Travellers aged 65 and over, of which there are many, can find it very difficult to get travel insurance according to information provided by Saga Insurance, although they do add that it is not as difficult as it first appears.
Saga Insurance are specialists in travel insurance for those aged 50 and over and advise travellers in this age group to be candid about any pre-existing medical conditions to avoid invalidating their cover. Insurers do not automatically dismiss their application and it is far better to travel with peace of mind than without.
This is something Saga Insurance cater for and they also have no maximum age limit, something they can support by revealing the oldest person they have arranged travel insurance for so far was 100 years old. 92 percent of insurers have been found to have upper age limits, putting Saga in the minority, but that means people know who to talk to when they need travel insurance.
According to the Post Office Insurance division spending on travel has remained constant, with no falls in currency or insurance transactions over the last couple of months.
Post Office insurance sales are unchanged while Euro currency sales are actually up compared with the same time last year, this even though the pound has weakened against the Euro in recent months. Figures show the precise change to be 3.2 percent over June and July.
According to the information gained Post Office Insurance customers are heading for the usual holiday spots such as Spain, Greece and France. The flight is not too long and they are pretty much assured great weather.
It appears that around 500,000 people from the UK lose their passport each year while on holiday, with a subsequent loss, according to the Halifax, of over 1.7 million days as they wait to be allowed to come home.
The extra costs of staying abroad, including additional accommodation, flights and so on add up to nearly GBP390 million, or just over GBP130 per person. Advice from the Halifax is to use the hotel safe or safekeeping place in the room for their documents. They should also be aware that one in ten of the lost passports are actually stolen whilst outdoors, so being careful and discreet is important so as not to raise attention.
One further idea, this time from a Halifax travel insurance expert, is to take several copies of the back page of the passport and keep them in a host of different places. This way at least there will be some ID that will help get things sorted out.
