With the Summer fast approaching, you may be busy planning your family’s summer holiday. However, a new emerging trend is grandparents taking grandchildren away in favour of a traditional family holiday.
If you plan to take the youngest members of your family away with you, or are travelling with multiple generations then we have a few tips to help you avoid any issues and get the best deal on travel insurance.
If you are travelling with grandchildren or minors (for example) with a different surname to yourself then it is usually advisable to carry some sort of proof of your own identity and of the parents and children you are travelling with. This could be a letter from the parents or legal guardians of the minors, detailing their contact information, holiday details and how you are connected, or even copies of the parents’ passports and/or birth certificates for the minors to negate any potential issues with immigration.
Travel Insurance
There are a few things to bear in mind when booking travel insurance this Easter, to make sure you have the most suitable and cost effective policy for your trip.
Firstly, many insurers will offer discounts to families insured and travelling together, but some have a specific definition of what would qualify as a family policy. This is usually a single parent or two parents travelling together with their child or children under 18 years for whom they are the legal guardians and who all reside together. Make sure you don’t get caught out with an invalid family policy if you do not meet this definition.
If you are travelling with other family members, friends or relatives, there are other policy options available to suit these situations, a few of which also come at discounted rates. Many insurers will offer group cover, which covers any number of people of any age and not necessarily related, so this could include extended family and friends.
As always, it is important to check your cover with your chosen insurer, to make sure you hold a valid policy.
Joint and Group Policy
Another advantage to being insured with your fellow travellers is that if someone falls ill or has a medical emergency whilst you are away then it is easier for the insurer to repatriate everyone together, and deal with any resulting claims.
We often get asked if children under the age of 18 can be insured on a policy individually, usually if they are travelling abroad with friends or other family members who have their own insurance. Not many insurers will offer a policy to a minor alone. Usually, children under 18 would need to be insured on a policy with an adult, over the age of 18, who is travelling with them as they would need to be accompanied if any situations arose whilst abroad, for example an extended stay for medical reasons. But again, if in doubt, check the specifics with your insurance provider.
Don’t be tricked into thinking that insuring all travellers on one policy is going to cost you the earth. Many insurers add little to no extra premium to a policy which includes minors (except in the event of covering their pre-existing medical conditions) as most policy premiums are based on the oldest traveller’s age. It is also worth checking the age limit that your insurer uses when defining a child as some insurers may only class ‘minors’ as 16 or under, rather than under 18s.
Traveling Alone on a Group Policy
If you purchase an annual travel insurance policy, which can prove cost effective if you are taking multiple trips, but are only taking one trip with your grandchildren then this is not a problem. You can be insured on the same policy for the one trip you are taking together, but this does not mean you would need to travel with them on all your holidays. All adults named on an annual insurance policy are covered to travel independently within the insurance year.
Beth Macer, travel insurance expert at PayingTooMuch.com, says “We always encourage our customers to find the policy which most suits their circumstances. There are many factors to take into consideration when buying travel insurance and our team are here to answer any questions to make that decision easier”.
To compare the available options for your insurance get an instant quote online using the link below, or call Beth and her team on 01243 784000.
