to think Halifax Life provide this cover. It is actually underwritten by St Andrews Insurance Group which is part of the HBOS (Halifax Bank Of Scotland) Group. Apologies for me being too lazy to let Ciao know!
But who cares about that?
There are times in life when a rip off leaps out and grabs you! The insurance policies sold by travel agents and tour companies are so obviously poor value for bog standard protection, that shopping around for insurance is best done before booking the holiday!
When Thomas Cook quoted me £169.95 to insure my clan on holiday for two weeks in Minorca, I cracked up laughing. Given that we could book a basic self-catering holiday in the UK for a week for this sum, I knew there had to be a better option. Not too much wrong with the cover offered. Just the price!
I surfed in to AOL land and tried their recommended cover from Lloyds TSB. Well, they were willing to provide an annual policy for £138. But I am unlikely to take a second foreign holiday in the next year so this also seemed steep.
Then I used my own bank. Halifax. The premium (online) came out at £64. Surely some mistake. I could not bring myself to click <accept> as I was sure there was a big catch waiting to grab me at some point. Probably the point when I need a life saving operation in some remote Spanish hospital! £64 for an annual policy v £169 for a 14 day policy. Very odd! Not looking good for Thomas Cook here!
So, when the phone lines opened on Monday morning I made the call, which was answered immediately by a very friendly voice.
They took 60 seconds to collect my family details, check for pre-existing medical conditions (I disclosed the mild asthmas that we suffer and was reassured that as these had not involved hospitalisation previously they were not a concern) and had the premium confirmed.
I asked for the catches.
The reply came back that there were effectively none.
As I have personal belonging cover on my home contents policy, they had discounted my premium, meaning that I cannot claim on the travel policy if my camcorder is pinched (but my home policy would do the job). I had agreed to a £50 excess, although could pay extra to waive it. I also have 30 days to read the policy. If I find anything unacceptable I could claim a FULL refund and cancel the policy. An option not offered by Thomas Cook.
Having spent a thrilling Tuesday evening reading the policy booklet that was provided, I am completely satisfied. The cover provided matched or exceeded that from Thomas Cook. I had saved money by not double insuring my personal belongings. And that sneaky little clause in travel agents policy that insists on a £50 excess per person per claim (effectively £250 for my family) is simply £50 per claim with the Halifax.
So, Halifax gets the sale. I can travel to just about anywhere in Europe for a year with my clan and not have to pay again for insurance. And I have over £100 spare to buy one of those new satellite telly things from the BBC! Thomas Cook, I would never EVER consider you for travel insurance again! And you are meant to be the travel experts!
Are there any catches? Well, my premium would increase if I opted to travel outside Europe/Mediterranean. If I wanted cover related to skiing, it would cost more. But if you have ever seen me try to ski, you will understand why I have no need for this. Oh, and I am not covered for golfing equipment either. But then I do not play golf!
Typical policy limits are £5000 for cancellation (suitable for my budget, take care if you can afford a posh holiday!); £10m for medical and repatriation cover (so they can afford to fly my corpse home if my overeating abroad has dire effects) and £2m for personal liability should I drunkenly damage somebody elses property as I do my stereotypical Englishman abroad impersonation!
The size of the medical cover shows how important travel insurance is. But you do not have to pay top price for average cover when people like the Halifax can knock out decent annual policies for less than £70 a year.
The simple lesson from this experience is - NEVER BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE FROM A TRAVEL AGENT! Always shop around. Consider an annual policy. And check out the cover you get (I did manage to find a quote for £49, but the policy limits and excesses were significantly worse). And make sure you take your policy details on holiday with you!
More information from www.halifax.co.uk/insurance or from the link on the homepage of www.halifax-online.co.uk if you already use their internet banking service. You can also use the phone in the local branch.
Interestingly, Which? magazine has also confirmed this as a best buy recently.
Advantages: Great service, cheap prices Disadvantages: None found so far
I must recommend Halifax to everyone. The cost of their car insurance is brilliant.
I have had a pretty poor car for a number of years and have been paying through the nose for insurance for it, now I have just purchased a very nice car!! - and trawled around the companies as you do getting quotes. The Halifax was by far the cheapest coming in at over £150.00 cheaper then my current insurance company.
So please please use them - maybe it will mean that other insursance companies take the hint and start bringing their over inflated prices down. make sure though you goto the Halifax website first and get the discount code from there cause you will then get an extra 5% discount on the already cheap quote. ...
Two years ago I was once again struggling to find a company who didn't charge the earth to insure my performance car. Having had a claim and a conviction in the past trying to insure a group 18 car was getting tricky and some of the so called "specialist" insurance companies were coming in at three figures. Then I tried Halifax and was amazed at how much cheaper than the other companies had been coming in at. Naturally, I chose to insure with them and at renewal time they wrote to me enclosing a schedule for the next years insurance. This time the quote came in even cheaper, although the insurance industry as a whole had increased their policy prices. There was no need to contact them, only if I wanted to cancel the policy. To me this is a big plus point; nobody enjoys shopping round loads of companies and sending off proof of no ...
No other word but appalling - typical example of "you get what you pay for". Had an accident (not my fault). Over the 6 mths in attempting to resolve this matter Halifax had managed to lose 2 accident report forms and a fax.
When they eventually acknowledged the receipt of the accident report form (acr) I had to further phone them on at least four occassions to chase them to phone the other party. In the majority of cases I was put on hold whilst they contacted the other insurance party - definitely a reactive company with a couldn't care less attitude. Say they'll call back - never did. I had different personnel handling the case. No help on what to claim for - truly diabolical. NEVER AGAIN!
I questioned them on why wait on me to phone you to pursue this case after the expiry date the answer resulted in me mentioning something ...
