We surveyed the customers for some of the largest travel insurance providers in the UK to find out what they thought about everything from its customer service to how quickly it pays out in the unfortunate event that you have to make a claim.
Check out who our winners were below as well as who took home the highly commended award. We’ve also put together a table of all the results with an explanation of how we came up with our results.
The winners are based on both overall satisfaction scores (star ratings) and recommendation scores (the percentage of customers who said they’d recommend the brand to a friend).
Our travel insurance winners
Winner, Best Travel Insurance:
Admiral
Known for its adverts with a dog in an admiral’s hat, Admiral scored highest for its travel insurance. It offers both single trip and annual multi-trip cover as well as additional cover for winter sports, golfing holidays and cruises. Admiral’s customers raved about the different types of cover available and find that it has helpful staff.
AXA offers a wide range of cover types and levels with three tiers: bronze, silver and gold. It has a huge range of cover options, with 70 sports and activities covered as standard. Its customers felt that the service was reliable and the staff are helpful and its response to cancelled holidays due to coronavirus was a generally good experience. Defaqto gives its policies 3-5 stars.
Our 2021 travel insurance customer satisfaction league table
We asked policyholders to rate their satisfaction with their travel insurance company, and whether they’d recommend it to a friend. We’ve shown both for each brand in the table below. Our independent survey of 750 insurance customers was carried out in December 2020.
Overall satisfaction
Customers who’d recommend
Issuer
Review
★★★★★
83%
Admiral travel insurance customers said it has great customer care and good value for money. There are several tiers – the basic cover gets 3 stars from Defaqto and the Platinum tier gets 5 stars.
AXA offers a wide range of cover types and levels (three tiers: bronze, silver and gold). Customers felt that the service was reliable and the staff are helpful. Defaqto gives the policies 3-5 stars.
Staysure customers praised the company for its reaction to the coronavirus pandemic and its value for money. It has lots of policy options and two levels of cover: Basic (Defaqto gives it 2 stars) and Comprehensive (5 stars).
Aviva customers think this is a great insurance provider with good value for money. They liked its response to the coronavirus pandemic. There’s only one level of cover rather than a range of tiers, and it’s worth knowing that baggage cover costs more. You can get extensions for activities such as scuba-diving and winter sports. Aviva’s single trip and multi-trip policies are both 5-star rated by Defaqto.
Saga travel insurance is tailored for people aged over 50 and there’s no upper age limit. Customers in our survey praised the service for being professional with great prices. There’s a special policy covering pre-existing medical conditions, and there’s a winter sports add-on. Policies get 3 or 5 stars from Defaqto.
Avanti has three different levels of insurance: single trip, annual and medical. Its “Medical” policy covers you for pre-existing conditions without an upper age limit. It’s got 5 star Defaqto ratings for all except its Essentials insurance which is rated 2 stars. Customers in our survey think they have good customer support.
Many Asda Money customers in our survey said they thought the cover was well priced but some customers said that it could improve its customer service. There are three levels of cover, and Defaqto ratings range from 3 to 5 stars.
Lots of options and levels with Post Office Money travel insurance and it makes a point of saying it will “consider” covering any medical condition. Customers in our survey felt they’d received great customer service at a great price. Defaqto ratings range from 2 stars to 5.
Coverwise customers liked the company’s reaction to the coronavirus pandemic and find that it is hassle free and a good price. Pre-existing medical conditions can only be covered with a Select policy. Cover levels range from Standard and Bronze up to Platinum and Defaqto stars range from 3 to 5.
Virgin Money offers a wide range of policy types and levels of cover. Customers in our survey find Virgin to be an excellent brand with reasonable prices and find it easy to to deal with.
Many Direct Line customers in our survey find it to be fast, reliable and easy to use. Policies get 4-star or 5-star ratings from Defaqto. Fairly limited options, with extensions for personal belongings and winter sports.
Churchill offers three levels of cover: Annual insurance, Single trip insurance and Explorer insurance which covers for long stays. It’s got 5 stars on Defaqto and its customers felt like they were quick to respond to questions and great value for money.
Columbus Direct covers for single trips, annual multi trips, backpacking trips and trips with wintersports. It’s got a Defaqto rating between 3 and 5 and its customers like that it has lots of cover options and how it managed claims during the coronavirus pandemic.
A specialist in medical travel insurance, Get Going offers basic policies (Defaqto 2-star rated) up to premium ones (5 stars), and the range of policy extensions includes cruise and winter sports cover, and cover for carers. Customers praised the value but didn’t like that there’s no way to make a claim online.
Alpha has four levels of cover available: single trip, multi-trip, winter sports and, an unusual cover, staycation. It has Defaqto ratings between 3 and 5 based on the different policies and customers find it to be reliable and good value for money.
Top Dog offers three levels of travel insurance, single trip, annual multi-trip and long stay. Customers found it to be a good price and think it’s got great customer service.
In December 2020, we ran a customer satisfaction survey on travel insurance providers; 750 people told us their experience of their insurer.
The survey asked respondents how satisfied they were with their current insurance company (on a scale from one to five, and also whether they would recommend the brand to a friend or not). We turned the results into star ratings and shortlisted the top-performing brands for our awards. When there was a draw, we used the recommendation score (that is, the percentage of customers who said they would recommend the brand to a friend) as a tie-breaker.
Zoe was a senior writer at Finder specialising in investment and banking, and during this time, she joined the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2022. She is currently a senior money writer at Be Clever With Your Cash. Zoe has a BA in English literature and a Diploma for Financial Advisers. She has several years of experience in writing about all things personal finance. Zoe has a particular love for spreadsheets, having also worked as a management accountant. In her spare time, you’ll find Zoe skating at her local ice rink. See full bio
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