Travel insurance neglected too often

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Too many people take trips and holidays without travel insurance according to the latest research.

American Express has found that whether Brits are cruising, sunbathing, on safari or skiing, too many times they fail to get the travel insurance needed to prevent any pricey accidents that unfortunately may occur.

"One of our customers - who ultimately had nothing wrong - underwent 16 hours of tests in an American hospital to rule out serious illness and incurred a bill exceeding $20,000," said Joanne Field, marketing manager at American Express.

"That's $1,250 an hour or over £12 per minute, so in effect less than ten minutes in that American hospital costs in excess of our most popular annual policy - Classic Cover priced at £99.00."

This example is perhaps an extreme case, but it certainly highlights how sensible taking out travel insurance can be.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 65.6 million people travelled last year and Mintel revealed that 14 per cent – or 2.9 million – did so without travel insurance.

Need an insurance quote? Click here:
http://www.europinions-finance.co.uk/insurance/insurance/