Travel Insurance for aging travellers
 

Having always taken out travel insurance since I was sixteen, I am now 66 and finding insurance companies cranking up premiums now I have time to do extended trips.


The last few years I have used insure and go but as I am 67 next year they will not cover for trips over 30 days despite doing Magadan last year and Georgia and Armenia this year. In Feb 2016 am going to Oman for a month and Budget Rent a Car have put an extra 2 OM a day senior surcharge on my car rental.


Has anyone got any details for Travel Insurers who don't penalise the older traveller since we are not all bed ridden as soon as we reach 65 years of age.


Many thanks


Boycie

I think you're just going to have to accept that premiums increase (for almost all types of insurance) as we get older. I don't know what Trailfinders' maximum age/duration of trip is, but we've found them very fair so far. Might be worth a try.

Probably doesn't cover all that you want but we use World Nomads and we are over 65 and no noticeable increase in premiums.

Hi Boycie:

Policies that are offered for a short period of time (in other words, to cover one trip only) seem to be a bit more prone to sharply increasing premiums as policyholder age increases. I suspect this is because the folks who buy these policies tend to be the people who have legitimate concerns about their ability to complete the trip without health problems, hence, there are a lot of claims made.

I have a travel policy that is in effect year-round and covers me for trips anywhere in the world of up to 60 days duration out of my home country. The premium - about $150 a year - is higher than the costs of a single 'one-trip' policy, but less than what the cost of buying 2 or more 'one-trip' policies would be.

I suspect that the actuaries have noticed that the type of person who buys this year-round cover is a person who travels frequently, thus implying reasonably good health, and they have also noticed that there are fewer claims on these policies - hence the lower premiums.

So, my suggestion is that you go shopping for a slightly different product that accomplishes the same thing: instead of getting single-trip coverage, shop around for annual travel coverage.

Michael

Many thanks for the replies. I guess I will have to bite the bullet, but I have always done annual policies, and pay up before I hit the pearly gates.


Cheers


Boycie

I presume you want your travel insurance to cover motorcycling as a permitted activity?

Try Navigator, they charge 50% more if you are over 35 year old (I
know!) and allow any sort of bike as long as you stay within roads where "saloon cars can drive through" ie nothing too extreme, according to my latest policy! We get annual coverage as it is cheaper that way and cover "non bike" trips.

Also, if you were to ride a 125cc bike, most travel policies cover for those as they assume people on holiday can rent mopped in Greece and various other places. It might give you more choice?


Cheers,

Hi Tony,

How do you get on with Global Nomads - do you have a special policy because the one I looked at today excludes motorcycle touring.
Sure I can call UK to Thailand by another name, but I bet they would call it touring if there was a claim !

:thumbdown:

Sorry to tell you that while World Nomads rightly regards Australians as expert motorcycle riders with low claims record, it reckons the Brits are so unsafe they won't even consider covering them.

Might be worth sending them an email to see if the personal touch is better than their quote robots.

(I gave up riding motorbikes 45 years ago when I grew up)

I have found that. I looked at planning a year year trip when I retire. ''Gap year"insurance gets very, very expensive with age. Or even impossible. ADAC provide cover at a price. The reason is easy to see. The chances of an old person needing hospital treatment within the year are high.

Avoiding certain countries can reduce costs. I'm getting too close to 70yo for comfort so I'll make sure I've seen all of the USA that I want to and then confine my travels to the rest of the world where medical treatment is a bit more affordable.
Next step is to confine my travels to Australia or NZ where we have (I think) reciprocal medical care.

After that travels will be confined to shambling up and down the corridors of the local nursing home.

just bear in mind that recipricol agreements only cover you for emergency care, they may not cover you for ongoing care, for examplea if you had a stroke and needed further treatment but wre still too poorly to return to your home country.

The definition of 'emergency care' varies somewhat around the world!

Not sure if you are UK based- but try Saga insurance. I got a quote for several trips abroad [except USA] travelling to Asia.

For my motorcycle trips- Carole Nash insure me for EEC countries up to 90 days every trip.

I am 68